Annual leave accrual calculator

Annual leave doesn't land in your account in one lump sum on your work anniversary. It builds up gradually, week by week, from the day you start. Most full-time and part-time employees in Australia accrue leave progressively throughout the year under the National Employment Standards, which is why a payslip from six months into the job shows a leave balance that's already worth taking, not zero.

The Accrual Rate Behind the Numbers

Full-time and part-time employees accrue 4 weeks of annual leave per year under the NES. Shiftworkers, as defined by their award or agreement, get 5 weeks instead. The weekly accrual rate comes from dividing that yearly entitlement by 52 weeks, then applying it to however many hours you actually work.

For a standard 38-hour week, annual leave hours per year work out to (4/52) × (38×52) = 152 hours. Divide that by 52 weeks and you get an accrual rate of roughly 2.923 hours of leave for every week worked. Work 26 weeks and you've accrued 26 × 2.923 = 76 hours, or just over 10 working days at a standard 7.6-hour day.

Part-Time Accrual Scales With Hours, Not With Days

A part-time employee working 20 hours a week accrues leave proportionally to those 20 hours, not to the number of days they're rostered. (4/52) × (20×52) = 80 hours per year, giving a weekly accrual rate of about 1.538 hours. Two employees doing the same job at different hours will always accrue different leave totals in hours, even though both are entitled to the same 4-week proportion of their working time.

Why the Hours Figure Matters More Than the "4 Weeks" Headline

People often think of annual leave purely in terms of "4 weeks a year" without translating that into hours, which causes confusion when hours change mid-year. Someone who moves from 38 hours a week to 30 hours a week doesn't lose previously accrued leave, but their accrual rate going forward drops, since it's recalculated against the new ordinary hours.

This is also where things get genuinely tricky for employees on irregular rosters, since the accrual calculation is meant to track ordinary hours actually worked, not a flat assumption. If your hours vary week to week, accrual should be tracked against the hours in each specific pay period rather than an average.

Leave Accrues During Paid Leave Too

Annual leave continues to accrue while an employee is taking paid annual leave or paid personal leave. It does not accrue during unpaid leave, including most unpaid parental leave periods — that's a distinction that catches a lot of people out when they're calculating their own balance by hand.

A Realistic Scenario

An employee on a standard 38-hour week has worked 33 weeks this year with no unpaid leave taken, and started the year with 18.5 hours already on the books from the previous period. Accrual rate: 2.923 hours/week. Accrued this period: 33 × 2.923 = 96.46 hours. Add the existing 18.5 hours: total balance of 114.96 hours, or just over 15 working days at a standard 7.6-hour day.

That's a healthy buffer, and it's worth checking it against payslips periodically rather than assuming payroll software has it exactly right — manual tracking errors after a pay rate or hours change are more common than most people expect, particularly around the time an employee shifts from full-time to part-time or back again.

For the exact entitlement rules that apply to a specific award or employment type, the Fair Work Ombudsman publishes the current National Employment Standards in full.

FAQs

How is annual leave accrued in Australia?

Most full-time and part-time employees accrue 4 weeks of annual leave per year under the National Employment Standards, building up progressively week by week based on ordinary hours worked, rather than arriving in one lump sum.

How many hours of annual leave do I accrue per week on a 38-hour week?

At a standard 38-hour week, the accrual rate works out to roughly 2.923 hours of annual leave for every week worked, based on 152 hours of annual leave entitlement spread across 52 weeks.

Do part-time employees accrue less annual leave than full-time employees?

They accrue annual leave proportional to their ordinary hours, so a part-time employee working fewer hours per week accrues fewer hours of leave than a full-time employee, even though both build up the same 4-week proportion of their working time.

Does annual leave accrue while I'm on leave?

Yes, annual leave continues to accrue during paid annual leave and paid personal leave, but it generally does not accrue during unpaid leave, including most unpaid parental leave periods.

Do shiftworkers get more annual leave?

Shiftworkers, as defined under their specific award or agreement, are often entitled to 5 weeks of annual leave per year instead of the standard 4 weeks that applies to most employees.

What happens to my accrued leave if my hours change?

Previously accrued leave hours aren't lost when your ordinary hours change, but your accrual rate going forward is recalculated based on the new hours, so future accrual will differ from what it was before the change.

Check your accrual rate against your actual ordinary hours, not against a flat "4 weeks" assumption, especially after any change to your roster or hours. That single recalculation step is where most leave balance discrepancies actually start.