Available for the following EmploymentOS plans: Lite, Plus, Unlimited, Essentials, Engage, Elite, HR + Managed Payroll
Available for the following HR Classic plans: Standard, Premium, Platinum
Available for the following user access levels: Admin
Employee time off management is the process and policies designed for your business to handle requests for time off for staff time off. This may include vacation, holidays, sick time off, and parental time off. A successful time off management platform provides a way to manage these requests and makes sure your organisation takes care of both your employees' needs and your company's legal requirements.
or delete employee time off requests. You can also view your employees' time off in a time off calendar, view an employee's time off information, create time off reports and submit a time off request for an employee.
If your employees have a primary and secondary manager and you wish to have both managers approve the time off request, you can do this through the Two-Level Time Off feature. Read more in this article.
Helpful Hint
Time Off is now available as its own standalone Time Off pill within the employee profile's primary navigation, alongside the profile's other major sections. The previous "Time Off details" inner-tab has been removed from Employment records, so time off information and request actions are now centralised in this dedicated area instead of being nested inside Employment records.
For AIO organisations, this section splits into two tabs: Time Off Details (covering both balance-tracked and occurrence-recorded time off categories, such as sick time off) and Time Off Requests. For non-AIO organisations, the section does not use sub-tabs and instead displays the employee's historical time off request list directly.
This section shows the same time off categories and balances found on the employee's personal summary pages, so admins, managers, and employees can view time off information and historical requests without leaving the employee's profile. Users with Time Off Management permissions can also submit a new time off request for the employee directly from this section, with the employee automatically pre-populated as the subject of the request.
This article covers:
- The connection between HR and Payroll platforms
- Interactive learning
- How to approve and decline time off requests
- How to filter results when searching for time off requests
- How to submit time off for an employee
- View employee time off requests
- How to edit or delete a time off request
- Time Off reports
- Definitions and statuses
- Further information
- Explore related content
Connection between HR and Payroll platforms
Time Off requests only flow from the HR platform to the payroll platform. This connection is one-way, so any changes made in the payroll platform won't sync back to the HR platform. We advise you to make any time off request changes via the HR platform.
Time Off requests will only sync over to payroll once approved. Use the Time Off Request Report for full visibility of your organisation's time off requests. You can read more information here if you are connected to a payroll platform.
Interactive learning
Approve or decline time off
Before being able to manage time off requests within your organisation, you will need to:
- Make sure all your employees have an assigned manager.
- Enable and assign locations and bank holiday calendars.
Important
If an owner or admin is a time off approver for others (e.g., they manage their own team), their time off requests still require manager approval (if applicable).
However, owners and admins typically have permission to bypass the standard time off approval workflow (whether single-level or two-level) and approve time off requests directly, overriding the default routing.
Employees without explicit approver status can also bypass approval, provided they have the necessary permissions, such as Permissions approval bypass.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
- Click the Action button.
- Click the View button.
- Click the Approve button.
Important
If an owner or admin is a time off approver for others (e.g., they manage their own team), their time off requests still require manager approval (if applicable).
However, owners and admins typically have permission to bypass the standard time off approval workflow (whether single-level or two-level) and approve time off requests directly, overriding the default routing.
Employees without explicit approver status can also bypass approval, provided they have the necessary permissions, such as Permissions approval bypass.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Tick the checkboxes for the time off you want to approve.
- Click the Approve Selected button.
Warning
If your HR platform is connected to a payroll platform and you decline a processed time off request, the platform notifies the payroll administrator. They must update the employees' time off request on the payroll platform. The platform does not automatically process the change. To read further details on how to view the specified payroll administrator on the HR platform, refer to the following article.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
- Click the Action button.
- Click the View button.
- Click the Decline button.
Warning
If your HR platform is connected to a payroll platform and you decline a processed time off request, the platform notifies the payroll administrator. They must update the employees' time off request on the payroll platform. The platform does not automatically process the change. To read further details on how to view the specified payroll administrator on the HR platform, refer to the following article.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Tick the checkboxes of the time off requests that need to be declined.
