Use the Leave page to submit leave requests, review affected rostered shifts, update application statuses, and create matching leave requests in Xero when the organisation is connected.
Before you begin
You need permission to access Leave and view the relevant staff member.
To authorise or change the status of another staff member’s request, you may also need manager, administrator, or leave-management permissions.
Before creating a Xero leave request, confirm that:
The organisation is connected to Xero Payroll.
The staff member is linked to the correct Xero employee under Finance → Staff Mapping.
The staff member has a pay frequency assigned in Xero.
The staff member is assigned to a matching pay calendar in Diversity Sync’d.
The required leave type is assigned to the staff member in Xero.
Leave types are enabled for the staff member’s employment type under Admin → Configuration → Leave.
1. Open the Leave page
Select Leave from the main navigation.
Review the existing leave requests.
Use Filter by staff name... to find a specific employee.
Select Filters to narrow the list by options such as status or leave dates.
Select a request to open its details.
The list may show:
Staff
Type
Submitted
Leave dates
Timezone
Status
2. Create a leave request
Select New Leave Request.
Select the required Leave Type.
Select the staff member under Requesting Staff.
Enter the first date of the absence under Away From.
Enter the end date under Away Until.
Enter the reason or context under Notes.
Enter the staff member’s name under Signature.
Select Submit.
Required fields are labelled Required in the form.
Note: Leave dates and times are recorded using the staff member’s pay-calendar timezone. This may differ from your local timezone.
3. Review the request details
Open the leave request from the Leave list.
Review the information under Request details.
Confirm the submitted Notes and Signature.
Review the Details card.
Review the Application Feed for submission, approval, and status activity.
The Details card may include:
Staff
Employment Type
Email
Leave Type
Leave Dates
Pay Calendar
Timezone
The current status appears at the top of the page and in the Status panel.
4. Review impacted shifts
The Impacted shifts section shows rostered shifts that overlap the leave request.
Review each affected date and shift time.
Confirm the shift belongs to the correct staff member.
Review the employment indicator, such as Non-contracted, when displayed.
Select the leave treatment from the dropdown beside each shift.
Select Ignore when a shift should remain unchanged.
Confirm the correct leave type is applied before approving the request.
Version 8.0.0 provides clearer per-shift information and leave-hour handling.
Note: For contracted full-time and part-time staff, Annual Leave on Saturday or Sunday defaults to the applicable weekend worked rate. Casual leave sent to Xero is treated as unpaid, and the amount is set to zero. Shifts already marked as leave default to Ignore.
5. Authorise the request and update its status
Locate the Status panel.
Turn on Authorised.
Open Application Status.
Select the appropriate status.
Wait for the status change to save.
Confirm the updated status appears at the top of the page and in the Application Feed.
Available statuses may include:
Awaiting Response
Pending
Approved
Denied
Withdrawn
Use Withdrawn when an approved test or submitted request is no longer required.
Note: Status changes may be locked until Authorised is turned on. Available controls may depend on your permissions.
6. Review the Xero information
The Xero card may appear when the organisation is connected to Xero and the staff member is mapped to a Xero employee.
Review the leave balances shown under Balances.
Confirm that the required Xero leave type is listed.
Select View Xero leave requests to review requests already recorded in Xero.
Check the displayed date range.
Review the available columns.
The Xero leave request list may include:
Leave type
Period
Hours
Last updated
Status
A leave balance of 0 Hours does not necessarily mean the leave type is unavailable. It may mean that the leave type is assigned but has no opening or accrued balance.
7. Create a matching Xero leave request
Select Create Xero leave request.
Select the matching option under Xero Leave Type.
Enter the applicable value under Number Of Hours.
Select the correct Pay Period.
Review all values carefully.
Select Create Within Xero.
Wait for the request to finish processing before selecting the button again.
The Xero leave type should match the Diversity Sync’d request.
For example, use Other Unpaid Leave for an Unpaid request rather than Annual Leave.
Important: If the leave request crosses a pay-period boundary, select one pay period and enter only the hours that fall within it. Repeat the process for each remaining pay period.
8. Confirm the request in Xero
Select View Xero leave requests.
Set the date range to include the leave date.
Confirm the request appears with the correct leave type, period, hours, and status.
Confirm the request is linked to the expected Xero employee.
Review the request directly in Xero when further payroll changes are required.
Requests created directly in Xero may also appear in this window after the integration refreshes.
Important notes
Leave dates are displayed using the staff member’s pay-calendar timezone.
The roster may show an approved or withdrawn leave indicator across the relevant dates.
A request only displays an impacted shift when its dates overlap a rostered shift.
