Effective leave management is crucial for any organization, ensuring operational continuity while supporting employee well-being. Flowtly empowers you to centralize and automate this process, from defining various leave types to managing employee requests and approvals seamlessly. This tutorial will guide you through configuring different holiday types, enabling your team to submit leave requests, and efficiently handling the approval workflow within Flowtly.
Configuring Holiday Types
This section focuses on defining the different kinds of leave your employees can take. Flowtly provides the flexibility to set up various holiday types, each with its own rules and approval requirements, reflecting your company's specific policies.
Step 1: Access the Holiday Types Settings
First, you'll need to navigate to the administrative section where holiday types are managed.
- From your Flowtly dashboard, click on the Administration menu in the left sidebar.
- Within the Administration section, locate and click on Holiday Types. This will open a page displaying any existing holiday types and an option to create new ones.
Step 2: Create a New Holiday Type
Let's start by setting up a common type of leave, such as "Annual Leave" or "Vacation."
- On the Holiday Types page, click the + New Holiday Type button (or similar prominent button, often green or blue).
- A form will appear, prompting you to enter details for your new holiday type.
Step 3: Define Properties for the Holiday Type
This is where the customization happens. Each property you configure will dictate how this specific holiday type behaves within Flowtly.
- Name: Enter a descriptive name, e.g., "Annual Leave," "Vacation," "Paid Time Off (PTO)."
- Description: Provide a brief explanation of this holiday type. This helps employees understand its purpose.
- Is Paid: Check this box if this leave type is paid. Uncheck it for unpaid leave (e.g., unpaid leave of absence).
- Counts Towards Accrual: If your company uses leave accrual (e.g., employees earn X days per month), check this box for leave types that contribute to or are deducted from this accrued balance. Annual Leave typically counts towards accrual.
- Allows Negative Balance: Decide if employees can request more leave than they have accrued. This is usually unchecked for annual leave but might be allowed for specific types of emergency leave.
- Requires Approval: Almost all leave types will require approval from a manager or administrator. Keep this box checked. If unchecked, requests for this type of leave would be automatically approved.
- Can Be Carried Over: If unused leave days for this type can be carried over to the next year, check this box. You might also have options to define carry-over limits (e.g., maximum X days).
- Minimum/Maximum Days: You might set minimum or maximum day limits for a single request of this type of leave. For example, a minimum of 0.5 days for a half-day, or a maximum of 30 days for an extended leave.
- Default Approver: You can often set a default approver or an approval hierarchy. For most organizations, this will be the employee's direct manager. Ensure the system is configured to route requests to the appropriate personnel.
Tip: Carefully consider your company's leave policies for each field. Consistency between Flowtly's configuration and your internal rules is key to avoiding confusion and disputes. Refer to your employee handbook or HR policies.
- Once all details are entered, click Save (or Create Holiday Type).
Step 4: Create Other Holiday Types
Repeat the process for other common leave types relevant to your organization, such as:
- Sick Leave: Often paid, may not count towards standard annual leave accrual, may not allow a negative balance, and might have different documentation requirements outside Flowtly.
- Parental Leave: Typically has specific legal requirements and durations, often paid or partially paid, and might not count towards standard accrual.
- Unpaid Leave: Always marked as "Is Paid: No."
- Public Holidays: These are often pre-defined by the system or imported, but you might need to create specific local public holidays if they're not global. For public holidays, "Requires Approval" might be unchecked as they apply to everyone.
Note: For complex leave types, such as those involving specific legal frameworks (e.g., FMLA in the US, or extended parental leave), you might need to use Flowtly's Document Management feature to attach relevant forms or policies, or leverage Attributes to track specific details related to eligibility or duration.
Enabling Employee Leave Requests
Once your holiday types are set up, employees can begin submitting their leave requests. Flowtly makes this process intuitive for your team.
Step 1: Ensure Employees Have Access and Understand the Process
Before employees can submit requests, they need to have the appropriate user roles and permissions within Flowtly. Generally, standard employee roles are configured to allow access to their personal HR functions, including leave requests.
- Verify that your employee roles (managed under
Administration>Rolesor similar) grant permission to "View Holidays" and "Create Holiday Requests." - Educate your employees on how to submit requests. This can be done through internal communications, a quick training session, or by directing them to this tutorial.
Step 2: How Employees Submit Requests
Employees typically access their leave management section through their personal dashboard.
- From the Flowtly Home page, employees can usually find a direct link or navigate to the Holidays section in the main menu.
- On the Holidays page, they will see options to "Request New Holiday" (or similar button).
- They will then fill out a simple form:
- Holiday Type: Select from the list of types you configured (e.g., Annual Leave, Sick Leave).
- Start Date & End Date: Specify the period of leave.
- Reason: Provide a brief explanation for the leave request.
- Comments/Attachments: Optionally add more details or attach supporting documents (e.g., a doctor's note for sick leave).
- After filling out the details, they click Submit Request. The request is then sent to the designated approver(s).
Tip: Encourage employees to submit requests with sufficient notice, especially for planned annual leave. This allows managers ample time for review and planning, minimizing disruption. Flowtly's Emails & Notifications can be configured to send reminders for pending requests.
Managing and Approving Leave Requests
As a manager or administrator, you'll be responsible for reviewing and acting on incoming leave requests. Flowtly centralizes these actions to ensure a smooth workflow.
Step 1: Navigate to the Approval Queue
Pending leave requests are typically highlighted in a central location for easy access.
- From your Flowtly dashboard, check the Action Center. This is often where all pending tasks and approvals, including holiday requests, are consolidated.
- Alternatively, navigate to the Holidays section in the main menu, where you will usually find a sub-section for "Pending Approvals" or "Team Leave Requests."
Step 2: Review a Leave Request
When you see a new request, click on it to view the details.
- The request details screen will show:
- Employee's name and relevant information (often linked to their People profile).
- Holiday Type requested.
- Requested Start Date and End Date, including total days.
- Employee's reason and any comments/attachments.
- Often, you'll also see the employee's current leave balance for that holiday type, and their upcoming leave schedule, helping you make an informed decision.
- You might also see a team calendar view, indicating if other team members are already on leave during the requested period. This is vital for Costs Control and Project Tracking if resource allocation is tight.
Step 3: Approve or Reject a Request
After reviewing all the information, you can take action.
- You will typically find Approve and Reject buttons on the request details page.
- To Approve: Click Approve. The leave will then be added to the employee's approved leave schedule and their leave balance will be adjusted (if applicable).
- To Reject: Click Reject. You will usually be prompted to provide a mandatory reason for rejection. This feedback is crucial for the employee to understand why their request was denied.
Tip: Before approving, always consider team capacity and project deadlines. Flowtly's integration with Project Tracking and visibility into team Work Schedules can help you assess the impact of an employee's absence.
Step 4: Notifications
Once you approve or reject a request, Flowtly automatically notifies the employee (and sometimes other relevant stakeholders, such as their project manager) about the decision. This keeps everyone informed and ensures transparency.
Note: Flowtly's System Logs & Audit Trail tracks all actions related to leave requests, providing a clear record of submissions, approvals, and rejections for compliance and review purposes.
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Summary
By thoughtfully configuring holiday types and leveraging Flowtly's intuitive request and approval workflows, you can create an efficient and transparent leave management system. This not only simplifies administrative tasks for HR and managers but also provides clarity and fairness for your employees, contributing to a well-organized and harmonious workplace.
Next Steps
Now that you've mastered the basics, consider exploring more advanced features such as integrating leave data with payroll exports through Accountancy Exports or setting up custom approval workflows for different leave types.
