Master Employee Leave Management: Setup, Request, and Approval in Flowtly

Managing employee leave effectively is crucial for smooth operations and employee satisfaction. This tutorial will walk you through setting up different holiday types, enabling your employees to request leave, and efficiently managing the approval process within Flowtly. By the end, you'll have a robust system in place for seamless absence management.

1. Setting Up Your Holiday Types

The first step is to define the various types of leave your organization offers. These "Holiday Types" are the foundation for tracking and managing employee absences.

• Navigate to Holiday Types:
• From the main Flowtly dashboard, click on Settings in the left-hand navigation menu.
• Within the Settings section, select Human Resources.
• Finally, click on Holiday Types.

• Add a New Holiday Type:
• On the Holiday Types page, you'll see a list of existing types (if any). To create a new one, click the + Add New Holiday Type button.

• Configure Holiday Type Details:
• Name: Enter a clear and descriptive name for the holiday type, such as "Annual Leave," "Sick Leave," "Parental Leave," or "Unpaid Leave."
• Description: Provide a brief explanation of the leave type. This helps employees understand its purpose and conditions.
• Allowance Configuration: This is where you define how this leave type behaves:
• Allowance Type: Choose whether the allowance is Per Year (e.g., 20 days annual leave), Unlimited (e.g., for some sick leave policies), or Specific Duration (e.g., a one-time grant).
• Default Days (if 'Per Year'): If applicable, enter the standard number of days granted per year.
• Carry Over: Decide if unused days from this leave type can be carried over to the next period. If yes, you might specify a maximum number of days or a specific carry-over period.
• Validity Period: Define when the allowance resets (e.g., Calendar Year starting January 1st, or Employment Year based on the employee's start date).
• Approval Required: Toggle this option Yes if requests for this holiday type need to be approved by a manager or HR. For some types, like short personal breaks, you might set it to No.
• Applicability: Specify if this holiday type applies to All Employees or Specific Groups/Departments. This allows you to tailor leave policies to different teams or roles.
• Work Schedule Impact: Flowtly can automatically deduct leave days based on an employee's work schedule, excluding non-working days. Ensure this is configured correctly to reflect your company's policy.
• Save: Once all details are configured, click the Save button to create the new holiday type.

Tip: Before setting up, review your company's full leave policy. Ensure every type of absence, paid or unpaid, is accounted for in your Flowtly Holiday Types for comprehensive tracking.

2. Allocating Holiday Allowances to Employees

Once your holiday types are defined, you need to assign the appropriate allowances to your employees. This ensures each employee knows how many days they have available for each leave type.

• Access Employee Profiles:
• In the main Flowtly navigation, click on People.
• You'll see a list of all employees. Select the specific employee whose holiday allowance you wish to manage.

• Navigate to the Holidays Tab:
• Within the employee's profile, look for the Holidays or Leave tab and click on it. This tab provides an overview of their current leave balances and history.

• Add or Adjust Allowances:
• On the Holidays tab, you'll typically find an option like + Add Allowance or Edit Allowance. Click this to manage their entitlements.
• Select Holiday Type: Choose the holiday type you want to allocate from the dropdown list (e.g., "Annual Leave").
• Number of Days: Enter the exact number of days (or hours) allocated for this specific period.
• Start Date & End Date: Define the period for which this allowance is valid. This is crucial for tracking carry-overs and accruals accurately.
• Carry-over Days (if applicable): If the employee has carried over days from a previous period, you can manually enter them here or Flowtly might automatically calculate them based on your Holiday Type settings.
• Save Changes: Confirm the allocation by clicking Save.

Tip: For new hires, remember to prorate their annual leave allowance if your policy dictates. You can always adjust allowances later if there are changes to an employee's contract or roles. Flowtly often provides bulk action options for allocating allowances to multiple employees simultaneously, which can be a huge time-saver.

3. Employees Requesting Leave

Empowering employees to easily request leave streamlines the entire process. Flowtly provides an intuitive interface for employees to submit their requests.

• Log In and Navigate:
• Employees log in to their Flowtly account.
• They can typically find a prominent section on their Home dashboard or navigate directly to the Holidays section in the main menu.

• Initiate a Leave Request:
• Look for a button labeled Request Holiday, Submit Leave Request, or similar, and click on it.

• Fill in Request Details:
• Holiday Type: Select the appropriate leave type from the dropdown menu (e.g., "Annual Leave," "Sick Leave").
• Start Date & End Date: Use the calendar pickers to select the desired start and end dates for the leave. Flowtly will often automatically calculate the total number of working days based on the employee's work schedule and company public holidays.
• Reason/Comments: Provide a brief reason for the leave. This is helpful for managers during the approval process. For example, "Family vacation to Spain" or "Doctor's appointment."
• Attachments (Optional): If required (e.g., a doctor's note for sick leave or travel itinerary), employees can attach relevant documents.
• Review Available Balance: Flowtly typically displays the employee's remaining balance for the selected holiday type, helping them make informed decisions.

• Submit the Request:
• Once all details are entered and reviewed, click the Submit Request button.
• The request will then be sent for approval according to the configured workflow.

Tip: Encourage employees to review their available holiday balance and consult any team calendars within Flowtly before submitting a request, especially for longer periods, to avoid conflicts.

4. Approving or Rejecting Leave Requests

Managers and HR personnel play a vital role in reviewing and acting on leave requests. Flowtly centralizes these actions, making the approval process efficient.

• Receive Notifications:
• Managers typically receive an email notification when an employee submits a new leave request.
• Pending requests will also appear in their Flowtly Action Center, a centralized hub for all tasks requiring attention.

• Access Leave Requests:
• Via Action Center: Click on the specific leave request notification in your Action Center. This will take you directly to the request details.
• Via Human Resources: Navigate to Human Resources > Holidays. You will usually find a dedicated tab or section for Pending Requests or Leave Approvals.

• Review the Request:
• On the request details page, you'll see:
• Employee's name, department, and position.
• The requested holiday type, start date, end date, and total duration.
• The employee's reason/comments.
• The employee's current holiday balance for that specific leave type.
• Often, a team calendar view will be available, showing other approved leaves for colleagues, helping identify potential staffing conflicts.
• Any attached documents.

• Take Action:
• Approve: If the request aligns with company policy, adequate balance is available, and there are no critical operational conflicts, click the Approve button.
• Reject: If the request cannot be granted, click the Reject button. It is crucial to provide a clear and concise Reason for Rejection (e.g., "Operational needs," "Insufficient balance," "Policy violation"). This feedback is automatically sent to the employee.
• Request More Information: If you need further clarification before making a decision, you can use this option to send a message back to the employee.

• Confirmation:
• Once you approve or reject a request, the employee will automatically receive a notification of the decision, and their holiday balance will be updated accordingly.

Tip: Establish clear internal guidelines for leave approval, especially for periods like peak season or projects. Utilize Flowtly's Emails & Notifications settings to ensure that managers receive timely alerts for pending requests and that employees are always informed of the status of their requests.

Summary & Next Steps

Congratulations! You've mastered the core aspects of employee leave management in Flowtly. By setting up holiday types, allocating allowances, and managing the request and approval workflow, you ensure a transparent, efficient, and compliant process for handling employee absences.

Continue to explore Flowtly's reporting features to gain insights into leave trends, manage annual leave carry-over, and ensure your team's availability is always optimized.

Learn more

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