Table of Contents

Approval Workflows - Absence & Timesheet Approvals

Implement structured approval workflows for absences, vacation requests, sick leave, and timesheets. Ensure compliance, improve planning visibility, and streamline approval processes with role-based permissions and automatic notifications.

Tip

Want to streamline absence management? Learn how time cockpit's employee time tracking features help you manage absences, overtime, and working time regulations efficiently.

Overview

Time cockpit supports approval workflows for two main areas:

1. Absence Approvals

  • Vacation/Special Vacation requests
  • Compensatory Time Off
  • Sick Leave (retroactive approval)

2. Timesheet Approvals (Custom Implementation)

  • Weekly/monthly timesheet approval
  • Project time approval
  • Billable hours verification

Approval workflows provide:

  • ✅ Compliance & Audit Trail: Document who approved what and when
  • ✅ Workforce Planning: Visibility into upcoming absences before approval
  • ✅ Accountability: Clear approval responsibility by role
  • ✅ Automated Notifications: Automatic alerts for pending approvals and decisions
  • ✅ Team Visibility: Absence calendar shows approved time off to whole team

Absence Approval Workflow

How Absence Approvals Work

Core Concept: When absence approval is enabled, employees create absence requests (vacation, sick leave, compensatory time off) that appear in a pending approvals list until a department lead or HR administrator approves or rejects them. Upon approval, the absence appears in the team's absence calendar.

Workflow Lifecycle:

1. Employee creates absence request
     ↓
2. Department Lead receives notification
     ↓
3. Department Lead reviews in Absence Calendar (sees team conflicts)
     ↓
4. Department Lead approves or rejects
     ↓
5. Employee receives notification of decision
     ↓
6. Approved absence visible in team calendar

Enabling Absence Approvals

Global Settings Configuration:

  1. Navigate to Global Settings
  2. Enable approvals per absence type:
    • ☑ Enable Vacation Approval
    • ☑ Enable Compensatory Time Off Approval
    • ☑ Enable Sick Leave Approval (retroactive approval)
  3. Click Save

Per-User Configuration:

Not all employees may require approval (executives, managers):

  1. Navigate to User → User Details
  2. Open employee record
  3. Check or uncheck ☑ Absence Approval Required
  4. Save

Result:

  • Users with approval required: Absences must be approved
  • Users without approval required: Absences automatically approved

Absence Types Covered

Vacation/Special Vacation

  • Annual leave, special vacation (wedding, moving, etc.)
  • Most common approval scenario
  • Requires advance planning

Compensatory Time Off

  • Time off in lieu of overtime worked
  • Approval ensures balance is correct
  • Similar to vacation approval process

Sick Leave

  • Retroactive approval (employee already out)
  • Approval documents absence reason for payroll/HR
  • May not require advance approval depending on policy

Who Can Approve Absences

Department Leads

  • Approve absences for employees in their department(s)
  • Can be department lead for multiple departments
  • Receive automatic notifications for pending approvals
  • View team absences for conflict detection

HR Administrators

  • Can approve absences on behalf of department leads
  • Access all departments (via "Show all users" filter)
  • Handle approvals when department leads unavailable
  • Manage approval workflow exceptions

Regular Users/Employees

  • Cannot approve others' absences
  • Can only view their own approval status
  • See team absences in calendar (without absence type details for privacy)

Viewing Pending Approvals

As Department Lead:

  1. Navigate to Absence Calendar
  2. Pending Approvals List appears above calendar
  3. Shows absences requiring your approval:
    • Employee name
    • Absence type (Vacation, Sick Leave, Comp Time)
    • Start and end dates
    • Total days requested
  4. Select a row to preview absence in calendar below
  5. Calendar automatically jumps to the absence date for context

Alternative: List View

  1. Navigate to User → Vacation (or Sick Leave, Comp Time)
  2. Filter:
    • Department: Your department (may be automatic)
    • Is Approved: False
  3. Review list of pending approvals

As HR Administrator:

  1. Navigate to Absence Calendar
  2. Enable ☑ Show All Users checkbox
  3. Optionally filter by:
    • Department: Specific department
    • User: Specific employee
  4. View all pending approvals across organization

Approving or Rejecting Absences

Individual Approval (Absence Calendar):

  1. In the Pending Approvals List, locate the request
  2. Review context:
    • Check calendar below for team conflicts
    • Verify employee has sufficient vacation balance
    • Consider project deadlines and coverage
  3. To approve:
    • Click Approve action button (rightmost column)
    • Absence immediately appears in calendar
    • Employee receives approval notification
  4. To reject:
    • Click Reject action button
    • Provide rejection reason in dialog (required)
    • Absence is deleted
    • Employee receives rejection notification with reason

Batch Approval (Multiple Requests):

  1. Navigate to User → Vacation
  2. Filter to pending approvals (Is Approved = False)
  3. Multi-select requests (Ctrl+Click)
  4. Run Approve Absence action from toolbar
  5. All selected requests approved simultaneously

Editing Before Approval:

If dates need adjustment:

  1. Open the absence request
  2. Discuss with employee (via notification comment or external communication)
  3. Employee cancels original request and creates new one
  4. Or: Edit dates directly (if permitted), then approve

Absence Calendar Visibility by Role

Role Can See Can Approve Pending Approvals Shown
Time Tracking User Own department absences (no absence type for privacy) ❌ No Own only
Department Lead Own dept + departments where they're lead ✅ Yes (own depts) Own + department members
HR Administrator All users (with "Show all users" filter) ✅ Yes (on behalf of leads) All (with filter enabled)

Privacy Protection: Regular users see that colleagues are absent, but NOT whether it's vacation, sick leave, or compensatory time. This prevents stigma around sick leave.

