When someone is away for part of a workday — the classic case is an IOD (Injury on Duty) visit to the doctor during work hours — that time would normally show up as missing hours. Adding fake clock-ins to "fill" the gap is the wrong fix: it counts the time as worked and never records that leave was actually taken.
Manual-clock leave lets a manager record that gap as a proper leave type — IOD, or any other type HR has enabled for this purpose — straight from the attendance editor. The time is deducted from the employee's leave balance, the day is no longer flagged short, and the hours are treated correctly for the week and the month.
When to use it: for a chunk of a day taken mid-shift. For a whole day (or a planned half-day) off, use the normal Create leave for an employee flow instead.
Before you start: HR enables the leave type
Only leave types HR has switched on for this appear in the picker. In HR Settings → Leave Types, edit a type (for example IOD) and tick "Available for manual clock entries". Types without this flag stay out of the attendance editor, so you can't accidentally record the wrong kind of leave this way.
It also helps to make sure the employee has a balance for that type (even a zero balance) if you want the time tracked — see Good to know below.
How to record it
- Open the day. Go to the Weekly Hours report, or Team Hours → Breakdown for the person, and open Edit Daily Attendance for the day in question.
- Choose the leave type. In the Add entry row, use the "Record as" dropdown and pick the leave type (e.g. IOD). Leaving it on "— Worked time" adds a normal clock entry instead.
- Set the start time and the length (see the next section for the length options).
- Click Add entry. The window appears in the "Leave to record on save" list so you can check it (and add more than one if needed).
- Type the mandatory adjustment reason and click Save changes.
Choosing how to enter the length
Next to the amount is a small unit picker, so you can enter the window whichever way is easiest:
- minutes — e.g.
90 - hours — e.g.
1.5 - until… — pick the end time, and the length is the gap from the start time.
All three produce the same thing: a leave window with a start and an end.
What happens when you save
- Balance — the leave is deducted from that type's balance straight away. If there isn't enough (common for IOD), it's allowed to go negative; your reason is the justification.
- The day — a purple leave block is drawn on the timeline for that window, and the day keeps its real status (e.g. Present). It is no longer flagged as missing hours.
- Break — the gap is now recorded as leave, not as an idle "break", so the break total stops counting that time.
How it affects weekly & monthly hours
This is the important part. The leave counts toward the day's required hours — which is the same as saying the hours the person still has to physically work are reduced by the leave.
So for a scheduled 8-hour day with 3 hours of IOD:
- They only need to work 5 hours for the day to be complete.
- Pay = worked + leave. The leave is paid (for a paid type), so worked 4h55 + 3h IOD ≈ a full day.
- Only genuine under-work counts as short. Shortfall is measured against the reduced target, so the person is not flagged three hours short.
- It never becomes overtime. Leave fills ordinary time and cannot push the week into overtime — the week and month stay neutral.
- On the Day / Week / Month total you'll see a second line, e.g. "+3h 00m leave · 7h 55m total", so the figure shows the day is covered even though worked on its own is lower.
- In Hours Analytics and the payroll figures, the minutes show as paid leave.
In short: don't think of the leave as extra hours on top of a full day — it fills the hole it created. Worked + leave = the day.
Seeing it afterwards
Re-open Edit Daily Attendance for the day and you'll find a "Recorded leave on this day" list showing each entry. On the timelines (Weekly Hours report and Team Hours) the window shows as a purple leave block, and the day carries a small purple chip such as IOD · 13:00–15:00 (2h00).
Removing or correcting an entry
Open Edit Daily Attendance, find the entry under "Recorded leave on this day", click the trash icon, then Save changes. The leave is cancelled and the balance is refunded. To change a window, remove it and add a new one.
Good to know
- A balance must exist for the type for it to be tracked. If the employee has no balance record for, say, IOD, the day is still covered (not missing) but nothing is deducted — ask HR to add the balance if you need it counted.
- Paid vs unpaid follows the leave type. A paid type is paid and counts toward the day; an unpaid type still covers the day (not missing) but is not paid.
- Permissions — you need the same rights as editing attendance / authorising your team's hours.
- Every entry keeps your reason on the day's adjustment history, so the record always shows who logged what and why.
Related: How working time is calculated: ordinary hours, overtime & authorised time · Create leave for an employee · HR Settings — leave types, plans & balances.