Managing leave requests

The Requests tab on the Leave page is the queue of leave requests you can see. Owners and HR admins see everyone’s. From here you approve or decline what is waiting, several at once if you like, record leave for someone, and cancel leave.

Who can see and decide leave requests: Owner, HR admin, Manager.

Who can record or cancel someone's leave: Owner, HR admin.

A manager sees their own team’s requests. This page is written for HR. Managers have their own guide: Approving leave.

Before you start

Open Leave from the Work menu and choose the Requests tab.

The figures at the top

To decide: requests waiting for a decision, and how many have waited more than 3 days.
Off today: people on approved leave today. Owners and HR admins see it as a share of everyone in the organisation; a manager sees it as a share of their team.
Starting in 7 days: leave that starts in the next week, and how many of those are still to decide.
Short of balance: requests waiting that would take someone’s balance below zero.
Days booked in the month: working days of approved leave this month, by leave type.

Find a request

Choose what to show:

To decide: requests waiting for a decision, oldest first, so nobody waits longest.
Upcoming: approved leave starting today or later, soonest first.
Decided: approved and declined requests, most recently decided first.
Withdrawn: requests that were withdrawn or cancelled.

Each shows how many requests it holds. Narrow the list by name or staff number, leave type, department, worksite (at an agency), or the dates the leave falls in.

Each row shows the person with their job title and department, the leave type, the dates and when the leave starts, the working days, when it was asked for, and:

Balance after: the person’s balance of that leave type for the leave year once this request is taken, less anything else they are waiting on. A figure below zero carries a minus sign. Leave without a balance, such as unpaid leave, shows a dash.
Worth knowing: what to consider before you decide. For example, how many others in the same department are off on the busiest day of the request, that the request would leave the person short of days, or a public holiday inside the dates that is not counted.

Click Excel to download every request in the chosen view and dates, not just the page on screen.

Open a request

Click the person’s name to open the request at the side. It shows the dates and working days, the balance now and after, when it was asked for, and the person’s note. Under that, that week shows the seven days from the first day of leave for everyone in the same department who is away: approved leave filled in, leave awaiting approval outlined, and the person’s public holidays marked. It also says how many of the department would be off on the busiest day.

It also shows the Relief officer, their answer and the handover note, and says when they hold the approval.

You can approve or decline from here. To decline, write the reason in Reason, if you decline first.

Approve a request

Click Approve on the request’s row, or in the request at the side. The days are taken from the employee’s balance, and the employee is told.

Cadre checks the balance again as you approve, because it may have changed since the request was made. If there are no longer enough days, the approval is refused and says how many are available.

When the relief officer must accept

A leave type can require the relief officer to accept before the request is approved (see Leave types and policies). The Relief officer column says where their answer stands.

Waiting for answer: Approve is off until they accept. The row says the date from which you can approve anyway.
No answer: they haven’t answered within the type’s working days, counted without weekends and the employee’s public holidays. Approve anyway approves the request without their answer, and the request records that.
Declined: the employee is asked to choose someone else, and the request can’t be approved until a relief officer accepts.

You and the employee are told when the relief officer answers.

Decline a request

Click the cross (Decline) on the request’s row.
In Why is it declined?, say why. A reason is required, and the employee sees it.
Click Decline.

Decide several at once

In To decide, tick the requests. The bar above the list says how many you chose and how many working days they add up to.
Click Approve with the number, or Decline… and give one reason for them all.

Each request is decided on its own, by the same rules as deciding it alone. If some can’t be decided (someone else decided one first, the balance no longer covers it, or the relief officer hasn’t accepted), the rest still go through and Cadre lists the ones it skipped, with the reason. Before you click, the bar says how many will be skipped, for example Approve 2, skip 2. Approving several at once never approves anyway: do those one at a time.

Record leave for someone

When an employee can’t ask for leave themselves, for example sick leave phoned in, or leave that started more than 30 days ago, record it for them.

Click Record leave.
Choose the Employee, the Leave type, the First day and Last day, and add a Reason if you want to.
Click Record leave.

The request is treated as if the employee asked: the same balance, overlap and waiting-period rules apply, and it goes to their approver. HR doesn’t have to name a relief officer, even for a leave type that requires one. To record leave inside a waiting period the policy lets HR override, open the person’s balance on the Balances tab and record it from there, with the reason for the override.

Cancel leave

Owners and HR admins can cancel a request that is pending or approved, including leave that has already started.

Open the request: find it under To decide, Upcoming or Decided and click the person’s name.
If you want to, write a comment in the box above the buttons. The employee sees it.
Click Cancel leave.

If the leave was approved, the days are returned to the employee’s balance as a Returned entry in the ledger. The employee is told.

An employee can withdraw their own request while it is pending, or approved leave before it starts. Once approved leave has started, only HR can cancel it.

Who can decide a request

The approve and decline buttons appear only on requests you can decide:

The employee’s line manager decides.
If the line manager is away (they have left, are on approved leave today, or have no active login), the next manager up decides.
Owners and HR admins can decide any request.
Nobody decides their own leave. Your own requests have no approve or decline buttons, even if you are an owner.

The team calendar

The Calendar tab shows who is away, a Week, Month or Quarter at a time. Use the arrows to move, and Today to come back. Approved leave whose relief officer accepted says who covers it, on the bar and in List’s Covered by column.

The leave calendar for a month, with each person's leave drawn as a bar across the days and weekends and public holidays shaded

The line above the calendar says how many people are away, the busiest day and how many public holidays fall in the range.
Narrow it by name or staff number, department, worksite, manager or leave type. Untick Include awaiting approval to see approved leave only.
People off each day counts the people away on each working day. The busiest days are outlined, and the number is always written.
A public holiday is named above the people, with who it is for: everyone, people in some states, or people at some places. A holiday for everyone is shaded down the whole calendar; one for some places is shaded only on the rows of the people it applies to.
People are grouped by department. Click a department to close or open it. When many people are away, departments start closed so you can open the one you need, and a large department shows its first 50 people until you ask for the rest.
Each bar is a person’s leave, coloured by leave type and labelled with the type and days where it fits. Leave awaiting approval is an outline. Hover over or focus a bar to read it in words.
List shows the same leave as a table, a row per request.