Approvals
Approvals that route themselves
Build a chain once, attach it to a policy, and every request knows where to go. Approvers get one queue and enough context to decide in a click.
Who decides, in order
The route is resolved when a request is submitted: a leave type set to auto-approve skips the chain; otherwise the policy's chain applies; with no chain, the direct manager decides; and only if nobody at all can approve does the request approve itself.
A chain is up to ten steps of Direct manager, Manager's manager or Specific person. A level that can't be resolved — no director above a manager — is dropped and the rest renumbered. Steps are snapshotted at submit, only the current level can act, a rejection at any level ends the chain, and nothing touches the ledger until the last level approves.
Delegation
Going away? Name a substitute for a date range. Requests submitted while the delegation is active are routed to them and the substitute is emailed “You'll cover approvals for …”. It's a single hop: if the substitute has a delegation of their own, that second hop isn't followed.
Revoke at any time; delegations that haven't started yet can simply be cancelled.
Reminders and escalation
An hourly job watches every pending level. After 48 hours at the current level the approver gets a reminder, repeated every 24 hours — both intervals are configurable. From the second reminder on a multi-level chain, an escalation email also goes to every owner, admin and HR member.
- 0 h
- Submitted — approver emailed
- 48 h
- Reminder to the approver
- 72 h
- Second reminder + escalation to owners, admins, HR
- Every 24 h
- Repeats until decided
Blackouts and the HR pool
A Needs-approval blackout defeats auto-approve — a person always decides. If that leaves nobody in the chain, every owner, admin and HR member becomes a parallel first-level approver, and the first to act decides.
The queue is sorted oldest first and shows how long each request has been waiting, a Blackout badge when it matters, and “Decided this month” counts so an approver can see their own pace.
FAQ
Approvals, answered
What if an employee has no manager?
The chain falls back a level at a time. With nobody left to approve, the request approves itself — so assign managers, or put a Specific person at the end of the chain.
Can two people approve the same level?
Yes. Steps at the same level run in parallel and the first to act decides for that level.
Does rejecting at level two undo level one?
There's nothing to undo. Balance is only deducted when the final level approves, so a rejection anywhere simply ends the chain and the requester is told why.
Ready to stop chasing time-off spreadsheets?
Set up your workspace in minutes. Your data stays yours — export anytime, delete anytime.
Start free in the cloud