Creating time off reasons

The reasons people can select when asking for time off. Enough to plan with, not so many that it becomes an HR form.

The reasons people can select when asking for time off. Enough to plan with, not so many that it becomes an HR form.

Create them

1. Open the time off settings.
2. Add a reason and name it.
3. Set whether it needs approval or is automatic.
4. Set whether it counts against a balance.
5. Make it available to the right teams.

The set most teams need

• Holiday.
• Sickness.
• Training.
• Appointment.
• Other, with a note.

Keep it short deliberately

Each reason is a category somebody has to choose from while asking for time off. A long list makes people pick approximately, and approximate data plans badly.

It also starts to feel like an interrogation, which is the wrong tone for asking for a day off.

Distinguish what you schedule around differently

Training is planned and can be moved; sickness is not and cannot. Those two need separating because they behave differently in a forecast.

Two kinds of holiday do not, unless your balances differ.

Be careful with sensitive reasons

Medical or personal detail does not belong in a scheduling tool that team leads can read. A neutral reason plus a private conversation is better for everybody.

Match your actual policy

If HR distinguishes categories that matter for entitlement, mirror those. Inventing your own creates two sets of records that will not reconcile.

Review them once

After six months, look at which reasons are actually used. The ones nobody selects can go, and their absence makes the list easier for everybody.

See also

• The time off management page
• Creating auto-approval rules for time off
• Viewing and handling time off requests