How do I manage time off requests?

When a member of your team requests time off, you can review and respond in Assembled. You can also set up automatic approvals, turn on notifications, edit requests, and export updates.

In this article:

• Where do I find requests?
• How do email notifications work?
• How do I approve or deny a request?
• How do I change a request?
• Can I have requests automatically approved?
• Can I turn off auto-approvals for certain people?
• How do I export time off?
• Video tutorial

Where do I find requests?

There are three ways to check for new time off requests:

• Review all requests. You can access all pending, approved, denied, and canceled requests by visiting the Time off page. To refine your view, filter by request status, date range, requester, or other attributes. You can also view requests as cards, a list, or within a calendar.
• Get notification emails for all requests. If you’d prefer, you can get an email whenever someone requests time off. To turn on these notifications, visit your User settings page, check the box next to Enable time off notifications, and select Save changes.
• Ask to be notified. Your team can also choose to notify you when they submit a request by choosing your name from the drop-down menu labeled Send request to. Your name won’t appear here if you have already turned on time off notification emails, because you’ll already be notified automatically.

How do email notifications work?

Notification emails have the info you need to understand the request and take action.

You’ll notice:

• The requester’s name
• The date or time range they want to take off
• The request type (for example, PTO, sick leave, or jury duty)
• A request reason, if provided
• A link to take action in Assembled

How do I approve or deny a request?

1. Open the email notification and select the link to the request in Assembled. You can also visit the Time off page and find the request there.
2. Select Approve or Deny.
   1. If you’re approving the request, the schedule change will be made right away and the requester will receive an email confirming their time off.
   2. If you’re denying the request, you can add a reason. Keep in mind that the requester will see the reason you provide. They’ll receive an email with the details of the denied request and their schedule won’t be updated.

How do I change a request?

Open the request and select Edit. From there, you can change the time or date range, type, reason, and duration. After you’ve edited the request, you’ll still be able to approve or deny it.

You may not automatically have the option to edit requests. In some cases, the requester needs to turn this option on when they submit.

Can I have requests automatically approved?

If you’re a Pro or Enterprise customer, you can set up automatic approvals for time off requests that meet your conditions. This can help you save time and make it easier for your team to take approved types of time off.

To set it up:

1. First, set up shift patterns for any team member you want to have access to automatic approvals. This helps us make sure their request falls within their expected working hours.
2. Next, add rules to manage what kinds of time off requests are eligible. Manage time off rules.
3. The last step is to turn on automatic approval permissions.
   1. Visit the Roles and permissions page and choose the role you want to update.
   2. Select the Staffing tab, then select Time off.
   3. Under Time off auto-approvals, turn on the option to automatically approved requests.
   4. Select Save changes.
4. You’re all set! When your team members submit a new time off request that follows all your time off rules, it will be approved automatically. If the request doesn’t meet the requirements for automatic approval, it will still be sent for manual review.

Good to know:

• If you’ve turned on email notifications (or if your team member chooses you to be notified when they submit their request), you’ll get a notification email when a request is automatically approved.
• If you want to review approved requests later, visit the Time off requests page and filter to Auto-approved requests. You can also refine this view to a specific time frame or event type.

Can I turn off auto-approvals for certain people?

This feature is managed at the role level. If you need to prevent a specific person from being automatically approved, you’ll need to change their role to one that doesn’t have auto-approvals turned on.

To do this:

1. Visit the People page and select the person you’d like to update.
2. Open the Role drop-down menu and choose a new role. Be sure to select a role that doesn’t have auto-approvals turned on.
3. Select Save changes.

Need to create or update a role first? Learn about managing roles.

How do I export time off?

You can download a CSV file with details about time off requests that were approved, denied, or canceled.

To do this:

1. From the Time off page, select Export updates.
2. Set a date range. The export will include requests approved, denied, or canceled during that date range. Note: The selected date range reflects the date the request was updated, but not the date a request was submitted or the actual dates requested off.
3. Select Export updates to download the CSV file.

You can’t currently download a filtered list of requests, specific request dates, or pending requests. However, you can use our API endpoint to call this information if you need it.

Video tutorial