Time off · How-to
Approve or decline time off
Work through pending requests one at a time or in a batch, spot clashes in a department, know what an approval changes, and cancel leave that is no longer happening.
Open the pending list
Time off opens on “Pending approval”, and the tab shows how many are waiting. If you are the person's manager, or an owner or admin when the manager has no login, a notification tells you when a request arrives.
Check the request
Each row shows the employee, type, dates and number of working days. “Someone in the same department is off then” under the status means another person in their department already has approved leave on some of those days. Click a row to open the person's record with their balances and earlier leave.
Approve or decline one
Press the tick (“Approve”) or the cross (“Decline”) at the end of the row. Deciding needs a role that can edit Time off. Your own request shows “Your own request: someone else decides it” instead, unless you are an owner or an admin.
Decide several at once
Tick the rows you want, or the box in the header to select every pending request on the page that you may decide, then press “Approve all” or “Decline all” in the bar that appears. Your own request cannot be ticked, unless you are an owner or an admin.
Know what approval does
Approving takes the working days from the person's balance and adds the leave to their “Recent activity”. If their record is linked to a login, it also turns those days into days off on the bookings rota and notifies them. While the leave covers today, their status shows On leave.
Cancel leave that is no longer happening
Press “Cancel request” on a pending or approved row and confirm. Cancelling approved leave gives the days back to the balance and removes its days off from the rota. Approvers can cancel anyone's request; anyone else can cancel only their own, once their record is linked to their login. The person is told when someone else cancels their leave, and whoever approved it is told when the person cancels leave that was approved.
Common questions
- Can I change my mind after deciding?
An approved request can be cancelled with “Cancel request”, which returns its days to the balance and clears them from the rota. A declined request cannot be reopened; ask for a new one instead.
- Is anyone told when leave is cancelled?
Yes, with the notification “Time off cancelled”. When someone cancels another person’s leave, pending or approved, that person is told, if their record is linked to a login. When someone cancels their own approved leave, whoever approved it is told, or else their manager, or else the owners and admins. Withdrawing a request that is still pending tells nobody, because nobody had decided it yet.
- Can I see who else is off?
Yes. Under a pending request, the people in the same department who already have approved leave on those days are named, with their dates and the type of leave. Someone asking for time off sees the names and dates too, but not the type: a colleague’s sick leave is theirs.
- Can I decide time off on the phone?
Yes, if you may approve time off; nobody else sees Approvals. It has Pending, Upcoming and All, department chips and My reports. A request shows its dates, the note, the days nobody covers, the booked visits and who else is off, by name. Approve or Decline it, or swipe the row; approved leave is written into the rota. Touch and hold to select several and Approve all or Decline all. Nobody decides their own request unless they are an owner or admin: your own row says someone else decides it.
Read next
See approved leave on the rota
Approved leave takes a person off the bookings rota by itself, and the rota will not let anyone put working hours back on those days.
Request time off
Book leave for yourself or a colleague, see how many working days it takes before you send it, and catch clashes with the rota.
Time off: questions and answers
Short answers about weekends and holidays, who is notified, who approves, long and year-crossing requests, cancelling, unpaid leave and the rota.
Notifications: what you are told, and where
Setvos tells you about new bookings, tasks assigned to you, approvals and more — in the bell, on your phone, and in Telegram if you link it.
More in Time off
Open in Setvos
Signed in? This article is also in the Help menu of the app.
Still stuck?
Tell us what you were trying to do — we answer in chat, in six languages. Write to us
Move your bookings off paper, WhatsApp and three spreadsheets.
Bring your clients, services and past visits in from a spreadsheet or your old system’s export, with a preview before anything is written — and help in chat, in six languages, whenever you want it. Most studios are live the same day.