Efficiently Manage Employee Holiday Requests and Approvals

Welcome to this tutorial on mastering employee holiday requests and approvals within Flowtly! This guide will walk you through setting up custom holiday types tailored to your organization's needs, empowering your employees to easily request leave, and streamlining the entire approval and tracking process to ensure efficient absence management. By the end, you'll have a robust system in place for managing all types of employee absences.

Step 1: Configure Custom Holiday Types

The first step to efficient holiday management is to define the various types of leave your organization offers. Flowtly allows you to create and customize these to match your company policies and local regulations.

• Navigate to Holiday Types:
• From the main navigation menu, go to Administration > Holiday Types.
• Here, you'll see a list of any existing holiday types.

• Add a New Holiday Type:
• Click the + New Holiday Type button.
• Name: Give your holiday type a clear and descriptive name (e.g., "Annual Leave," "Sick Leave," "Parental Leave," "Unpaid Leave").
• Description (Optional): Add a brief description to clarify the purpose or rules for this leave type.
• Requires Approval: This is a crucial setting.
• Check this box if requests for this holiday type must be approved by a manager or administrator. Most leave types, especially annual leave, will require approval.
• Uncheck it for types that don't need explicit approval (e.g., "Public Holiday" if it's automatically granted to all employees).
• Paid Leave: Indicate whether this holiday type is paid or unpaid. This impacts payroll calculations and employee understanding.
• Affects Leave Balance: If this holiday type should deduct days from an employee's allocated leave balance (e.g., annual leave), check this box. Uncheck it for types like sick leave that might be separate, or unpaid leave that doesn't consume an allocated balance.
• Calculation Method: Select how the system should calculate the duration of this leave type.
• Working Days Only: Only deducts days that are considered working days according to the employee's work schedule. (Recommended for most types like annual leave).
• Calendar Days: Deducts all days, including weekends and public holidays, within the requested period. (Useful for certain types of extended leave).
• Color: Choose a distinct color that will represent this holiday type on calendars, making it easy to visually identify.

• Save Your Changes:
• Once you've configured all the settings, click Save to add the new holiday type.
• Repeat this process for all the different leave types your company recognizes.

Tip: Define clear guidelines for each holiday type within your company's HR policy. Flowtly helps enforce these rules, but employees should still be aware of the underlying policies. Consider adding a link to your internal policy document in the description if applicable.

Step 2: Ensure Employee Work Schedules and Balances Are Set Up

For holiday requests to function correctly, employees need defined work schedules and allocated leave balances.

• Work Schedules:
• Navigate to Administration > Work Schedules.
• Ensure that default work schedules are set up and assigned to employees under People > [Employee Name] > Work Schedule. This determines which days are considered working days for leave calculation purposes.

• Initial Holiday Balances:
• Go to Human Resources > Holidays.
• Click on Leave Balances to view and adjust the annual leave allocation for each employee. You can manually input starting balances or adjust them as needed.

Note: Proper setup of work schedules and initial leave balances is critical for accurate leave calculations and preventing discrepancies in employee holiday requests.

Step 3: Employees Request Leave

Once holiday types are configured, employees can easily submit their leave requests directly within Flowtly. This empowers them with self-service capabilities and ensures all requests are routed through the official system.

• Accessing the Holiday Request Form:
• Employees can log in to Flowtly.
• They can typically find a direct link on their Home dashboard under "My Holidays" or navigate to People Dashboard > My Holidays.
• Click + Request New Holiday.

• Filling Out the Request Form:
• Holiday Type: Select the appropriate type of leave from the dropdown menu (e.g., "Annual Leave," "Sick Leave").
• Start Date & End Date: Use the calendar picker to select the start and end dates for the requested leave period. The system will automatically calculate the number of days based on the selected holiday type's calculation method and the employee's work schedule.
• Comments (Optional): Employees can add any relevant notes for their manager, such as reasons for absence or special instructions.
• Remaining Balance: The system will display the employee's current remaining leave balance for the selected holiday type, allowing them to see the impact of their request before submission.
• Attachments (Optional): If required (e.g., a doctor's note for sick leave), employees can upload supporting documents.

• Submitting the Request:
• After reviewing all details, the employee clicks Submit.
• The request will then be sent to the designated approver (usually their direct manager or an HR administrator).
• The employee will receive an email notification confirming their request submission.

Tip: Encourage employees to submit requests well in advance for planned holidays. This allows managers sufficient time for review and planning, minimizing operational disruptions. They can also view their team's holiday calendar to avoid overlaps before submitting.

Step 4: Managers/Admins Approve or Reject Holiday Requests

Managers and administrators play a crucial role in reviewing and acting on submitted holiday requests. Flowtly centralizes these requests, making the approval process straightforward.

• Approving via the Action Center:
• The Action Center is your go-to place for all pending tasks and approvals, including holiday requests.
• From your Home dashboard, click on Action Center in the left navigation.
• Look for items under the "Holiday Requests" section.
• Each pending request will be listed, showing the employee's name, holiday type, and dates.
• Click on a request to view its details. You will see options to Approve or Reject.
• If rejecting, it's good practice to provide a clear Reason for Rejection.
• You can also perform Bulk Actions if you have multiple requests awaiting approval, selecting several and choosing to approve or reject them simultaneously.

• Approving via the Holidays Module:
• Alternatively, you can navigate to Human Resources > Holidays.
• Here, you'll see a comprehensive list of all holiday requests.
• You can use filters to specifically view Pending requests.
• Click on an individual request to open its details.
• From the detail view, you'll have the option to Approve, Reject, or Edit the request if minor adjustments are needed before approval.
• When approving, the system will automatically update the employee's leave balance and add the absence to relevant calendars.

Tip: Set up email notifications for managers so they are immediately alerted when a new holiday request is submitted. This ensures timely review and prevents delays in the approval process.

Step 5: Track and Monitor Absences

Once requests are approved, Flowtly provides tools to visualize and track all employee absences, helping you maintain operational continuity and manage staffing levels.

• Company-Wide Holiday Calendar:
• Go to Human Resources > Holidays.
• The primary view here is typically a calendar showing all approved employee absences.
• You can use filters to view holidays by department, team, or specific holiday type.
• This visual overview helps managers identify potential staffing shortages or overlaps in leave.

• Employee Leave Balances:
• Also within Human Resources > Holidays, you can access Leave Balances.
• This section provides an up-to-date overview of each employee's allocated, taken, and remaining leave days for each holiday type.
• You can adjust balances if needed due to unforeseen circumstances or policy changes.

• Employee Profile Views:
• For individual employee absence history, go to People > [Employee Name].
• Under their profile, you will find a dedicated Holidays tab listing all their past and future leave requests, along with their current leave balances.

Note: Regularly review the holiday calendar to proactively address potential staffing issues. Encourage team leads to do the same for their direct reports.

Summary and Next Steps

By following these steps, you've established a streamlined and efficient system for managing employee holiday requests and approvals in Flowtly. You've learned to customize holiday types, empower employees with self-service requests, simplify the approval workflow, and gain clear visibility into all absences. This not only reduces administrative burden but also improves transparency and employee satisfaction.

Consider exploring Flowtly's reporting capabilities related to Human Resources to gain deeper insights into absence trends and planning. Regularly review and update your holiday types and policies to ensure they remain aligned with your company's evolving needs.

Learn more

• Holidays
• Holiday Types
• People
• Action Center
• Emails & Notifications