Leave year
A leave year is the twelve-month period against which leave entitlement is allocated and measured. It may follow the calendar, an organisation's financial year, or each person's joining date. That choice determines when balances reset and when unused days come under pressure.
The boundary is not a neutral administrative detail. It creates a rush every year. Where you put it decides who that rush lands on.
A calendar leave year piles the deadline onto December, when schools break up and half the team wanted the same fortnight. A financial year moves the pressure to a quieter month. It also confuses everybody who assumes January.
Anniversary-based years remove the collective rush entirely. In exchange you track dozens of individual boundaries. Harder to administer, much easier to staff.
One thing to settle whichever boundary you pick: a booking that straddles it. A fortnight spanning the changeover draws from two periods, and somebody must decide how it splits. Most teams charge each day to the period it falls in. Simple, and easy to check later.
Tell people the date. Many assume January and plan on it.
Where this shows up in PeopleMuster
PeopleMuster puts a year selector on its leave views and reports usage against allocation for the chosen year. That is what keeps a past year readable once the boundary has passed.
Questions people ask
Should the leave year match the calendar year?
It is the simplest to explain, and it concentrates the deadline on the busiest holiday period. Both are true, so the choice depends on which matters more to you.
What is an anniversary leave year?
One that runs from each person's joining date. It spreads year-end pressure across the calendar, and costs more administration in exchange.
Does the leave year affect carry-over?
Directly. Carry-over is measured at the leave year boundary, so moving the boundary moves the deadline everybody is working towards.