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Approve and decline time off requests

Updated

Available for the following plans: Lite, Plus, Unlimited, Essentials, Engage, Elite
Available for the following HR classic plan: Standard, Premium, Platinum
Available for the following user access levels: Employee, Manager, Admin

Time off Management lets you approve, decline, edit, or delete employee time off requests. You can also view time off in a time off calendar, view an employee's time off balance, view conflicting time off requests, and submit a time off request for an employee. Before being able to manage time off requests within your organisation, you will need to:

If your employees have a primary and secondary manager and you wish to have both managers approve a time off request, you can do this through the Two-Level Time off feature. Also, the Time off Calendar will only display employees who have submitted a time off request for the year selected.

Helpful Hint

If an employee submits a time off request, and their primary manager is on time off, their secondary manager will receive the time off request email notification.

Interactive learning

Click here for an interactive demo for employees
Click here for an interactive demo for managers/admins

Approve or decline time off

Approve time off requests: Individually
  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
  4. Click the Action button.
  5. Click the View button.
  6. Click the Approve button.
Approve time off requests: In bulk
  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Tick the checkboxes for the time off you want to approve.
  4. Click the Approve Selected button.
Decline time off requests: Individually

Warning

If your HR classic 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 for any time off types other than sick time off. To read further details on how to view the specified payroll administrator on the HR classic platform, refer to the following article.

  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
  4. Click the Action button.
  5. Click the View button.
  6. Click the Decline button.
Decline time off requests: In bulk

Warning

If your HR classic 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 for any time off types other than sick time off. To read further details on how to view the specified payroll administrator on the HR classic platform, refer to the following article.

  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Tick the checkboxes for the time off you want to approve.
  4. Click the Decline Selected button.
  5. Enter the reason for declining the time off request.
  6. Click the Decline button.

Filter results

Filter the displayed time off requests

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.

  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. 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.
  4. Click the Search button.

Submit a request

Submit time off for an employee: Individually

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. When an admin submits a personal time off request, the platform will automatically approve the time off request unless the admin has a primary manager assigned to them on their profile.

  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Click the Add New Time off Request button.

  4. Complete the following fields:

    • Who is this time off request for?
    • 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.

  5. Click the Add Document button to add any required files.

    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.

  6. Click the Approve button.
Submit time off for employees: In bulk

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. When an admin submits a personal time off request, the platform will automatically approve the time off request unless the admin has a primary manager assigned to them on their profile.

  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Click the Add New Time off Request button.

  4. Complete the following fields:

    • Who is thie 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.
  5. Click the Next button.
  6. Click the Approve button.
Re-submit a time off request

Important

Once you approve a re-submitted time off request, the time off request will re-sync automatically.

  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
  4. Click the Actions button.
  5. Click the Edit button.
  6. Make the required changes.
  7. Click the Approve button.

View and download employee data

View the time off calendar
  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Click the Time off Calendar tab.
  4. 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.

View an employee's time off request

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 classic 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 Further information section at the bottom of this article.

  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
  4. Click the Actions button.
  5. Click the View button.
     
View partially-approved time off requests
  1. Log in to the Employment Hero HR platform.  
  2. Click on Time. 
  3. Click on Time off Management. 
  4. From the Status drop-down menu, select Partially-Approved.
  5. Click on Apply.
View an employee's time off balance
  1. Click the   Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Click the Time off Balances tab.
  4. Click the search bar and filter based on:
    • Personnel.
    • Time off Category.

  5. Click the Search button.

    Helpful Hint

    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 AIO users).

View an employee's time off availability
  1. Click the   Time menu.
  2. Under Time off, click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Click the Time off Calendar tab.
  4. Choose from the following filter options:
    • Month.

    • Year.

       

View who approved/declined an employees requested time off
  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Hover over the   to see the time off approval details.
Download time off balances
  1. Click the   Time menu.
  2. Under Time off, click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Click the Time off Balances tab.
  4. Click the search bar and filter based on:
    • Personnel.
    • Time off Category.
  5. Click the Search button.
  6. Click the Download CSV button.

Modify data

Edit an employee's 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 classic 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 Further information 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.

