Creating and editing leave types
absentify allows you to customize exactly which leave types are available to your staff, making absence planning fit your companie's needs. If you're interested in adding additional leave types outside of the preinstalled selection, you can easily add or delete absence types at any time. Keep reading to learn more!
Add a leave type
Configure the privacy settings
Edit a leave type
Configure a leave type
Delete a leave type
Creating a group request
Activate leave notifications
To add an absence type, go to Settings > Leave Types > Add a new leave type
This will automatically open up a window where you can fill in the details of the new absence type. You will have to specify the following:
This is what will be displayed in user's calendar who requested the leave type.
From the drop down menu you can select one of the following three options:
Synchronization upon entry creation: The leave will be synchronized with the user's Outlook calendar as soon as the leave request is sent.
Synchronization upon approval only: The leave will be synchronized with the user's Outlook calendar only after the request is approved.
Synchronization disabled: The leave will not be synchronized with the user's Outlook calendar.
If you've enable the Outlook Calendar synchronization in step 2, the following two options will be displayed to further customize this setting:
Outlook Calendar entry show as: From here you can specify how the absence will be shown in the Outlook Calendar, such as free, busy, out of office, tentative or working elsewhere. Please note that this is a different feature than Microsoft Calendar Sync.
Event's subject: Fill this in if you'd like the subject of the calendar entry to be different than the leave type name. For example, the subject for vacation could be "Vacation time has been requested" if the entry requires more explanation for those viewing from the Outlook Calendar. If left unspecified, the event will show up in iCal as the leave type name.
Enable this setting if this leave type should reduce an allowance balance. When disabled, users can request this leave type an unlimited number of times within the fiscal year. For example, we recommend enabling this setting for limited vacation days (e.g., 30 days) but leaving it disabled for sick leave. If you enable this setting, you’ll have the option to configure the following:
Use allowance: Choose the specific allowance type that the leave should deduct from.
Ignore public holidays: If activated, the system will treat public holidays as regular workdays when calculating the allowance deducted for the requested time off. For example, if Isaiah is scheduled to work on a public holiday and requests leave, one day will be deducted from his balance, since he was originally scheduled to work.
Ignore schedule: When deactivated, the system excludes non-working days (such as weekends or holidays) based on the employee's schedule when calculating leave. Activate this setting to include only scheduled working days in the allowance deduction.
Select the leave unit that users are allowed to request this leave by. Please note that if you have activated the toggle for Deduct from allowance, the option displayed for the duration unit will be limited to the duration unit originally selected within the allowance type.
Tip: If you have purchased the Essentials or the Plus Plan, you can also input hourly leave. Check out this article on Setting up hourly leave to learn more. Interested? See our Plans and pricing and upgrade your plan!
Enabling this toggle will ensure that any time a user selects this leave type, the request goes through the approval process. If this leave type does not require approval and can be added directly to the user's calendar, leave this feature deactivated.
Enable this toggle to mandate filling out the absence reason field when requesting this leave type. Add a hint text to help your user's when filling out this section!
Within the department settings, you can set the maximum number of department members allowed to be absent at the same time. Enabling this feature includes this leave type in the calculation of how many users from the same department are absent at a given time. Disabling it will exclude this leave type from the maximum absentee calculation within the department.
Disabling this feature allows everyone to see the employee's reason for absence. Enabling it restricts visibility of the reason to only the approver, manager, and admins.
After you have specified everything to your liking, click Save to add the new leave type.
If you need to change anything, not to worry; you can edit leave types anytime! To edit an absence type, go to Settings > Leave types and click on the pencil icon next to the leave type that you want to edit.
This will bring up the same window as when the leave type was created. You can change any of the settings that were originally specified while adding the leave type.
From here you also have the option to change the allowance type that is connected to this leave type. This is helpful is you've created a new allowance and you'd rather have the newly created yearly quota to be deducted when this leave type is booked. This can be done easily under the dropdown menu Deduct from allowance.
Don't forget this hit Save to save your changes!
Remember that if you choose to have multiple leave types deduct from the same allowance, it will be displayed under the allowance type you.
In the photo showcased below, the leave type titled Example is also set to be deducted from the Allowance Parental Leave. For more information, refer to our article on editing leave types: Here .