Automatic Notifications

When Absence is Created:

  • Department Leads of the requesting user's department receive notification
  • Notification appears in bell icon (top-right menu)
  • Contains: Employee name, absence dates, absence type

Disabling Notifications (Per Department Lead):

  1. Navigate to Department master data
  2. Open department record
  3. Find department lead's settings
  4. Uncheck ☑ Receive Notification for that department lead
  5. Save

When Absence is Approved/Rejected:

  • Requesting Employee receives notification
  • Notification includes:
    • Decision (approved or rejected)
    • Approver name
    • Timestamp
    • Rejection reason (if rejected)
  • Approved-absence notifications serve as written confirmation
  • Rejected absences are deleted automatically

Notification Cleanup:

  • Department lead notifications deleted automatically upon approval/rejection
  • Employee approval notifications can be kept for records

Handling Common Approval Scenarios

Scenario 1: Multiple Team Members Request Same Dates

Steps:

  1. Review all pending requests for date conflict
  2. Check team capacity:
    • >70% present: Often manageable
    • 50-70% present: Challenging
    • <50% present: High risk, consider limiting
  3. Consider:
    • First-come, first-served policy
    • Project deadlines and commitments
    • Required skill coverage
    • Seniority or special circumstances
  4. Approve what team can accommodate
  5. Communicate with employees needing to reschedule

Scenario 2: Last-Minute Vacation Request

Policy considerations:

  • Define "advance notice" requirement (e.g., 2 weeks minimum)
  • Evaluate impact on team and projects
  • Distinguish emergencies from poor planning

Approval decision:

  • ✓ Approve if: Coverage available, non-critical period
  • ✗ Reject if: Critical deadline, insufficient coverage, policy violation
  • 💬 Discuss if: Borderline case, may need date adjustment

Scenario 3: Retroactive Sick Leave Approval

Workflow:

  • Employee returns from sick leave
  • Creates sick leave entry for past dates
  • Department lead approves retroactively (documents absence)
  • Entry appears in past dates on calendar

Purpose:

  • Compliance documentation
  • Payroll accuracy
  • Not blocking (employee already took time off)

Scenario 4: Rejected Request Communication

Best practices:

  1. Provide clear, specific rejection reason
  2. Suggest alternative dates if possible
  3. Follow up with personal conversation (if sensitive)
  4. Document decision rationale (for potential disputes)
  5. Explain business context (project deadlines, coverage gaps)

Existing Absences After Enabling Workflow

Important: When you first enable the approval workflow, existing absences (including past absences created before activation) will appear as unapproved in the absence calendar.

Required action:

  1. Navigate to pending approvals list
  2. Filter to past absences (dates in past)
  3. Retroactively approve all legitimate historical absences
  4. This clears the pending list

Why: System cannot distinguish between absences created before vs. after workflow activation.

Timesheet Approval Workflow (Custom Implementation)

Time cockpit does not have built-in timesheet approval like absence approval, but you can implement custom workflows.

Timesheet Approval Approaches

Approach 1: Manual Review Process

Workflow:

  1. Employees mark timesheets as "Ready for Review" (custom flag)
  2. Project managers/department leads review entries weekly
  3. Flag as "Approved" when verified (custom flag)
  4. Billing admin only invoices entries marked "Approved"

Implementation:

  • Add custom boolean field to Timesheet entity: "Approved"
  • Add custom boolean field: "Ready for Review"
  • Train users on workflow

Approach 2: List-Based Review

Configuration:

  1. Create saved list view: "Timesheets Pending Approval"
  2. Filter:
    • Project: Manager's projects
    • Approved: False
    • Date Range: This week
  3. Manager reviews list weekly
  4. Bulk-approve via custom action or manual flag setting

Approach 3: Action-Based Approval

(Advanced - Requires Scripting)

Create custom action: "Submit Timesheet for Approval"

  • Locks timesheet entries (prevent editing)
  • Notifies project manager
  • Sets status to "Pending Approval"

Create custom action: "Approve Timesheet"

  • Available to managers only
  • Sets "Approved" flag
  • Notifies employee
  • Entries now eligible for invoicing

See: Scripting - Actions, Data Model Customization

Timesheet Approval Use Cases

1. Billable Hours Verification

  • Project manager verifies hours are legitimate and billable
  • Reviews descriptions for client-appropriate content
  • Ensures correct projects/tasks selected
  • Prevents overbilling or mis-billing

