Managing Holiday Requests
As a manager, you are able to review incoming holiday requests, approve or reject requests with a single click. Dedicated item in the main menu is called Holidays Management. There are 2 views that will help you manage holidays. First of them is Leave Requests tab.
You do not need the Time off manager role for this: anyone resolved as a person's approver — explicitly assigned, their line manager, or their department manager — gets the same Accept and Reject buttons on that person's requests. See Time off approvers.
All requested holidays are listed in the Leave Requests tab.
This section provides essential information about each request, including:
- Name: The name of the employee requesting the holiday.
- Leave type: The type of the holiday request.
- Description: A short explanation or additional details provided by the employee regarding the holiday request (can be empty if configured as optional).
- From/To: The start and end dates of the requested holiday.
- Duration: The total duration of the holiday request, specified in hours.
- Status: The current status of the request (e.g., Pending (if no Approvals yet), or Approved 1/2, Approved 2/3 if multiple approvals are required).
- Arrow button: When a user clicks the arrow button, a side drawer appears, providing detailed information about the selected leave. This view serves both as an informational panel and an action center for approvers. The drawer includes:
- Employee name and avatar
- Leave period: clearly shows start and end dates with total requested hours or days
- Current leave balance and the balance after the leave is deducted
- Leave type and description, if provided
- Approval path: displays the list of approvers if more than 1 needed.
From the home page
The Time off requests card on the home page counts the pending requests you can act on — the same ones that show Accept and Reject for you — and lists the three that start soonest, with the employee, dates, duration and leave type. Your own requests are not in it. Selecting a row opens the same side drawer, where the decision is made; Review requests opens the Leave Requests tab.
When nothing is waiting, the card says No pending requests and links to the request history. If the list could not be loaded completely, it shows the requests it has and says the list is incomplete rather than giving a total. The card is shown to people with the Time off manager or Time off verifier role.
Supporting Documents
When the leave type asks for a supporting document, the drawer shows a Supporting documents section: the documents already attached, each of which can be opened, and a warning while one is missing. A request whose type requires a document cannot be accepted until one is attached.
The employee and anyone with the Time off manager role can add one with Attach document — for example on behalf of an employee who is off sick. An approver without that role can open the document but not attach one: the document comes from the employee, and the approver is the person waiting for it.
Approval Mechanism
If only one approval is required (i.e., Approval Count = 1), the first approver to accept the request will finalize it:
- The status changes from Pending to Accepted
- The request is automatically moved to the “Holiday history” tab
- The approver sees both Accept and Reject buttons
If multiple approvals are required:
- Once the current user approves, they no longer see action buttons
- The leave remains in the Leave Requests tab until all approvals are completed
- The request is only moved to Holiday history once all required approvals are fulfilled
When the Request Is Your Own
A holiday manager is also an employee, and may have a pending request of their own in the Leave Requests tab. Opening it shows the same drawer, but not the Accept and Reject buttons: nobody approves their own leave, so those actions are refused.
Instead the drawer offers a Bin button to withdraw the request, with the same confirmation used elsewhere. This is the same action available next to your own request on the My Days Off page — it is simply also reachable here, from the request's details.
This ensures full transparency in multi-level approval workflows while simplifying single-level approval cases.
All holidays that have been fully accepted are displayed in Holiday History tab. Ongoing holidays will have a blue background, making them easier to identify. Leave Requests and Holiday History tabs can be filtered by Employee and type of holiday.
Managers have the ability to manage already approved holiday requests directly from the Holiday History tab. When viewing a specific employee's approved leave:
Edit Functionality
By clicking the “Edit holiday leave” option in the side drawer, a standard edit modal appears.
The modal allows the manager to:
- Modify the leave type.
- Adjust the description.
- Change the duration of the leave (date range and hours).
Note: It's not possible to change the employee when editing an already created holiday.
The leave balance displayed in the modal dynamically updates based on the edited duration. Once changes are saved, the leave details and leave balance are updated accordingly.
Remove Functionality
Managers can also click the “Remove holiday leave” button to delete the leave entry. A confirmation dialog will appear asking: “Are you sure you want to delete?” After confirming via “Yes, continue”, the leave is removed from the system. If the deleted leave had previously reduced the employee’s leave balance, the balance will be automatically recalculated and updated to reflect the deletion.
This ensures full flexibility and accuracy in managing leave records, while maintaining up-to-date tracking of available days off for employees.
Creating Holiday on Behalf of Employee
As a manager, you also have the ability to create time off on behalf of any active employee by clicking the Add time off button in the top right corner. The dialog can do two different things, and a switch at the top of it — just under the person you picked — decides which:
- Add absence records the time off straight away, with no approval. This is what this dialog has always done, and it stays the default.