To change the color of an absence type, click on the color picker next to the leave type that you want to change.
This will bring up a variety of different colors to choose from. Select your preferred color to display the leave type, or add the HEX color number.
Click on the icon next to the leave type that you want to change. This will bring up a menu of icons where you can select the icon that you wish to use for the leave type.
To delete an absence type, go to Settings > Leave Types and click on the trash can icon next to the leave type that you want to delete.
You'll be prompted to confirm this decision by clicking OK from the pop-up window.
This will delete the leave type which means that new absence requests can no longer be created with this leave type. However, it will not affect old absence requests. Any old absence requests booked with the type of leave will not be deleted from the user's schedule.
Is your organization offering company-wide time off during a specific period such as winter holidays? As an admin or department manager, you can easily create group requests without needing to set up a separate leave type. Here's how:
Navigate to the Overview Page: Click the arrow next to Create a request. From the dropdown, choose Create group request.
Select the Department: Pick the department for which you want to create the request. Then, fill in the required details like the start and end dates and the type of leave.
Note: Managers can only select the department they manage, not the entire company.
Review the Overview: You'll see a list of users included in the group request. If any users have conflicting requests or not enough allowance remaining, this will show up here.
Viewing the Group Request: Users can view the group request by filtering based on the selected group.
To keep managers and approvers informed of weekly absences, we recommend enabling notifications for the weekly absence overview. This feature will highlight which team members are scheduled to work from home or take leave. Users can activate these notifications by selecting My Preferences from the dropdown menu under their profile picture (top right corner), then turning on notification settings from the left sidebar.
Now that you're an expert in creating leave types, you can now effortlessly track your staff's absences within absentify!
Feel free to reach out to absentify support for any questions or suggestions. We’re here to make your experience as smooth as possible! And if you have ideas for new features, leave a suggestion on our roadmap if there's a feature you'd like to see developed.. We're always happy to hear feedback from our users. Happy planning!
Add allowance types
Maximum absentees
Recording sick leave
Jump to:
Add a leave type
Configure the privacy settings
Edit a leave type
Configure a leave type
Delete a leave type
Creating a group request
Activate leave notifications
Add a leave type
To add an absence type, go to Settings > Leave Types > Add a new leave type
This will automatically open up a window where you can fill in the details of the new absence type. You will have to specify the following:
1. Name
This is what will be displayed in user's calendar who requested the leave type.
2. Enable calendar synchronization
From the drop down menu you can select one of the following three options:
Synchronization upon entry creation: The leave will be synchronized with the user's Outlook calendar as soon as the leave request is sent.
Synchronization upon approval only: The leave will be synchronized with the user's Outlook calendar only after the request is approved.
Synchronization disabled: The leave will not be synchronized with the user's Outlook calendar.
3. iCal Synchronization Settings
If you've enable the Outlook Calendar synchronization in step 2, the following two options will be displayed to further customize this setting:
Outlook Calendar entry show as: From here you can specify how the absence will be shown in the Outlook Calendar, such as free, busy, out of office, tentative or working elsewhere. Please note that this is a different feature than Microsoft Calendar Sync.
Event's subject: Fill this in if you'd like the subject of the calendar entry to be different than the leave type name. For example, the subject for vacation could be "Vacation time has been requested" if the entry requires more explanation for those viewing from the Outlook Calendar. If left unspecified, the event will show up in iCal as the leave type name.
4. Deduct from allowance
Enable this setting if this leave type should reduce an allowance balance. When disabled, users can request this leave type an unlimited number of times within the fiscal year. For example, we recommend enabling this setting for limited vacation days (e.g., 30 days) but leaving it disabled for sick leave. If you enable this setting, you’ll have the option to configure the following:
Use allowance: Choose the specific allowance type that the leave should deduct from.
Ignore public holidays: If activated, the system will treat public holidays as regular workdays when calculating the allowance deducted for the requested time off. For example, if Isaiah is scheduled to work on a public holiday and requests leave, one day will be deducted from his balance, since he was originally scheduled to work.
Ignore schedule: When deactivated, the system excludes non-working days (such as weekends or holidays) based on the employee's schedule when calculating leave. Activate this setting to include only scheduled working days in the allowance deduction.
