If your team uses an internal approval process for absence requests, you can assign one or more approvers to review and approve them.
This article covers the setup process, including manual assignment and approval policies.
Before You Start
Before assigning approvers, make sure the following steps are completed.
📌 Absence is divided into Time Off and Remote Work categories (currently in Beta). If your account hasn’t been updated yet, you’ll only see Time Off for now. The full update will be rolled out system-wide.
1) Define Absence Categories
Go to Settings > Absence and add the categories you’ll be using for Time Off or Remote Work.
2) Assign Allocations
Navigate to each team member’s profile, open the Absence tab, and click + Add New Allocation to assign the appropriate absence categories.
3) Enable Absence Approvals
In Settings > Absence, toggle on Absence Approval to allow approvers to be assigned.
📌 We'll cover adding approvers in the Assigning Absence Approvers paragraph below.
4) Allow Absence Booking
By default, users can submit absence requests through Time > Book Absence. If you use another tool or HR integration to manage absences, you can turn off the Allow Absence Booking option in Settings > Absence.
📌 When this is disabled:
The "Book Absence" option is hidden from users in the Time tab.
Admins and managers can still book absence through the Resource Planner.
Assigning Absence Approvers
There are two ways to manage approvers, depending on your plan:
Manual Assignment per person and category
Approval Policies (rules-based approach for larger teams, or if needed, manually for each user)
📌 If you're on a plan that supports Approval Policies, you can still choose whether to use policies or keep a manual, user-by-user setup.
Manual Assignment
To assign approvers manually:
Go to the employee’s profile and open the Absence tab.
Click Edit next to “No policy applied, approvers are assigned manually.”
Select:
The approver(s) for each absence category
Whether all or any of them need to approve
Any subscribers to notify after approval
If the same approval logic applies across categories, use Copy to Other Categories to speed up the setup. Click Save to apply the setup.
Using Absence Approval Policies
For a more scalable setup, use Approval Policies to define approvers and subscribers based on rules (e.g., team, category, duration).
To apply a policy:
Go to a person’s profile > Absence tab
Click Edit next to “No policy applied”
Select a policy and click Save
📌 You can also select No Policy to assign approvers manually per person and category—even if Approval Policies are enabled!
Or assign policies in bulk:
Go to Resourcing > Employees
Add the Approval Policy field to your view
Assign policies inline in the table—no need to open each profile
Admin Approval
Admins can always approve on behalf of others in both the Approvals Inbox and the Resource Planner.
Approval Process
When someone submits an absence request:
They’ll see if approval is required before sending the request
The request appears in the approver’s Approvals Inbox and in the Resource Planner (as a non-confirmed request/booking)
Approvers can:
Approve or reject the request
Review any attachments
View or edit the booking in the Resource Planner
Once approved:
The absence is marked as confirmed and added to the Resource Planner
The person who requested absence will get a notification email (if their Absence Approval notifications have not been manually switched off in Settings > Notifications)
If there’s a scheduling conflict, the approver will be notified and can choose how to proceed
For the user requesting absence, all requests—approved, pending, and rejected—are visible in:
Time > Book Absence, or
The person’s Absence tab (via their profile)