- Request on behalf files it as a request instead. It goes to that person's approvers exactly as a request they had submitted themselves would, and it is not time off until they approve it.
One line under the switch repeats which one you are on: Recorded straight away, without approval, or Goes to the approver like an ordinary request. The footer button changes with it — Create time off against Send request — and in request mode the footer also names who it will go to, under Approved by.
Note: The switch appears only for administrators and HR managers. A holiday manager without the HR role can still add an absence for someone, but cannot file a request in their name. If you do not see the switch, that is why.
To create time off on behalf of an employee, follow these steps:
- Navigate to the Holidays management item from the main menu.
- Click on the Add time off button.
- Select the employee from the dropdown list.
- Choose Add absence or Request on behalf.
- Select the holiday type.
- If that type is split by reason, pick one. The reason decides which part of the entitlement the time off draws on, so the figures beside the form follow it.
- Provide a brief description (optional, if set as not required in settings).
- Select the day or period for the holiday in the calendar using drag&drop functionality.
- Save it with Create time off, or send it with Send request.
Note: Once a holiday type is selected, the description field will be marked as required or remain optional based on the common holiday settings.
Note: You also have the option to select a few hours (from 1 to 7) inside Hours field if the time off is less than one full day.
Note: Once you have chosen both a person and a type, the panel beside the form shows what the time off would change for that person, not for you. It gives the number of working days it actually costs — weekends, public holidays and that person's own working pattern are already taken out — their balance now and what it would become, and how much would still be left to take by the end of the year. Nothing is shown before both are chosen, because every figure in it belongs to a particular person.
Note: The panel gives one of three answers, and here it warns rather than refuses. It fits: within the leave already accrued. Taken ahead of accrual: not accrued yet, your organization allows it, and the panel gives the date it evens out by. Beyond the entitlement for the year: the panel says so and still lets you record it, because a manager sometimes has to enter what actually happened — a sick note, or a backfill. This is where this dialog differs from the employee's own, in which that answer stops the request being sent.
Note: The panel also warns about dates that overlap an absence the person already has, rather than letting the save fail afterwards, and says when a supporting document is required for the type and reason chosen. The calendar marks weekends, public holidays and that person's existing absences, and gives the working-day count for the period.
Note: Repeat this absence is offered for Add absence only. A request cannot repeat, so the option is hidden as soon as you switch to Request on behalf.
Time off added with Add absence appears in the Holiday History tab straight away, with the possibility to be edited or removed. One sent with Request on behalf appears in the Leave Requests tab instead, and stays there until its approvers have dealt with it.
Holiday Planner
The Holiday Planner tab in Holidays Management provides a visual calendar view of all approved absences across the organization, helping managers and teams plan work around employee availability. On a standard desktop screen, the planner displays a rolling 30-day window, beginning from the current day. This helps managers track both upcoming and current leaves at a glance.
Holiday Planner includes:
- Interactive Calendar View – View scheduled holidays for employees.
- Quick Holiday Creation – Click on an empty day tile or use drag-and-drop to add a holiday.
- Approval Workflow – Approve or reject pending holiday requests.
- Editing & Removal – Modify or delete approved holidays if needed.
- Pending Approval Visibility – If additional approvals are required, the request will be marked as pending with relevant details.
Adding a Holiday in Holiday Planner
- Click on an empty day tile in the planner.
- Alternatively, use drag-and-drop to define the holiday duration.
- Fill in the required holiday details (e.g., type of leave, duration, description).
- Click on "Create holiday" button. Holiday will appear in the planner and all other relevant views as already approved.
Editing or Removing an Approved Holiday
- Click on an already approved holiday.
- Modify the details by clicking relevant button in the appeared sidedrawer.
- Use the Remove holiday leave option to remove the holiday if needed.
Approving or Rejecting a Holiday Request
- If a request is pending approval, it will visually differ from approved holidays in the calendar.
- As a holiday manager, you can:
- Click on the request to view details.
- Approve or reject the request by clicking relevant button.
- If further approvals are needed, the request will remain as pending until all necessary approvals are completed.
Use filters to view specific employees.
The Holiday Planner simplifies leave management by providing an easy-to-use and transparent tracking system. With the ability to use filters to view specific employees, managers can ensure smooth holiday scheduling while maintaining workforce balance.
Example use cases
- Approving pending requests: Quickly review and approve or reject multiple holiday requests submitted by your team members.
- Creating leave for an employee: Add a sick day or special leave on behalf of an employee who is unable to submit it themselves.
- Adjusting approved leave: Modify the dates or duration of an already approved holiday if plans change, ensuring accuracy in leave records.
- Visualizing team availability: Use the Holiday Planner to get a comprehensive overview of who is on leave at any given time, aiding in workforce planning.