2. Budget Compliance

  • Manager checks entries don't exceed task/project budgets
  • Flags budget overruns for investigation
  • Redirects time to correct budget codes

3. Payroll Accuracy

  • Supervisor verifies overtime is authorized
  • Confirms working time regulations followed
  • Approves before payroll export

4. Client Approval

  • Some contracts require client approval of hours
  • Manager forwards approved timesheets to client
  • Client provides sign-off before invoicing

Approval Workflow Best Practices

1. Define Clear Policies

Document policies for:

  • ✓ Advance notice requirements (vacation: 2 weeks, sick leave: same day)
  • ✓ Approval turnaround time (manager responds within 24-48 hours)
  • ✓ Appeal process (rejected requests can be appealed to HR)
  • ✓ Blackout periods (no vacation during fiscal year-end closing)
  • ✓ Capacity limits (max 30% of team absent simultaneously)

Communicate policies:

  • Employee handbook
  • Onboarding training
  • Manager training
  • Periodic reminders

2. Set Approval SLAs

Response time expectations:

  • Routine vacation requests: 1-2 business days
  • Urgent requests: Same day
  • Sick leave (retroactive): Weekly batch approval
  • Timesheet approval: Weekly (before billing cycle)

Track metrics:

  • Average approval time
  • Overdue approvals (>3 days pending)
  • Escalations to HR
  • Employee satisfaction with approval process

3. Train Approvers

Department lead training should cover:

  • How to access pending approvals
  • How to review absence calendar for conflicts
  • Approval criteria and policy guidelines
  • Common rejection reasons
  • Using rejection comments effectively
  • Batch approval workflows
  • Notification management

Refresh training:

  • Annually
  • When policies change
  • For new department leads

4. Monitor Approval Backlog

Weekly dashboard:

  • Number of pending approvals by department
  • Oldest pending approval (days)
  • Approvers with >10 pending requests
  • Approval rate by department lead (% approved)

Escalation triggers:

  • Pending >5 days → Notify approver
  • Pending >10 days → Escalate to HR
  • Approver on vacation → Delegate to backup approver

5. Provide Visibility

Employee visibility:

  • Self-service status check (approved/pending/rejected)
  • Estimated approval timeframe
  • Reason for rejection (required field)
  • Appeal process instructions

Manager visibility:

  • Centralized pending approvals dashboard
  • Team absence calendar (approved absences)
  • Upcoming absence forecast (next 30/90 days)
  • Historical approval patterns (for planning)

6. Handle Exceptions Gracefully

Emergency absences:

  • Allow same-day sick leave entry
  • Retroactive approval within 24 hours
  • Flexible policy for emergencies (family, medical, etc.)

Approval delegation:

  • When department lead is on vacation, delegate to backup
  • HR admins can approve on behalf of department lead
  • Document delegation in system

Policy overrides:

  • Executives or HR can override rejections (with documentation)
  • Audit trail of all overrides
  • Review overrides quarterly for policy adjustments

Business Impact & ROI

Compliance & Risk Reduction

Legal requirements:

  • DACH labor laws require documented absence records
  • Approval trail satisfies audit requirements
  • Prevents compliance fines (€2,000-€10,000 per violation)

ROI Example: Avoiding one €5,000 fine pays for time cockpit for 5+ years for small team.

Workforce Planning

Benefits:

  • Department leads see upcoming absences before approving new requests
  • Prevents understaffing scenarios
  • Reduces emergency contractor hires

ROI Example: 20-person department preventing 3 emergency contractor hires/year (€500/day each) = €4,500 annual savings

Faster Approval Cycle

Time savings:

  • Email-based approvals: 3-7 days average
  • Time cockpit approvals: Same-day or next-day

ROI Example: 50 employees save 2-3 hours/year on leave request follow-ups = 100-150 hours recovered

Reduced Payroll Errors

Improvement:

  • Centralized absence data eliminates manual spreadsheets
  • Reduces payroll errors by 80-90%

ROI Example: 30-person team reducing 5 payroll disputes/year (4 hours HR/Finance time each) = 20 hours saved annually

Improved Employee Experience

Satisfaction factors:

  • Real-time status tracking
  • Automatic notifications with approval/rejection reasons
  • Written confirmation records
  • Transparent, consistent process

ROI Example: Improved leave management contributes to retention. Reducing turnover by 1 employee/year (replacement cost = 50-150% salary) = €25,000-€75,000 saved

Audit Readiness

Time savings:

  • HR teams save 30-40 hours during annual audits
  • Instant access to approval history with timestamps, approver names, reasons
  • No manual record reconstruction needed

ROI Example: At €50/hour fully-loaded cost = €1,500-€2,000 saved per audit

Employee Time Tracking

Project Management

Reporting

Advanced

See Also

FAQs:

API & Automation:

For approval workflow support, contact support@timecockpit.com or see the Department Lead FAQ and HR Administrator FAQ.