How leave builds up for temps

How annual, sick and family responsibility leave accrue for temps paid weekly or fortnightly in Achekam, who approves it, and the gaps to plan around.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 4 min read · For Recruitment businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya

Temps earn leave. That surprises some clients, who assume that a worker supplied by the week is somehow outside the rules, and it catches out agencies that track leave for their own consultants carefully but leave the temp workforce to a spreadsheet nobody updates. The result is the same each time: a temp finishes an assignment, asks to be paid the leave they built up, and the agency cannot say how much that is.

This article explains how leave builds up for temps on weekly or fortnightly pay in Achekam, who approves a request, how temps ask for leave themselves, and the gaps that agencies in all three countries need to cover by hand.

Leave types and monthly accrual

Payroll in Achekam keeps four kinds of leave: annual, sick, family responsibility and unpaid. Leave builds up by monthly accrual, so a balance grows each month the temp is employed.

Pay runs themselves can be weekly, fortnightly or monthly, and the accrual does not change with the pay frequency. A temp paid every Friday and a consultant paid at month end both build up leave month by month. Two things follow for an agency:

• The balance moves monthly, not weekly. A temp who checks their balance after their third weekly payslip may see less than they expect if a month has not yet turned. Explain this at induction.
• Short assignments still count. A temp who works through a month earns that month's accrual, even if the assignment then ends. Do not remove them from payroll before you have settled what they built up.

The accrual follows the entitlements built into payroll. In South Africa, the Department of Employment and Labour's basic guide to annual leave sets out the minimum under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, including the alternative of earning leave by days worked, which suits temps with irregular shifts, and when leave may be paid out. If a temp's contract gives more than the minimum, the contract wins, and your balances should reflect it.

Line managers approve their own team, never themselves

A line manager approves leave for their own team, and nobody approves their own leave.

For temps, the question is who the line manager is. The supervisor at the client's site directs the work, but they are not in your payroll and should not be approving your employee's leave in your system. Set the agency consultant or branch manager who looks after the assignment as the temp's line manager instead. They can then check with the client before approving, so the site is not left a person short without warning.

When a temp asks for unpaid leave, Achekam does not cut their pay automatically. Payroll is warned and decides. That is a deliberate pause: a day of unpaid leave on a weekly run is a real amount for a temp, and someone should confirm it was agreed before it comes off.

Temps applying through self-service

A staff member whose login is linked to their payroll record can apply for leave through self-service, as well as download payslips and submit claims or detail changes for payroll to decide.

Giving temps a login is worth it for anyone on a longer assignment:

1. The temp applies in their own words, with dates, instead of telling a site supervisor who forgets to pass it on.
2. The consultant sees the request and checks with the client.
3. The approved leave is on record before the week's hours are entered.
4. The temp sees their payslips in the same place, without asking the office for copies.

For temps on very short assignments, a paper or e-mail request entered by the consultant may be simpler. Decide per assignment, and tell each temp on day one how to ask for leave.

Leave types that are not available

Payroll has no maternity, parental or study leave type, and new leave types cannot be added. For an agency with a large temp workforce, maternity leave in particular will come up.

Until those types exist, handle them outside the leave screens:

• Record the leave in the temp's file, with dates and the supporting documents.
• On the pay run, treat the absence through the inputs you already have, with your accountant's advice on how to show it on the payslip.
• Point the temp to any state benefit they may be able to claim during the absence, and keep a copy of what you gave them.

Do not squeeze maternity leave into annual or sick leave to make the screen work. That uses up balances the temp is entitled to keep.

Calendars and entitlements for Nigerian and Kenyan temps

For Nigerian and Kenyan employers there is an important limit. Leave days are counted against South African public holidays, and the built-in entitlements follow South African law, even when the employer runs payroll under Nigerian or Kenyan rules.

In practice that means:

Keep a short local adjustment sheet per temp until the Nigerian and Kenyan calendars and entitlements arrive. When an assignment ends, final pay for a temp in Nigeria or Kenya shows how the corrected balance goes into the last run.

Temps on weekly pay and staff on monthly pay can share one payroll; see weekly temps and monthly staff in one payroll. For the payday side, including how temps receive payslips, see payslips and pay schedules for temporary workers.

This week, set a line manager for every active temp, check that none of them is a client's supervisor, and tell your consultants who approves what.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.