LEAVE & PTO GUIDE
Time away.
Clear requests and balances.
Set up your leave policy, understand when balances change, and keep employees and managers working from the same information.
Managers: configure leave first
Open Company Settings → Leave.
- Turn on Enable leave requests.
- Set Hours per full day, Day starts at and the working days used for full-day requests. The full-day schedule must end by midnight.
- Create the leave types your company uses. Choose a clear name and review each setting below.
- Choose whether employees can see team availability and whether leave updates can use email or text.
- Select Save leave settings and check the confirmation.
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Paid leave | Whether approved hours are treated as paid leave in reports and related calculations. It does not send payment. |
| Track balance | Whether approvals and approved cancellations post deductions and restorations to the employee's balance for this type. |
| Active | Whether employees can select this type for new requests. Retire a saved type instead of deleting it. |
What changes when I edit the policy later?
Existing requests keep their recorded schedule. Approved leave keeps its recorded rules. If a pending request's type is retired or its Paid leave or Track balance setting changes, the manager must decline it with an explanation and ask the employee to submit a new request under the current rules.
Turning requests off stops new requests and amendments. Existing requests, approved leave, balances and cancellation workflows remain available.
Enter opening balances and adjustments
Open Leave → Balances.
- Select the employee and review the available hours and balance history for the type.
- Select Adjust balance and choose a type with balance tracking enabled.
- Enter the hours to add or deduct. Use a positive amount to add hours and a negative amount to subtract them.
- Enter a reason, then save and check the updated balance history.
It does not replace the total. If an employee has 24 hours and should have 40, add 16 hours. Do not add 40 again. Another manager must adjust your own balance.
For balance-tracked types, approval deducts the requested hours immediately, including future leave. Pending hours are displayed separately and do not deduct the balance. Types without balance tracking do not create these balance deductions.
Employees: request time off
Open Leave and select Request leave.
- Check existing requests and your balance, then choose the leave type.
- For Full working days, enter the first and last date. Only the company's configured working days are included.
- For a partial day, clear Full working days and provide a single date with start and end times. The end must be after the start.
- Add a private note if your manager needs context, then select Submit request.
- Check the status under Requests. A submitted request still needs approval.
For example, with Monday through Friday configured at eight hours per day, a Friday-through-Monday full-day request includes Friday and Monday: 16 hours. A partial-day request from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM uses three hours. All times use company server time.
No configured working days fall in my request.
The full-day calculation only includes the company's selected weekdays. Check your dates. For a different working date, use a partial-day request with the actual times, or ask your manager to review the company schedule.
Managers: review the request and warnings
- In Leave, choose Needs review and open the request.
- Check the employee, type, dates, hours, current balance and any private note.
- Review conflicts with other leave, recorded work, published schedules or existing paid-leave credits.
- Choose Approve or Decline. Declining requires a reason. Where a warning is permitted, acknowledge it and explain your approval.
- Check the final status and, for tracked types, the balance history.
| Issue | What to do |
|---|---|
| Negative balance | A manager may approve with an explicit acknowledgement and explanation. Review the intended allowance first. |
| Overlapping recorded work or schedule | Review the intended hours, acknowledge the warning and explain the decision. Arrange coverage and update the schedule separately. |
| Overlapping approved leave | Resolve the overlap before approving the new request. |
| Duplicate manual paid-leave credit | Remove the duplicate credit before approving the paid request. |
| Paid leave and holiday credits over 24 hours in a workday | Correct the credits before approval. |
Another manager must review your own leave. If the request, balance or related records change while you are reviewing, reload and check the warnings again. Locked periods require authorized reopening before an approval changes their hours.
Change or cancel a request
Before approval
The employee can use Edit request or Withdraw request. Withdrawing a pending request cancels it without deducting a balance.
After approval
Use Request amendment to propose new dates, times or details. The existing approval remains in effect until the amendment is approved. On approval, the original becomes Replaced by amendment; the replacement becomes the effective request.
To cancel approved leave, use Request cancellation. A manager chooses Approve cancellation or Keep approved leave. Until that decision, the original leave and balance deduction remain in effect. Approved cancellation restores hours for a tracked type.
I cannot request cancellation while an amendment is pending.
Withdraw the pending amendment first, then request cancellation of the original approved leave. Check both records so you know which request is still effective.
The manager kept my approved leave instead of cancelling it.
The request returns to Approved and its hours remain in effect. Read the decision reason and discuss the dates with your manager.
Follow a balance through the workflow
This example uses one balance-tracked PTO type, a 40-hour opening balance and no other adjustments or requests.
| Event | Available hours | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Opening adjustment: +40 | 40 | The manager records the starting allowance. |
| Employee requests 8 hours | 40 | The request is pending; no deduction yet. |
| Manager approves 8 hours | 32 | Approval deducts 8, even for a future date. |
| Employee proposes 12 hours instead | 32 | The original 8-hour approval remains effective. |
| Manager approves the amendment | 28 | Restore the original 8, then deduct the replacement 12. |
| Employee requests cancellation | 28 | The 12-hour approval still applies while review is pending. |
| Manager approves cancellation | 40 | Restore the approved 12 hours. |
Check leave in reports and payroll
Saved runs and accountant export guide →
In Leave → Leave report, choose the date range and review worked hours, approved paid leave and approved unpaid leave separately. Managers can download the CSV. Future approved leave can appear when the report range includes future dates.
Approved paid leave creates linked leave credits for the relevant calculations. Its overtime treatment follows company policy. Do not add a separate manual credit for the same leave.
For internal payroll preparation, check Payroll settings, including whether approved paid leave and leave credits are included. Confirm the period, rates and included earnings before using the gross-pay estimate.
Visibility and notifications
The employee and company managers can see the private request details. When team availability is enabled, coworkers see names and unavailable times, without private leave reasons, types or balances.
Email and text updates require both the company channel setting and the recipient's Profile preference. Open the request to confirm its status even if a notification is delayed. Notifications link to private details without including the reason or leave type.
Common questions
Why is my balance lower before I take the leave?
Approved future leave is deducted immediately for tracked types. Check Balance history and your approved requests before asking for an adjustment.
Why did an approved request not reduce the balance?
Check whether that leave type tracks a balance. Paid leave and Track balance are separate settings. Use the rules recorded on the request when reviewing older leave.
Why are there no new hours at the start of the year?
Automatic accrual, annual allowances and carryover are not applied. Your manager must enter any adjustment that your company policy requires.
Why can I not approve the request?
Check whether it is your own leave, whether the type changed, whether time is locked, and whether a blocking overlap or credit issue exists. Follow the displayed message. If related data changed, reload before reviewing again.
A request disappeared from Needs review.
Choose All requests and open its status and history. It may have been approved, declined, cancelled or replaced by an amendment. A cancellation awaiting review still leaves approved leave in effect.