Ask for leave

Ask for time off from Leave. Before you send the request, Cadre shows you how many working days it uses, how many days you will have left and the day you are back at work.

Who can ask for their own leave: every member, for themselves.

Before you start

Your login must be linked to your employee record. If Request leave is not on the Leave page, ask HR to link it.

Steps

Open the menu, select Work → Leave, then select Request leave at the top of the page. The form says who decides your request.
Under Leave type, choose the type. Each one says how much is left, for example “12.5 left”. A type with None left can’t be chosen. Select More… for maternity, paternity, study, unpaid and other leave.
Under Dates, select your first day and then your last day on the calendar. For a single day, select the same day twice. You can also move around the calendar with the arrow keys and choose a day with Enter.
If you are only off for part of a day, choose Afternoon only under First day or Morning only under Last day. For a single day, choose Half day.
Under Relief officer, choose the colleague who does your work while you’re away. Some leave types need one (the form says Required); for others it is optional, and some don’t ask. See Choosing a relief officer.
Add a Handover note for them, if you want to: where your files are, what can wait. Your relief officer sees it when they’re asked, and so does the person deciding.
Add a note for the person deciding under Note to, if you want to. It is optional.
Check the summary beside the form, then select Send request. The button says how many days the request uses, for example Send request · 5 days.

Choosing a relief officer

A relief officer is a colleague who covers your work while you’re away. They are asked, and they accept or decline.

Your department comes first (or your team, if you have no department), with the people who are free on your days listed first. Each person says how free they are, for example Free all 5 days, On leave 12–13 Oct or Covering on 14 Oct.
To choose someone from another team, type their name under the list. Only people who work where you do are offered: at an agency, that means people at the same client.
If the person you choose is on leave or already covering someone on some of your days, the form says which days, for example “Vivian Usiakpebre is on leave on 12 and 13 Oct, 2 of your 5 days”. Select Choose someone else, or Ask anyway to keep them. It never stops you sending the request. It says “on leave”, never what kind of leave.
When the leave type needs your relief officer to accept, you can only choose someone who signs in to Cadre, because they have to answer.

Under the summary, What happens next says what happens once you send it, for example “Ada is asked to cover, with 2 working days to answer” and “If Ada accepts, Kemi Adeyemi decides”.

Reading the calendar

Your leave: the days you have chosen.
Public holiday · not counted: a holiday for you, marked with a dot. Its name is shown when you point at it, and listed under the calendar.
Not a working day for you: weekends, shown in grey.

Only the holidays that apply to you are marked. Some holidays are for one state or one workplace.

Reading the summary

The summary explains the count the same way Cadre works it out:

Calendar days: every day from your first day to your last.
Weekend and Public holidays: the days that are not counted. The holidays are named.
Half days: half a day off each half day you chose.
Working days: what the request uses from your balance.
Available now and After this request: your balance before and after this request. Other requests still waiting are already taken off.

It also says how many people in your department (or your team, if you have no department) are already off on the busiest day of your dates, for example “2 of 9 in Quality Assurance are also off on Thu 24 Dec”. Only the number is shown, never who. Your manager sees it too.

Finally it says the day you are Back at work, and why it is later when a holiday falls straight after your leave.

Leave that is counted in calendar days, such as maternity leave, counts every day, so nothing is taken off for weekends or holidays.

When a request is refused

Cadre does not send a request it can’t accept. It tells you why, in the form:

Not enough days left. The request needs more days than your balance has.
The dates overlap another request that is waiting or approved.
The dates have no working days, for example a weekend or a holiday.
The leave started more than 30 days ago. HR must record it for you.
This leave type needs a relief officer, and you haven’t chosen one.
The colleague you chose can’t cover: they don’t work where you do, or they don’t sign in to Cadre when the type needs them to accept.
You have not worked there long enough yet to take this type of leave. The message says from when you can.

What happens next

The request shows in Your requests as Awaiting approval, and whoever decides it is told.
If you named a relief officer, they are asked to cover, in the app and by email or push as their notification choices say. You are told when they accept or decline. For some leave types (annual and maternity leave, to start with) the person deciding can’t approve until your relief officer accepts. If they decline, choose someone else: see Your leave.
Your line manager decides it. If your manager is away, their own manager or HR decides it instead.
Cadre tells you when it is approved or rejected.
Some leave types don’t need approval. A request for one of those is approved as soon as you send it.

You can withdraw the request until it is decided: see Your leave.