Available for the following HR Classic plans: Standard, Premium, Platinum
Available for the following User Access levels: Employee, Contractor
Important
If you have joined Employment Hero on or since 1 January 2026, you will have access to the new leave experience. See here for more information regarding this.
If you joined Employment Hero before 1 January 2026, you will get access to the new leave experience from 4 August 2026.
Whether you're an employee applying for leave or a contractor logging unavailability, keeping your schedule updated ensures team transparency and maintains steady productivity.
This article explains how employees can create and submit leave requests, and provides resources for contractors looking to log their unavailability.
Apply for leave as an employee
Note: The total hours taken for each day will depend on the employment settings that your company has set. Part-time employees will need to check the auto-populated value for each day to make sure their leave request displays their correct hours.
- Click the Time menu.
- Under Leave, click the Leave submenu.
- Click the Create Leave Request button.
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Complete the following fields:
- Leave category
- From
- To
The Leave Balance section will update dynamically based on your selections. It includes:- Total Available: Your current balance plus any forecasted accruals.
- Forecasted Accrual: Leave expected to accrue by the start of the leave period.
- Deductions: Shows the impact of pending requests, approved requests, and this current request.
- Projected Remaining Balance: Total Available minus total deductions.
Note: You can click on View details in the Pending Requests or Approved Requests section to see start and end dates and hours for those requests.
- Click the Submit button.
Note: Employees can submit half-day leave requests, in addition to full-day and multiple-day leave requests. The hours taken will be 50% of their standard work hours.
Submit unavailability as a contractor
- Log in to the Employment Hero platform.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Unavailability submenu.
- Click the Add button.
- Complete the following fields:
- On the / Until: Select the start and end dates from the calendar dropdowns.
- All day: Check this box if you are unavailable for the full day sequence, or leave it unchecked to specify explicit Start time and End time settings.
- On an ongoing basis: Check this toggle if the unavailability repeats, and choose the respective days of the week (e.g., Mon, Tue, etc.).
- Note (Optional): Enter any relevant remarks or details.
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Click the Save button.
Helpful Hint
Periods of unavailability are recorded instantly with no approval required. Your manager will be automatically notified in their Notifications.
For a comprehensive step-by-step walkthrough, please refer to our guide: How to submit an unavailability request.
Explore related content
- Approve, decline, and edit my employee's timesheets as a managerThis article shows how managers can manage and edit timesheets submitted by their direct reports.
- Manage weekly hour-based timesheetsThis feature lets managers review, approve, or decline timesheets individually or in bulk, as well as submit, edit, or delete timesheets on behalf of employees.