- Click the Decline Selected button.
- Enter the reason for declining the time off request and click the Decline button.
- Log in to Employment Hero.
- On your Employment Hero dashboard, you will see your time off calendar.
- Hover over the day on which you wish to add a time off request.
- Click on the plus sign.
- Add the following details:
- Who is this time off request for?
- Personnel
- Time Off type
- From
- Time Off duration
- To
- Comment (optional)
- File upload.
- Click on Save or Approve in the bottom right-hand side of the pop-up window.
Filter results
Important
Primary and secondary managers can only view time off requests submitted by their own employees. Administrators can view all time off requests, including those from employees they do not manage, by selecting "All personnel" in the Reporting personnel filter.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Click the Filter button and choose from the following options:
- Date range.
- Personnel.
- Time Off category.
- Status:
- Pending time off.
- Approved time off.
- Declined time off.
- Employee status:
- Direct employees.
- Indirect employees.
- All employees.
- Click the Search button.
Submit a request
Warning
The total hours taken for each day depends on the employment settings that your company has set. You will need to verify that part-time employees have the correct auto-populated value for each day.
Important
When an administrator submits time off for another employee, the platform will automatically approve the time off.
For personal time off, the request is automatically approved unless the admin has a primary manager, in which case it is routed to the manager for approval.
Similarly, if an owner or admin has a designated manager, their time off request will automatically be routed to the manager for approval.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Click the Add New Time Off Request button.
-
Complete the following fields:
- Who is this time off request for? / Employee.
Important
Enter the name of the employee you are submitting a time off request for. Do not enter the person's name who is submitting this time off request.
- Time Off category / Time Off type.
Important
The time off types available depend on what time off allowance, pay category, and award you selected within their employee file. To read further details on how to view an employee's pay details, refer to the following article.
- Start date.
- Time Off duration.
- End date.
- Comment.
Once you enter these fields, the Time Off Balance section will dynamically update to show:
- Total Available: The employee's current balance plus any forecasted accruals.
- Forecasted Accrual: Time Off the employee is expected to accrue before the time off period.
-
Deductions:
- Pending Requests (if applicable).
- Approved Requests (if applicable).
- This Request.
- Projected Remaining Balance: Total Available minus all deductions.
Tip
You can click View details under Pending or Approved Requests to see time off periods and total units (hours/days) for each.
-
Click the Add Document button to add any required files.
Helpful Hint
You can click on the Expand button to display the time off details for each month.
Important
If you are only submitting a half day off work for your employee, then you can edit the value within the Hours field. For example, instead of nominating eight hours for a full day of time off, you can nominate four hours for a half day of time off. You can also specify whether the time off occurs during morning and afternoon/evening times by selecting AM or PM.
- Click the Submit button.
Warning
The total hours taken for each day depends on the employment settings that your company has set. You will need to verify that part-time employees have the correct auto-populated value for each day.
Important
When an administrator submits time off for another employee, the time off is automatically approved.
For personal time off, the request is automatically approved unless the admin has a primary manager, in which case it is routed to the manager for approval.
Similarly, if an owner or admin has a designated manager, their time off request will automatically be routed to the manager for approval.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Click the Add New Time Off Request button.
-
Complete the following fields:
-
Who is this time off request for?
Helpful Hint
You need to select either Multiple employees or Everyone.
- Personnel.
Important
Enter the name of the employee you are submitting a time off request for. Do not enter the person's name who is submitting this time off request.
- Time Off type.
Important
The time off types available depend on what time off allowance, pay category, and award you selected within their employee file. To read further details on how to view an employee's pay details, refer to the following article.
- Start date.
- Time Off duration.
- End date.
- Comment.
-
- Click the Next button.
- Click the Approve button.
Important
Once you approve a re-submitted time off request, the time off request will re-sync automatically.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
- Click the Actions button.
- Click the Edit button.
