Workday's primary leave-of-absence setup components are leave families and leave types. The Maintain Leave Families task creates the high-level categories used to group related leave types. Examples can include Regulatory Leave, Company Leave, or Disability Leave. When a user initiates a leave request, Workday displays the leave family as the category containing the available leave types.
The Create/Edit Leave Type task establishes the detailed rules for a specific leave. It configures eligibility, validations, unit of time, On Leave status visibility, entitlement, balance tracking, balance-calendar dates, Days to Include, supporting data, coordinated leave relationships, and cross-functional effects. The leave type must be associated with a leave family.
Maintain Time Off Types and Create Period Schedule relate to time off configuration. Configure Absence Type Groups can improve the request-selection interface by grouping time offs, absence tables, and leaves, but it does not create the underlying leave definition. Create Absence Table manages cascading time off plans, while accrual tasks govern time off balance additions. Therefore, Maintain Leave Families and Create/Edit Leave Type are the two foundational leave setup tasks.
Reference: Workday Education-Leave of Absence Setup Components