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Manage Leave Requests

Approve, edit, and manage leave and unavailability requests.

Updated over 3 weeks ago

Submit Leave Requests

  • Employees can apply for leave via the Workforce.com Mobile App or online at my.workforce.com.

  • Employees can submit unavailability requests (days or times they cannot work) through the same channels.

  • Managers approve requests online at my.workforce.com and only see requests for teams they manage.


Leave Approval Process

  • When an employee submits a leave request, it remains pending until approved or declined.

  • Once approved, Workforce.com automatically creates timesheets for the leave dates with the correct hours.


Approve Leave Requests

To approve leave requests:

  1. Go to Time & Attendance > Leave > Leave Requests.

  2. Select View Request or open the dropdown arrow ˅.

  3. Choose Approve or Decline.

    • Approve: adds the leave to the employee’s timesheet and notifies them.

    • Decline: managers may add a reason, which is visible to the employee.

Tip: To decline an already approved request, select View Request > Decline.


Approve Leave Requests on the Rota

To approve leave requests on the rota:

  1. Open the rota.

  2. Click the pending leave request.

  3. In the left-hand panel, select More Information.

  4. Click Approve.


Edit Pending Leave Requests

To edit a pending leave request:

  1. Go to Time & Attendance > Leave.

  2. Select View Request.

  3. To edit:

    • Leave details (dates, type, reason, attachments): go to Leave Details > Edit.

    • Daily breakdown (days, hours, teams): go to Daily Breakdown > Edit.

    • Advanced settings (restrict to one team): go to Daily Breakdown > Edit > Advanced Settings.

  4. Select Update or Save.


Block out Periods of Leave

Use custom events to prevent leave being taken during specific times.

  1. Go to Schedule > Events & Comments > + Add New Event > Prevent Staff from Taking Leave.

(For more detail, see the guide: Leave Blackouts.)


Allow employees to view other employees’ leave

To allow employees to view other employees' leave:

  1. Go to Settings > Permissions.

  2. Enable Allow staff to view the full leave calendar.

Employees will then see approved leave on the rota and calendar.

  • Visible: leave type.

  • Not visible: reason, pending, or declined requests.


View Leave Request History

Each request has a full audit trail of submissions, approvals, declines, and timestamps.

  • Go to the Leave request > Drop down menu > History:


Notifications

  • Once a day, Workforce.com emails managers/admins about new leave and unavailability requests.

  • Change preferences via Profile (top right) > My Notification Preferences.

  • Managers inactive for 1 month will not receive these emails.

(For more detail of managing notifications, see the guide: Manage Notification Settings.)


Leave Request Details Explained

  • Start Date → when leave begins

  • Duration → total length of leave

  • Hours → total hours requested

  • Leave Type → type of leave available

  • Current Balance → current entitlement

  • Projected Balance → entitlement if the request is approved

  • Created → date the request was submitted

  • Reason & Attachments → optional (e.g. medical certificate)

  • Team → allocates leave cost to a team (optional)

  • Daily Breakdown → details of hours/days applied

  • Events & Schedules → shows clashes with public holidays, events, or shifts

  • Decline & Notify → option to decline and give a reason


Unavailability requests

How it works

  • Staff submit unavailable days/times through the app or online.

  • Requests are pending until a manager approves or declines.

  • Approved unavailability shows on the rota.

Approve unavailability requests

  1. Go to Time & Attendance > Unavailability.

  2. Select Review.

  3. Choose Approve or Decline and Notify.

Unavailability details explained

  • Date → start date of unavailability

  • Repeats → whether it repeats

  • Frequency → cadence (e.g. weekly)

  • Requested → when it was submitted

  • Reason → required field

  • Status → pending, approved, or declined

  • Events → clashes with public holidays or rota events


FAQs

Why can’t a user request a certain leave type?

  • No balance assigned

  • Leave type not applied to that employee (through tags)

  • Leave type has “prevent leave requests” enabled

Who can approve leave?

Admins, General Managers, Payroll Officers, and Team Managers (restricted to their teams).


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