Time off tracking for small business: leave types, balances and approvals

Time off sounds simple until it goes wrong. Two people book the same week, someone is unsure how many days they have left, and the only record is a chat message from March. A little structure fixes all of it.

What a time off process needs

A workable process answers four questions:

• How many days does each person get, and for which kinds of leave?
• How does someone ask?
• Who decides, and how does the person find out?
• Where can everyone see who is away?

Set your leave types

Most small businesses start with three types: vacation, sick days and personal days. Each has a yearly allowance. In the Time off app you can start from these, add your own types and change the number of days for each.

Track balances automatically

A balance shows days used, days pending and days left for each type. The app counts weekdays for you, so a request that spans a weekend only uses the weekdays. Nobody has to count days on a calendar.

Make requesting easy

People are more likely to follow a process when it takes a minute. A request is a leave type, a first day, a last day and a note. It can be sent from the Time off page or from the calendar, for a single day or a range.

Approve with a reply

Admins approve or decline each request and leave a short reply the person can read. A reply such as "Approved, please hand over the Friday delivery list" is better than silence. If a decision changes a balance, the new balance is shown straight away.

Adjust balances when life happens

Sometimes a balance needs fixing, for example when someone carries days over or joins part way through the year. Admins can add or remove days for anyone and write the reason, which stays on record.

See who is away

Two views help you plan:

• Away today and coming up: a quick list of who is out now and who is out soon.
• The shared calendar: approved leave appears beside meetings and deadlines.

Together they make it easy to spot a clash before it becomes a problem.

A simple policy to start with

If you do not have a written policy yet, start small:

1. Decide the yearly days for each type.
2. Ask for requests a set number of days ahead.
3. Name who approves.
4. Review balances once a year.

Write it down, keep it short and put the days in the app. You can read about the app on the time off tracking page.