Leave Allocation is a feature that you can activate for any individual groups that have Time & Attendance enabled. It allows you or your employees to record absences related to PTO (Paid Time Off) or sickness. You can view the absence information within the timesheet report or access all leave requests and approvals in the Attendance tab.
In this section, we'll guide you through the process of enabling the leave allocation feature, provide your group members with the ability to request or record absences throughout the day and use this new tool to approve and record your selected leave types.
Setting up leave allocation
To set up leave allocation per group, head to Manage > Time & attendance > Leave allocation.
The first thing you need to choose is the start month of your leave period. The 1st day of the month selected will be the date that any allowance days will reset. For example, if you select ‘April’, the leave period will run from April 1st - March 31st. If you select ‘January’, the leave period will be from January 1st - December 31st.
You now have the option to select which leave types you want to make available for this group to select and use. By default, all leave types will be enabled, so simply deactivate any that you do not require by clicking the cross icon.
The ‘Total allowance’ days provides the option to set a group default allowance for any of your leave types. You can enter the total number of days in increments of 0.5 for the selected leave period. When you save these settings, a new absence report will become available, and employees will be able to request leave using the companion app.
Absence Management on Companion app
Group members who are in a Time & Attendance group with leave allocation will have new functionality in their companion app. Selecting the ‘ + ‘ icon in companion app will show an option to Request leave. After selecting the request option, you will be presented with the list of enabled leave types for your group.
Once you have selected the leave type, you will then be able to enter the date range and number of working days. Your allowance will also be calculated so you can see how many remaining days you have to book of that leave type. Optional comments can also be included as part of the request.
On the home page of Companion app, you will also see a new section titled Leave. Here you will see your next upcoming absence and a link to view all absences.
Pending - Absences that have been requested and are awaiting approval
Upcoming - A complete list of all of your approved future absences
Archive - A list of past absences, include absences which have been cancelled or declined
Note: With Companion app, you can delete any leave requests that are made but have not yet been approved. Once approved, only an administrator or Manager can cancel a leave request
Attendance - Leave report
Absences can be viewed, approved and added in the Leave report located under Attendance > Leave. Here you will see a complete list of every absence request and the status of each request. You can search or filter the list by date range, group, leave type, status and the group members name. Clicking on any line, you can view the full details including the submission details and any notes or approvals. All actions will be date and time stamped.
Adding an absence in the portal
There may be occasions where an administrator needs to add an absence on behalf of a group member. This can be done by selecting the Add Leave button within the absence report. Any absences added in the portal are automatically approved.
Approving an absence in the portal
When a group member has requested an absence using Companion app, they will have the status of ‘Pending’. This will show as Pending on the Leave report. You can filter by request status to see all pending leave requests.
By clicking on a pending request, you can then choose to Approve or Decline the leave request. If you decline the request, you will be required to enter a reason for declining which will then be visible to the member.
Absence request by email
Some managers will not have access to the Sign In App portal, but still need to be able to approve or decline absence requests. When an absence is requested, the manager listed for the member making the request will receive an email. From this email they can approve or decline the request and also see who else is scheduled to be absent at the same time.
In the example below, Alicia has requested an absence for 1 day Annual Leave and an email has been sent to her manager. On the email the dates of the absence, the number of days, and the type of absence are listed.
Clicking Review request will open up a link where the manager can approve or decline the request. This displays the Date range, the number of working days, and the Leave type. If other members with the same manager have approved absences at the same time they’re displayed under the See who else is off section.
Configuring managers
Configuring managers allows managers to approve absence requests by email meaning they don't require access to the Sign In App management portal. To set up your managers there are a couple of different options.
You can set a group default manager by heading to Manage > Visitor groups > Select group > Details and set the manager from the Group manager option. This means any new members created in the group will use the default group manager.
To edit an individual member’s manager, head to Manage > Visitor groups > Select group > Members, search for the member and click to edit them. Under the Time & attendance tab, change their Manager selection to 'Other' and then type their managers name.
Remember to click Save when done.