- Click the Re-submit for approval button.
If the rostered employee calls in sick, or has to take any time
off
type as unplanned time off, you can create a time off request
for the
employee directly from the shift on the rota. See below for
instructions.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Rostering Management submenu item.
- Click on the pencil icon on the shift for which the rostered employee is taking unplanned time off.
- Click the Create time off from shift button.
- The personnel and shift information will be pre-filled in the time off request modal. Enter the time off type.
- Decide whether you want to time off the shift as empty, or open for bidding.
- Click on Approve. This is automatically approve the time off request.
Helpful Hint
You can only create a time off request from the rota for published shifts.
View employee time off requests
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Click the Time Off Calendar tab.
- Here you will see your staff time off in calendar format.
Helpful Hint
Only employees who have time off requests during the selected month will appear in the time off calendar.
- Log in to the Employment Hero HR platform.
- Click on Time.
- Click on Time Off Management.
- Click on the Status: Pending box.
- Click on All Personnel under the Reporting Personnel subheading.
- Click Search.
Important
The ability to view a time off request is only available if the payroll platform has processed the time off request within a pay run and imported the pay slips into the HR platform. Use the clock symbols to see the status of the time off request. You can learn more about them in the Definitions: Symbols tab in the Definitions and statuses section at the bottom of this article.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Click the Actions button.
- Click the View button.
Warning
Only the time off balances for pending time off requests and employees who have submitted a time off request will appear on the Time Off Management page.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Hover over the to see the time off balance details.
Warning
A time off category balance will only display if you have configured the time off category and type to display in your payroll platform. To read more on how to configure your time off category and type, read either the Employment Hero Payroll, MYOB, or Xero articles.
- Click the Time menu
- Click the Time Off submenu
- Click the Create Time Off Request button
-
Use the Personnel field to select the employee whose time off balance you want to view.
Warning
Do not complete the rest of the time off request details and push Submit Time Off, if you are only viewing an employees time off balance.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Click the Time Off Balances tab.
- Click the search bar and filter based on:
- Personnel.
- Time Off Category.
- Click the Search button.
- You will now see your employee's time off balance per category and any pending requests they may have. Their continuous employment date will be used to determine their time off balances (for New HR platform users).
- To download the results, click the Download CSV button.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Click the Time Off Calendar tab.
- Choose from the following filter options:
- Personnel.
- Time Off Category.
- Status.
- Reporting personnel:
- Direct.
- Indirect.
- All Personnel
- Click the Search button.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Hover over the to see the time off approval details.
Edit or delete a time off request
Important
You can only edit unprocessed time off requests. We mark a time off request as processed when the payslips for the Pay Run containing the applied time off request sync over to your HR platform. Use the clock symbols to see the status of the time off request. You can learn more about them in the Definitions: Symbols tab in the Definitions and statuses section at the bottom of this article. Also, when an admin that has a manager edits an approved time off request that belongs to them; we will set the time off request to pending.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
- Click the Action button.
-
Click the Edit button.
Helpful Hint
You can use the Expand button to display the time off details for each month.
Important
If you are only submitting a half day off work for your employee, then you can edit the value within the Hours field. For example, instead of nominating eight hours for a full day of time off, you can nominate four hours for a half day of time off.
- Make the required changes to your employees time off request, then click the Submit button.
Warning
You can only delete a time off request if you have not processed it yet in the payroll platform and pay slips you have not imported the pay slips into the HR platform. Use the clock symbols to see the status of the time off request. You can learn more about them in the Definitions: Symbols tab in the Definitions and statuses section at the bottom of this article.
Important
You can delete approved time off requests before terminating an employee, provided you have not processed the time off requests in your payroll platform.
- Click the Time menu.
- Click the Time Off Management submenu.
- Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
- Click the Action button.
- Click the Delete button.
- Click the Delete button.
Option 1 — Negative time off request in Employment Hero HR
Create a negative time off request for the extra days to adjust the visible balance in HR. This does not sync to Payroll — you will still need to correct the time off request in Employment Hero Payroll also.
