You can limit how many staff are on leave or unavailable on specific days on the rota. This helps you avoid staff shortages and make sure you’re sufficiently staffed.
What's covered in this guide?
How it works
A limit only counts approved requests. Pending requests don’t count towards it.
For example, your limit is 2 leave requests for an upcoming Saturday. You’ve already approved two leave requests for that Saturday. If a third staff member tries to request leave for that day, they won’t be able to submit it.
If you set the limit to 0, nobody can request leave on those dates, and nobody can add once-off or temporary unavailability. Ongoing (repeating) availability isn’t blocked.
Set a limit on leave requests
To limit leave requests, create an event for those dates. Go to your rota, click Actions, then Add event. You can also open Events & Comments and click Add new event.
Enter the event details:
Event name
Locations and teams (keep all selected to apply to everyone)
Dates
Click Next. Then, under Leave Restrictions (US: Time Off Restrictions), choose Blackout leave (US: Blackout time off). You can then set:
Max leave requests (US: Max time off requests): how many approved requests are allowed before the blackout applies.
Leave Types (US: Time Off Types): which leave types the blackout applies to. Leave it blank to apply to all leave types.
To warn staff without blocking them, choose Discourage time off instead.
Finish by clicking Submit.
What do employees see?
When the limit has been reached, employees who try to request leave on those dates, in the app or online, see this message and can’t submit the request:
Leave is blocked by the following events: [event name]. To continue, adjust the leave dates.
(US: Time off is blocked by the following events: [event name]. To continue, adjust the time off dates.)
If you chose Discourage time off, employees see a warning that leave is discouraged, but they can still submit the request.
Managers who can approve leave can still book leave for staff on blocked dates.
Set a limit on unavailability requests
To limit unavailability requests, create an event for those dates. Go to your rota, click Actions, then Add event.
Enter the event name, locations and dates, then click Next. Under Unavailability Restrictions, choose Blackout unavailability. You can then set:
Max unavailability requests: how many approved temporary changes and once-off unavailability requests are allowed before the blackout applies.
📝 Important to note: Unavailability limits above 0 only work when the event is set to specific locations or teams. For an event that covers everyone, only a limit of 0 blocks unavailability.
To warn staff without blocking them, choose Discourage unavailability instead.
Finish by clicking Submit.
What do employees see?
When the limit has been reached, employees who try to submit unavailability on those dates see an error message and can’t submit the request.
FAQs
Can I prevent unavailability requests and leave requests at the same time?
Can I prevent unavailability requests and leave requests at the same time?
Yes. One event can restrict both leave and unavailability. You can set any combination:
Leave | Unavailability |
Discourage | Discourage |
Blackout | Discourage |
Discourage | Blackout |
Blackout | Blackout |
See example:
What happens to pending leave or unavailability requests after I create an event?
What happens to pending leave or unavailability requests after I create an event?
You still need to approve or decline any pending requests that were submitted before you created the event. Only approved requests count towards the limit.
Do leave blackouts apply to staff in secondary teams?
Do leave blackouts apply to staff in secondary teams?
No. A blackout only applies to staff in the event’s teams or locations as their main team. It doesn’t apply to staff who are only in one of those teams as a secondary team.
Can managers still book leave on blocked dates?
Can managers still book leave on blocked dates?
Yes. Managers who can approve leave aren’t blocked by blackouts, so they can still submit leave for their staff. Managers can also add unavailability for their staff on blocked dates.
Why is a blackout blocking everyone, even though nobody has leave booked?
Why is a blackout blocking everyone, even though nobody has leave booked?
Check the event’s Max leave requests. If it’s 0, nobody can request leave on those dates. Set it to the number of people you want to allow.
Where do I see events which have been created?
Where do I see events which have been created?
Go to Rotas > Rota Planning > Manage Events (US: Schedules > Schedule Planning > Manage Events).
If you don’t see Rota Planning (US: Schedule Planning), go to Settings and click Custom events in your rota (US: schedule) settings.
