Submitting and managing time off requests

In this article, you'll learn how your team asks for time off, how the office answers those requests, and how to put time off on someone's schedule yourself. It's how you keep the week's schedule honest about who's actually around.

Time off lives on the Team Schedule, the weekly shift grid. It doesn't show up on your job calendar. On the web, Team Schedule only appears in the menu after Employees is switched on in Features.

Note: Time off is a schedule note for your team. It doesn't stop you booking jobs and you won't get a warning when you assign someone who's off, so check the Team Schedule before you hand out work.

To open the Team Schedule:

  1. In the menu, click Team Schedule.
  2. Use the arrows next to Today to move between weeks.

On the phone app, open the menu and tap Team Schedule.

Asking for time off

Anyone who isn't a schedule admin sees their own week, with a Request button at the top.

  1. On the Team Schedule, click Request.
  2. Choose Time off.
  3. Set From and To.
  4. Pick a Category: Vacation, Sick, Personal, Unpaid or Other.
  5. Leave All day ticked, or untick it and set Start and End for part of a day.
  6. Add anything the office should know in Note to the office.
  7. Click Send request.

You'll see "Sent to the office for approval". The request then shows under My requests at the bottom of your week, marked pending until someone answers it. After that it says approved or denied, and you get a push notification on the phone app.

The same Request menu also has Change my availability and Get a shift covered. You'll only see Trade a shift if your role lets you see other people's shifts.

On the phone app

  1. On Team Schedule, tap Request.
  2. Leave the Request dropdown on Time off.
  3. Tap a day, then a later day to make it a range. To pick days in another week, move to that week with the arrows first.
  4. Choose a Category, set All day or the times, and add a note.
  5. Tap Send request.

Approving or denying requests

People with the Schedule Admin permission get the full schedule builder and a push notification whenever someone asks for time off. The Requests button at the top of the page shows a number when requests are waiting.

  1. On the Team Schedule, click Requests.
  2. Each request shows the person, the dates, the category and their note.
  3. Click Approve or Deny.

If you deny a request on the web, you're asked whether you want to add a note for them. That's optional. Either way, the person gets a push telling them how it went.

Approving puts the time off on the grid right away. There's nothing to publish.

Opening the Requests drawer to answer a time off request

On the phone app, tap Requests at the top of the Team Schedule. The count shows next to the button, for example Requests (2). Tap Approve or Deny.

Adding time off for someone yourself

Schedule admins can put time off straight on the grid without a request.

  1. On the Team Schedule, hover over the day in that person's row and click ADD +.
  2. In the Add to schedule drawer, click Time Off.
  3. Check the Team member, then choose a Category and add a Reason if you like.
  4. Set From and To, and untick All day if it's only part of a day.
  5. Add a Note if you need one.
  6. Click Add.

Unlike shifts, time off doesn't wait for Publish. The drawer says it plainly: "Time off goes on the schedule right away — no publish needed." It shows on the grid as a striped block marked Time off with its category.

Adding time off from the Team Schedule

On the phone app, tap the purple + button, switch to Time Off, and fill in the same fields. In the app you pick days from the week you're looking at. For longer time off, the web is easier.

Tip: To change or remove time off, click its block on the grid. The drawer opens with the details, so you can edit and Save, or click Delete time off. Deleting it takes it off the schedule straight away.

How time off affects the rest of the schedule

  • Clear entire schedule in the Tools menu removes every shift from the week, but time off stays.
  • Draft schedule in the Tools menu skips anyone who's off that day when it lays out the week.
  • Your jobs calendar doesn't read time off at all, so it won't block a booking or flag a clash.
Note: There's no company-wide holiday entry on the Team Schedule. Time off is always for one person. If your whole business closes for holidays, use the Open on holidays switch under business hours in Settings › Schedule.

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