The rostered shift duration and Xero leave hours may not always be identical.
Confirm the correct payroll hours before creating the Xero request.
Weekend Annual Leave processing may display Forecast or Actual modes.
A confirmation may appear when the system detects a potentially duplicate leave request.
Unpaid leave does not normally accrue a paid balance.
Pay calendars must align with the staff member’s Xero pay frequency, including cycle length, start day, timezone, and pay-period dates.
The Period, Start Of Latest Cycle Period, and Timezone fields are locked after a Diversity Sync’d pay calendar is created.
Troubleshooting
No leave types are available
A warning may state:
No leave types available
The Leave Type dropdown may also show:
No options found
To resolve this:
Go to Admin → Configuration → Leave.
Find Leave types by employment type.
Identify the staff member’s employment type.
Select the leave types that the employment type may request.
Select Save.
Refresh the Leave page.
Employment types may include:
Casual
Part Time
Full Time
Contract
If the required leave type is not available, select Go to Finance and confirm it has been created in Finance Configuration.
Also confirm that the staff member has the correct employment type in their staff profile.
Cannot request leave for another staff member
An error may state:
Cannot request types for another staff
This means the logged-in user does not have permission to submit leave for the selected Requesting Staff member.
Select your own staff record or ask an administrator or authorised manager to submit the request.
No shifts are impacted
The request may show:
No shifts impacted
This means the leave dates do not overlap a rostered shift for the staff member.
Confirm the leave dates.
Confirm the staff member has a rostered shift during those dates.
Confirm the correct pay calendar is selected in the roster.
Check the pay-calendar timezone.
Refresh the request after correcting the roster.
A request with no impacted shifts may produce 0 under Number Of Hours.
Create Within Xero is disabled
Confirm that:
A Xero Leave Type is selected.
Number Of Hours is greater than zero.
A Pay Period is selected.
The staff member has an assigned Xero pay frequency.
The staff member has the selected leave type assigned in Xero.
Xero reports that no payroll calendar is assigned
An error may state:
Employee does not have payroll calendar assigned within Xero
To resolve this:
Open Xero.
Go to Payroll → Employees.
Open the employee.
Open Employment.
Assign the correct Pay frequency.
Confirm an Ordinary earnings rate is selected.
Select Save.
Refresh or synchronise the Xero integration in Diversity Sync’d.
The Xero pay frequency should match the employee’s Diversity Sync’d pay calendar.
No Xero leave balances are found
The Xero card may show:
No leave balances found
The creation window may also state that the employee has no leave balances.
To resolve this:
Open the employee in Xero.
Open Leave.
Select Assign Default Leave Types or Assign Leave Type.
Assign the required leave types.
Enter genuine opening balances where applicable.
Save the changes.
Refresh the Xero integration in Diversity Sync’d.
Do not enter an artificial balance simply to bypass validation.
Other Unpaid Leave does not appear
Confirm Other Unpaid Leave exists under Xero Payroll settings → Pay Items → Leave.
Open the employee’s Leave tab.
Select Assign Leave Type.
Assign Other Unpaid Leave.
Use a non-accruing calculation method when available.
Keep the opening balance at zero.
Set the unused balance to Not Paid Out.
Save and refresh the Xero integration.
Invalid LeavePeriod provided
Xero may reject the request with:
Invalid LeavePeriod provided
This normally means the selected Diversity Sync’d pay period does not match a valid period in the employee’s Xero pay frequency.
Open the employee’s Xero Pay frequency.
Confirm the exact period containing the leave date.
Open the employee’s Diversity Sync’d pay calendar.
Confirm the cycle length, start day, timezone, and dates match Xero.
Confirm the employee is not assigned to an old or incorrect pay calendar.
If the existing pay calendar is incorrect and its locked fields cannot be changed:
Remove the employee from the old calendar.
Create a new pay calendar with the correct settings.
Assign the employee to the new calendar.
Withdraw the old leave request.
Create a new leave request after changing the pay calendar.
Check the Pay Period again before selecting Create Within Xero.
Important: Do not submit the Xero request when the displayed Pay Period does not match the employee’s Xero payroll period. Xero will reject the request.
If the correct pay period is still unavailable, create the leave request directly in Xero and contact Diversity Sync’d support with:
Staff member
Diversity Sync’d pay calendar
Xero pay frequency
Leave dates
Selected pay period
Screenshot of the error
A directly created Xero request is not visible
Select View Xero leave requests.
Change the displayed date range to include the leave date.
Confirm the staff member is mapped to the correct Xero employee.
Confirm the request belongs to the employee’s assigned pay calendar.
Refresh or synchronise the Xero integration.
Reopen the leave request.