Option 2 — Edit in Employment Hero Payroll
Update the time off request in Payroll to the correct dates and hours. Changes made in Payroll do not flow back to HR, but once processed in a pay run, balances will reflect correctly.
In both cases, the Payroll time off request must be updated for accurate processing.
Time Off reports
The Accrued Time Off Report allows you to create a report on your time off accruals, broken down by the time off category and team. You can also use this feature to download a CSV file of the data, enabling you to load the report into a CSV-supported program like Microsoft Excel.
Learn how to run an accrued time off report in this article.
The Time Off Balance Reporting feature lets you analyse employees' current and historical time off balances, including time off value, loading value, and time off type. You can also download the data and export to Excel.
Learn how to run a time off balances report in this article.
The Time Off Taken Reporting feature lets you create a report that you can use to analyse time off requests in a certain time period. You can sort the report by the time off category and status. You can also use this feature to download a CSV file of the data, enabling you to load the report into a CSV-supported program like Microsoft Excel.
Learn how to run a time off taken report in this article.
Helpful Hint
To improve transparency and data integrity, we have enhanced our time off audit capabilities.
Where to find it: Administrators and managers can now view this information within the time off audit records.
What is visible: You can now see specific details regarding who created a time off request.
What is visible: You can now see specific details regarding who created a time off request.
Audit Integrity: This update ensures a solid record of entry for all time off submissions across the Employment Hero app.
Access to these audit details is available to users with Admin or Manager level permissions.
Definitions and statuses
The table below defines each leave status used in Getting started: Managing leave, including what pending, approved, partially approved and declined requests mean.
| Pending. | The time off request is waiting for a manager to approve. |
| Approved. | A manager has approved a time off request. |
| Partially approved. | One of the two required managers has approved a two-level time off request. |
| Declined. | A manager has rejected a time off request. |
The table below defines the clock messages shown on leave requests, such as when a request was created and synced.
| Created at. | Provides a timestamp of the time off request creation date. |
| Synced at. | Provides a timestamp of when the time off request tried to sync with Employment Hero Payroll. |
| Sync successful. | States whether the synchronisation of the time off request between Employment Hero and Employment Hero Payroll has been successful. |
| Edited at. | Provides a timestamp of the last edit done to the time off request after a previous Employment Hero Payroll synchronisation attempt. |
The table below describes the symbols used for leave requests, with the name and meaning of each icon.
| Icon. | Name. | Description. |
|---|---|---|
| Purple clock. | Used for pending or declined time off requests that have not synchronised with Employment Hero Payroll. | |
| Green clock. | Used for approved time off requests that have synchronised with Employment Hero Payroll. | |
| Red clock. | Used for approved time off requests that have not synchronised with Employment Hero Payroll. | |
| Orange clock. | Used for pending, approved, or declined time off requests that have had changes made to them after synchronising with Employment Hero Payroll. | |
| Aeroplane. | You can use the Aeroplane symbol to see if a time off request includes bank holidays. The Aeroplane symbol will only show next to approved time off requests. | |
| Message. | Employee has left a note regarding this time off request. | |
| Download. | Employee has attached a file to this time off request. | |
| Exclamation. | Used to alert an Admin that the employee has entered time off hours for a bank holiday. |
Once you have enabled the Two-Level Time Off feature, your employees will require their time off request to have approval from their primary and secondary managers. The workflow for this process is:
- The employee lodges their time off request.
- Primary and secondary managers will receive an email notification of this time off request.
-
A manager (any of the two managers) approves the time off request.
Important
The status of the request will change to Partially Approved, with the first manager's name appearing when hovering over the time off request in the availability section.
-
The second manager now approves the time off request.
Helpful Hint
Employees with one manager will only require the primary manager to approve their request even though two-level time off approval is active.
Important
The status of the request will show Approved, and both managers' names will appear when hovering over the time off request in the availability section.