Calculation of target hours on vacation by calendar days

This article applies only to companies where vacation is counted in calendar days, which is common in hospitality and restaurant businesses. If your collective agreement converts vacation into working days, this calculation does not apply to you.

In these sectors, a common practical issue arises: how many target hours should be deducted when an employee does not take full weeks? If vacation were always from Sunday to Saturday the calculation would be simple, but in practice employees take partial periods that can start and end on any day of the week.

Because weekly rest days rotate, two employees with the same contract and the same calendar days of vacation can have a different number of actual shifts within that period, which makes the impact on target hours different without a clear rule.

The two calculation options

Option A - Actual hours from the planned schedule

Target hours are only deducted on vacation days where the employee had a work shift assigned. If a vacation day coincides with their weekly rest day, that day does not consume target hours.

Example in hospitality, with rotating rest days: Anna rests Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that week. If she takes vacation from Monday to Thursday, only the hours from those 4 shift days are deducted. Her rest days do not count.

This option is not available in haddock HR. In addition to requiring the schedule to be published before approving the vacation - something that is uncommon in hospitality, where planning is weekly - haddock HR does not implement this calculation method. If you need this behavior, write to support so we can consider it as a future improvement.

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Option B - 5.71 hours per calendar day (recommended by haddock HR)

5.71h are always deducted for each calendar day of vacation, regardless of whether the employee had a shift or a rest day on that day.

Example in hospitality: Judit takes 4 days of vacation → 4 × 5.71h = 22.8h are deducted from her target, no matter which days of the week they fall on or how her rest days are arranged.

The value of 5.71h is obtained by dividing the standard weekly working time by the 7 calendar days of the week: 40h ÷ 7 = 5.714h. This logic is consistent with the criterion established by the Workers' Statute (article 38), which sets vacation in calendar days and not working days: if vacation days include weekends and rest days, it is reasonable for the hour deduction to also be distributed across those 7 days.

The national hospitality collective agreement does not establish an explicit daily divisor - it sets the annual working time at 1,796h but does not regulate this specific calculation - so 5.71h/day is a common and reasonable interpretation in the sector, not a legal requirement.

Comparison example

Same calendar days, same hour deduction, regardless of which days of the week the vacation falls on.

Why does haddock HR recommend 5.71h/day?

• It always works, even if the schedule has not been published when the vacation is approved.
• It is predictable: the employee knows in advance how many hours each vacation day consumes.
• It is fair for standard 40h weekly shifts: two employees with the same contract who take the same calendar days get the same deduction, regardless of how their rest days are distributed that week.
• It avoids operational errors caused by approving vacation without a planned shift, something especially common in hospitality, where planning is weekly.

If your company works with a different weekly schedule than 40h, the divisor is adjusted proportionally. For example, for a 35h weekly schedule the value would be 35 ÷ 7 = 5h/day.

How do you configure it in haddock HR?

The vacation hours per day value is not entered manually: haddock HR calculates it automatically from the weekly target defined in the employee's contract.

To configure it, go to Settings > Contracts, open the relevant contract, go to the General tab, and find the Weekly target field. You will see two fields: hours and days. To apply the recommended 5.71h/day criterion, enter 40 hours and 7 days. haddock HR will automatically divide those 40h by the 7 calendar days and apply that value as the deduction for each vacation day.

If your company has a different working time, adjust the hours field proportionally: for example, 35h / 7 days for a 35h weekly schedule.

Updated on: 23/04/2026