Reading the Leave Calendar — Traffic Lights and Soft Caps
Reading the Leave Calendar
The Leave Calendar is a read-only org-wide view of approved leave across every Craft Group / Stream you have view access to. It complements the Leave Planner — Planner is where you act, Calendar is where you see the shape of the period.
Where to find it
Sidebar → Leave Calendar. URL: /leave-calendar.
Layout
- Rows — staff (grouped by Craft Group)
- Columns — dates
- Coloured blocks — approved leave, colour by leave type
- Daily totals — at the bottom, a count of staff on leave per day
- Traffic light at the top of each day
Understanding leave coverage and traffic lights
Important: Leave hours are calculated on a calendar-day basis for coverage. This means staff who have leave on any calendar day (including weekends) count as unavailable for that full day's coverage, regardless of when they normally work. This ensures the Leave Calendar consistently reflects staffing impact across all days.
Traffic light meaning
| Traffic light | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 🟢 Green | Under your soft cap — safe to approve more leave on this day |
| 🟡 Amber | At the cap (tight) — be cautious approving more |
| 🔴 Red | Over the cap (understaffed) — approving more leave will push coverage past safe levels |
The "soft cap" is set per Craft Group by your Org Admin (e.g. "max 2 RNs on leave per day in Emergency"). The traffic light considers coverage availability (how many staff are working on that calendar day).
Filters
| Filter | Use |
|---|---|
| Craft Group | Restrict to one profession |
| Stream | Restrict to one ward |
| Leave type | E.g. only show training leave |
| Status | Approved (default) / Pending / All |
Why "Pending" toggle matters
Toggle Pending on to see what might land if you approve everything queued. A day that's currently 🟢 Green can become 🔴 Red once pending requests are factored in.
When to use it
- Weekly — scan the next 4 weeks for clusters of leave that need active management.
- Before approving a new request — see who else is already off for those dates.
- At quarter-end — spot under-utilised leave periods (December) and over-loaded ones (school holidays).
Tips & common mistakes
- Use this before leave approvals, not after.
- Daily totals are the truth — staff names are visual context.
- A 🟢 day can hide a fairness problem. Always check who's been getting the popular dates.
- Note: Traffic lights reflect coverage (calendar-day basis), not deduction basis. A staff member on leave for a weekend day counts as unavailable for that calendar day.