  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
  4. Click the Action button.

  5. Click the Edit button.

    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.

  6. Make the required changes.
  7. Click the Approve button.
Delete an employee's time off request

Warning

You can only delete a time off request if it you have not processed it yet in the payroll platform and pay slips you have not imported the pay slips into the HR classic 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 Further information 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.

  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Find the relevant time off request. Use the "Filter results" drop-down in this article to narrow down your results.
  4. Click the Action button.
  5. Click the Delete button.
  6. Click the Delete button.

View Time off Clashes and Conflicts

When managing time off requests, you can now view all relevant information including time off clashes and conflicts in a single consolidated view. This helps you make more informed decisions when approving or declining time off requests.

Access Time off Clash Information

To view time off clashes and detailed information for a time off request:

  1. Click the  Time menu.
  2. Click the Time off Management submenu.
  3. Find the relevant time off request using the filter options if needed.
  4. Click the Actions button.
  5. Click the View Details button.

The consolidated view now displays:

  • Employee time off request details (start date, end date, comments)
  • Time off type and amount requested
  • Current time off balance and remaining balance after approval
  • Time off clashes - other employees who have requested time off during the same period
  • Filter options for time off clashes to help you identify potential staffing conflicts
Understanding Time off Clashes

Time off clashes show you when multiple employees have requested time off during overlapping periods. This information helps you:

  • Identify potential staffing shortages
  • Make informed decisions about approving concurrent time off requests
  • Plan for adequate coverage during busy time off periods
  • Ensure business continuity

Helpful Hint

Use the time off clash information to proactively identify busy periods and plan for temporary staff or workload redistribution.

Filter Time off Clashes

You can filter the time off clash information to focus on specific:

  • Departments or teams
  • Time off types
  • Date ranges
  • Employee groups

This filtering capability allows you to quickly assess the impact of approving a time off request on your team's availability and workload distribution.

Important

The time off clash feature is available globally and helps streamline the time off approval process by providing comprehensive information in one location, reducing the need to navigate between multiple screens.

Further information

Definitions: Time off status
Pending.  The time off request is waiting for a manager to approve. 
Approved.  A manager has approved a time off request. 
Processing.  One of the two required managers has approved a two-level time off request. 
Declined.  A manager has rejected a time off request. 
Definitions: Clock messages
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. 
Definitions: Symbols
Icon.  Name.  Description. 
Purple clock.  Used for pending or declined time off requests that have not synchronised with Employment Hero Payroll classic. 
Green clock.  Used for approved time off requests that have synchronised with Employment Hero Payroll classic. 
Red clock.  Used for approved time off requests that have not synchronised with Employment Hero Payroll classic. 
Orange clock.  Used for pending, approved, or declined time off requests that have had changes made to them after synchronising with Employment Hero Payroll classic. 
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. 
Workflow: Two-level time off requests

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:

  1. The employee lodges their time off request.
  2. Primary and secondary managers will receive an email notification of this time off request.

  3. A manager (any of the two managers) approves the time off request.

    Important

    The status of the request will change to Processing, with the first manager's name appearing when hovering over the time off request in the availability section.

  4. The second manager now approves the time off request.

    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.

Why Did I Receive a 'Delivery Has Failed' email when approving time off?

If you received a 'Delivery has failed' email when trying to approve time off in Employment Hero, it is likely due to an email configuration issue. Here's how to resolve it:

Cause of the Issue

This error typically occurs because the "Email Organiser" option is enabled in Outlook. Employment Hero uses a no-reply email address (no-reply@employmenthero.com) to send notifications. This email address is not set up to receive replies, so any emails sent to it will result in a delivery failure.

How to Fix It

To prevent this issue:

  1. Disable the "Email Organiser" Option in Outlook:
    • Open your Outlook settings.
    • Locate the "Email Organiser" feature (specific steps may vary depending on your Outlook version).
    • Disable this option before approving or responding to calendar invites.
  2. Verify Time off Requests in Outlook Calendar:
    • Disabling "Email Organiser" will not affect time off requests. They should still appear correctly in your Outlook calendar.

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