Introduction
When employees take temporary leave from your company, you may need to pause their equity vesting schedule. And when employees change their working hours — for example, moving from full-time to part-time — you may want to adjust their vesting rate accordingly.
Ledgy provides two features to handle these situations:
Vesting pauses suspend vesting entirely during periods of leave, then resume vesting automatically when the employee returns.
FTE adjustments (Beta) slow down or speed up vesting to reflect changes in an employee's working hours.
This article explains how to use both features.
Who can make these changes: You need to be an account admin in Ledgy to add or edit vesting pause periods and FTE adjustments for employee grants.
What is a vesting pause?
A vesting pause is a temporary suspension of an employee's vesting schedule. During the pause period, time continues to pass but no equity vests. When the pause ends, vesting resumes from where it stopped.
How it affects vesting:
The vesting schedule is extended by the length of the pause
No equity vests during the pause period
Vesting continues normally after the pause ends
The total vesting duration increases by the pause length
Example: An employee has a 4-year vesting schedule and takes a 6-month parental leave with a vesting pause. Their equity will take 4.5 years total to fully vest (4 years of active vesting + 6 months paused).
How to pause vesting
The standard method allows you to add specific pause periods to an existing grant without changing the underlying vesting structure.
Step 1: Navigate to the grant
Go to Equity Plans > Grants in your Ledgy dashboard.
Step 2: Find and open the grant
Use the search bar to find the employee whose grant you want to pause. Click on their name to see their grants, then click the three dots on the right side of the grant and select Edit.
Step 3: Access the vesting section
In the Edit modal, scroll to the Vesting section.
Step 4: Add a pause period
Click the "Add pause period" button.
Step 5: Enter pause dates
Enter the following information:
Start date - When the vesting pause begins (typically the first day of leave)
End date - When the vesting pause ends (typically the return-to-work date)
If the end date is uncertain: If you don't know exactly when the employee will return, enter an approximate end date. You can edit this later once the actual return date is confirmed.
Step 6: Save the pause period
Click Save to apply the vesting pause to the grant
Note: if you don't have an exact end date yet, it is best to add an approximate one for the time being, which can be edited later on if needed.
To illustrate this, here's a simple example of what the process would look like:
Adding multiple pause periods
You can add more than one vesting pause period if the employee takes multiple leaves. Click the "Add period" button in the bottom right corner to add additional pause periods.
Example use case: An employee takes parental leave for 4 months, returns to work for 6 months, then takes another 2-month medical leave. You would add two separate pause periods to their grant
Adjusting vesting for part-time changes (FTE adjustments) — BETA
If an employee changes their working hours — for example, moving from full-time to part-time or vice versa — you can adjust their vesting rate using FTE adjustments. FTE stands for Full-Time Equivalent, a standard measure of working hours where 100% represents a full-time role.
Note: This feature is currently in Beta. If you don't see it in your account, please contact Ledgy support to have it enabled.
What is an FTE adjustment?
An FTE adjustment changes the rate at which an employee's equity vests based on their working hours.
How it affects vesting:
The vesting schedule is extended proportionally based on the reduced FTE percentage
Equity continues to vest during the adjustment period, but at a slower rate
When an employee returns to full-time, the vesting rate returns to normal
The total vesting duration increases to account for the slower vesting periods
Example: An employee has a 4-year (48-month) vesting schedule and reduces their working hours to 50% FTE for 4 months. During those 4 months, they vest at half the normal rate, so the total vesting period extends by approximately 4 months — from 48 months to about 52 months.
FTE adjustments vs. vesting pauses:
Use a vesting pause when an employee is on leave and vesting should stop completely (e.g., parental leave, sabbatical, unpaid leave)
Use an FTE adjustment when an employee is still working but at reduced hours and vesting should continue at a proportional rate (e.g., moving from full-time to part-time)
How to add an FTE adjustment
Step 1: Navigate to the grant
Go to Equity Plans > Grants in your Ledgy dashboard.
Step 2: Find and open the grant
Use the search bar to find the employee whose grant you want to adjust. Click on their name to see their grants, then click the three dots on the right side of the grant and select Edit.
Step 3: Access the vesting section
In the Edit modal, scroll to the Vesting section.
Step 4: Add an FTE adjustment
Click the "Add FTE adjustment" button. This button appears below the vesting pause section.
Step 5: Enter the adjustment details
For each FTE adjustment, enter:
Date — The date when the employee's working hours change (e.g., the first day they start part-time)
FTE % — The employee's new working hours as a percentage of full-time (minimum 10%, maximum 100%)
Step 6: Save the grant
Click Save to apply the FTE adjustment to the grant.
Adding multiple FTE adjustments
You can add more than one FTE adjustment to track multiple changes in working hours over time. Click the "Add adjustment" button to add additional rows.
Example use case: An employee reduces their hours to 50% FTE on 1 February 2026, then increases back to 80% FTE on 1 August 2026, and returns to 100% FTE on 1 January 2027. You would add three FTE adjustments:
1 February 2026 — 50%
1 August 2026 — 80%
1 January 2027 — 100%
Things to keep in mind
FTE adjustments and vesting pauses can be used on the same grant. During a vesting pause, no equity vests regardless of the FTE percentage.
The minimum FTE percentage allowed is 10%.
FTE adjustments are automatically sorted by date when you save the grant.
To remove an FTE adjustment, click the delete icon next to the adjustment row.