5. Duration Unit
Select the leave unit that users are allowed to request this leave by. Please note that if you have activated the toggle for Deduct from allowance, the option displayed for the duration unit will be limited to the duration unit originally selected within the allowance type.
Tip: If you have purchased the Essentials or the Plus Plan, you can also input hourly leave. Check out this article on Setting up hourly leave to learn more. Interested? See our Plans and pricing and upgrade your plan!
Configure the privacy settings
6. Requires approval
Enabling this toggle will ensure that any time a user selects this leave type, the request goes through the approval process. If this leave type does not require approval and can be added directly to the user's calendar, leave this feature deactivated.
7. Reason mandatory
Enable this toggle to mandate filling out the absence reason field when requesting this leave type. Add a hint text to help your user's when filling out this section!
8. Include in maximum absent
Within the department settings, you can set the maximum number of department members allowed to be absent at the same time. Enabling this feature includes this leave type in the calculation of how many users from the same department are absent at a given time. Disabling it will exclude this leave type from the maximum absentee calculation within the department.
9. Privacy
Disabling this feature allows everyone to see the employee's reason for absence. Enabling it restricts visibility of the reason to only the approver, manager, and admins.
After you have specified everything to your liking, click Save to add the new leave type.
Edit a leave type
If you need to change anything, not to worry; you can edit leave types anytime! To edit an absence type, go to Settings > Leave types and click on the pencil icon next to the leave type that you want to edit.
This will bring up the same window as when the leave type was created. You can change any of the settings that were originally specified while adding the leave type.
From here you also have the option to change the allowance type that is connected to this leave type. This is helpful is you've created a new allowance and you'd rather have the newly created yearly quota to be deducted when this leave type is booked. This can be done easily under the dropdown menu Deduct from allowance.
Don't forget this hit Save to save your changes!
Remember that if you choose to have multiple leave types deduct from the same allowance, it will be displayed under the allowance type you.
In the photo showcased below, the leave type titled Example is also set to be deducted from the Allowance Parental Leave. For more information, refer to our article on editing leave types: Here .
Configure a leave type
To change the color of an absence type, click on the color picker next to the leave type that you want to change.
This will bring up a variety of different colors to choose from. Select your preferred color to display the leave type, or add the HEX color number.
Click on the icon next to the leave type that you want to change. This will bring up a menu of icons where you can select the icon that you wish to use for the leave type.
Delete a leave type
To delete an absence type, go to Settings > Leave Types and click on the trash can icon next to the leave type that you want to delete.
You'll be prompted to confirm this decision by clicking OK from the pop-up window.
This will delete the leave type which means that new absence requests can no longer be created with this leave type. However, it will not affect old absence requests. Any old absence requests booked with the type of leave will not be deleted from the user's schedule.
Creating a group request
Is your organization offering company-wide time off during a specific period such as winter holidays? As an admin or department manager, you can easily create group requests without needing to set up a separate leave type. Here's how:
Navigate to the Overview Page: Click the arrow next to Create a request. From the dropdown, choose Create group request.
Select the Department: Pick the department for which you want to create the request. Then, fill in the required details like the start and end dates and the type of leave.
Note: Managers can only select the department they manage, not the entire company.
Review the Overview: You'll see a list of users included in the group request. If any users have conflicting requests or not enough allowance remaining, this will show up here.
Viewing the Group Request: Users can view the group request by filtering based on the selected group.
Activate leave notifications
To keep managers and approvers informed of weekly absences, we recommend enabling notifications for the weekly absence overview. This feature will highlight which team members are scheduled to work from home or take leave. Users can activate these notifications by selecting My Preferences from the dropdown menu under their profile picture (top right corner), then turning on notification settings from the left sidebar.
Now that you're an expert in creating leave types, you can now effortlessly track your staff's absences within absentify!
Need help?
Feel free to reach out to absentify support for any questions or suggestions. We’re here to make your experience as smooth as possible! And if you have ideas for new features, leave a suggestion on our roadmap if there's a feature you'd like to see developed.. We're always happy to hear feedback from our users. Happy planning!
Related:
Add allowance types
Maximum absentees
Recording sick leave
Updated on: 12/11/2024
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