Respond to leave requests quickly and clearly
When employees submit leave requests, those requests need someone to review and approve them. The Leaves module makes this straightforward, surfacing pending requests where you can take action with a single click. Both the employee and their reporting officer are notified once a decision is made.
Finding Pending Requests
Pending leave requests appear in two places:
- Pending Approvals section on the Overview tab, which shows only requests awaiting action.
- Recent Activity section on the Overview tab, where pending requests appear alongside other recent leave activity.
Click on any pending request to open the Leave Request Details popup.
The Leave Request Details Popup
When you open a pending request, you will see all the relevant information:
- Employee Name at the top of the popup.
- Type showing the leave category such as Annual Leave, Sick, or Bereavement.
- Status displayed as a colored badge, showing Pending for requests awaiting action.
- Start Date and End Date indicating when the leave begins and ends.
- Total Days showing how many days are being requested.
- Leave Balance displaying the employee's remaining entitlement for that leave type.
- Leave Reason containing any notes the employee provided when applying.
For half-day requests, a badge appears next to the date indicating whether it is the first half or second half of the day.
Taking Action
At the bottom of the Leave Request Details popup, three buttons appear for pending requests:
- Close closes the popup without taking action.
- Approve approves the leave request and updates the employee's balance.
- Reject opens a confirmation dialog where you can add comments before rejecting.
Approving a Request
- 1 Click on the pending request to open the Leave Request Details popup.
- 2 Review the details including dates, duration, and leave balance.
- 3 Click Approve to approve the request.
- 4 The status updates to Approved and the employee's leave balance is adjusted.
Once approved, the request is processed and the action cannot be undone from this screen.
Rejecting a Request
- 1 Click on the pending request to open the Leave Request Details popup.
- 2 Review the details to understand what is being requested.
- 3 Click Reject to open the rejection dialog.
- 4 Add any comments explaining the reason for rejection (optional).
- 5 Click Confirm to reject the request.
The employee receives a notification that their request was rejected, along with any comments you provided.
Reviewing Processed Requests
When you open a request that has already been approved or rejected, the Leave Request Details popup shows the current status but only displays a Close button. No further action is available since the request has been processed.
Frequently Asked Questions
The employee who submitted the request receives a notification. Their reporting officer is also notified of the decision.
You can review the leave balance in the popup before approving. If the balance is insufficient, you may need to adjust their entitlements first through Team → Directory, or the leave may need to be applied as Unpaid Leave instead.
Approved leave cannot be rejected after the fact. If the employee no longer needs the leave, they can cancel it themselves through Me → My Leaves if it has not yet occurred. For other situations, coordinate directly with the employee.
What's Next?
Continue managing leave in Officaid:
- Leave Statuses Explained breaks down each status and what it means.
- Viewing All Leaves shows how to filter and search leave history.
- Applying Leave on Behalf explains how to submit leave for an employee.