Responding to Leave Requests

How to approve or deny your employees’ leave requests, on either a desktop computer or the RotaCloud mobile app.

James Denham avatar
Written by James Denham
Updated over a week ago

When an employee submits a leave request, you will be notified based on your notification settings.

A screenshot of the email a Manager or Admin will receive when an employee requests Leave.

Reminders will also be sent each week for any pending Leave Requests that you have yet to respond to.

How to view Leave Requests

Desktop

Leave and other requests will appear as notifications on the desktop version of RotaCloud. In the upper-right corner of the system, you'll see a notification bell with a red indicator showing the number of outstanding requests. Click on any request to view more information and approve or deny it.

To approve or deny requests, visit the Leave page. If you have any outstanding requests, you'll see a "Requests" section at the top of the page. Click on "Reply" to respond.

A screenshot of the 'Requests' section of the Leave page on the desktop version of RotaCloud, where pending Leave Requests are listed to be approved or denied.

When you click ‘Reply’, a pop-up will display showing the details of the request and any message that the employee included. You'll also see the Who's on Leave Calendar which shows how other colleagues' Leave will overlap with the proposed dates. You can then approve or deny the request, providing a message of your own if you wish.

Click the notification bell in the upper-right corner to see all of your notifications, and then click on the Leave Request you'd like to view. The Leave page will load, showing details of the request alongside the Who's on Leave calendar.

Mobile

In the RotaCloud app, tap the menu button in the top-right corner of the screen to open the app menu. If you have any pending requests, you’ll be notified here.

A screenshot of the RotaCloud mobile app, showing the menu open, and one pending request.

The Pending Requests page displays all types of requests in RotaCloud, including shift swaps and unavailability. To see only leave requests, tap the categories at the top to filter out other requests.

A screenshot of the Pending Requests page in the RotaCloud mobile app, showing Leave requests filtered, and one pending Leave Request.

Tap on any request to see more information about it, and tap ‘Review request’ to process it.

You can also view the Who's on Leave page on mobile to check the proposed leave against any colleagues' Leave that's already been added to the system:

What happens when I approve leave?

On approval, the employee will be notified, and the approved leave will be visible on the Leave page, as well as the Rota and Timesheets.

If the employee has shifts scheduled during the leave period, you'll be given the option to choose how to handle the shifts.

A screenshot of the Clashing Shifts breakdown, including the five options Admins and Managers have for processing Leave requests when an employee is scheduled to work.

Approved leave will appear on the rota with shading covering the dates when the employee is away (the colour varies based on the type of leave). Hover your mouse over the shaded area to see more details about the leave. You can still add shifts to the rota on days when an employee is on leave.

A screenshot of the Rotas page on RotaCloud, showing a shift being scheduled on the same day on which an Employee has Holiday booked.

What happens when I deny leave?

If you choose to deny a leave request, you can add an optional message for the employee. Even if you don't add a message, the employee will be notified of the denial.

An employee can make another request for the same dates if the previous one is denied.

Hours in Requests from Employees

If enabled in your account, employees can be allowed to suggest hours alongside their holiday days, if their holiday balance is measured in hours.

When this occurs, the Total/Daily Hours will be prefilled with their suggestion. You can edit the figures in these fields if you'd like to change them before approving the leave.

Viewing your request history

Whether approved or denied, you can find the details of all requests, including when they were sent, who responded to them, and the response, in the Request History. Access this via the Tools menu at the top of the Leave page.

Leave Request Rules & Embargoes

RotaCloud offers tools to help you manage Leave Requests more efficiently, such as Leave Request Rules, which can automatically monitor staff levels to ensure you have the necessary coverage, and Embargoes, which can lock out leave requests for a specific period.

Shift Drop and Shift Swap requests

If enabled on your account, employees may send you requests to drop shifts or swap them with colleagues, in addition to Holiday or Other Leave requests. These notifications will arrive in the same way as leave requests, but are processed on the Rotas page.

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