Leave Approval Workflow

Approve leave in seconds.

No spreadsheets. No email chains. No chasing managers. Offly routes leave requests to the right people automatically and keeps everyone informed.

Approval Queue
3 pending
Step 1

Request Submitted

Sarah Chen

26–30 May · Holiday

Step 2

Manager Notified

James Park

Notified via Slack

Step 3

Approved

James Park

Approved in 4 min

Step 4

Employee Updated

Sarah Chen

Email + Slack notification

SC

Sarah Chen

Holiday · 26–30 May 2026 · 5 days

Leave Type

Annual Leave

Remaining

18 of 25 days

Team Conflicts

None

Approval Status

Pending

The entire approval workflow. Automated.

From request to decision to notification — the whole process happens without email threads, spreadsheet updates, or manual follow-ups.

Employee submits leave

Choose dates, leave type, add optional notes. The request is routed to the correct approver automatically.

Manager notified instantly

The designated approver receives a notification via email, Slack, or both. No manual forwarding required.

Approve or decline

One click to approve. Full context is shown — leave type, dates, remaining allowance, team conflicts.

Employee updated automatically

The employee receives the decision immediately. The calendar, wallchart, and balances all update in real time.

4 min

Avg. Approval Time

92%

One-Click Approvals

100%

Requests Auto-Routed

All

Email Threads Eliminated

Why managers love Offly approvals

Approval admin is the most repetitive part of people management. Offly makes it fast, visible, and automatic.

One Click Approvals

See the request, tap approve. No forms to fill, no systems to log into, no multi-step processes. One click and the employee is notified.

No Chasing

Automatic notifications keep requests moving. Managers are prompted when a request arrives. Employees are updated the moment a decision is made. Nobody is left waiting.

See Conflicts Before Approving

Before approving, managers see exactly who else is already off that week. Make informed decisions without checking the calendar separately.

Complete Audit Trail

Every approval, decline, edit, and cancellation is recorded with a timestamp and the person responsible. Full accountability, zero effort.

Automatic Routing

Requests automatically go to the right person.

When an employee submits a leave request, Offly determines the correct approver based on your organisation structure. No manual assignment, no forwarding emails, no checking who manages whom.

  • Department managers approve their team
  • Specific approvers for special cases
  • Admin fallback when managers are unavailable
  • Multi-level approval chains for larger teams
  • Custom routing rules per department
Approval Routing Rules

Engineering

Department

JP

James Park

Engineering Manager

Design

Department

EW

Emma Wilson

Design Lead

Marketing

Department

LB

Lucy Brown

Marketing Director

Operations

Department

AF

Admin Fallback

Organisation Admin

SC

Sarah Chen

Engineering · Request #247

Leave Type

Annual Leave

Duration

5 days

Dates

26–30 May 2026

Remaining

18 of 25 days

Team Conflicts

None this week

Status

Awaiting Decision

Employee Note

"Family holiday booked — flights confirmed."

Full Context

Everything managers need in one view.

Managers see everything they need to make a decision without opening another system. Leave type, dates requested, remaining allowance, team conflicts and any notes — all in one place.

  • Leave type and duration
  • Exact dates requested
  • Remaining allowance balance
  • Who else is already off that week
  • Employee notes and context
Status Tracking

Know exactly where every request stands.

Every leave request has a clear status. Employees always know whether their request is pending, approved, declined, or cancelled. Managers see their queue at a glance. No ambiguity, no chasing for updates.

  • Clear pending, approved, declined, cancelled states
  • Real-time status updates for all parties
  • Filterable by status for quick queue management
  • Automatic status transitions on actions
SC

Sarah Chen

Holiday · 26–30 May

Approved
AR

Alex Rivera

Holiday · 2–6 Jun

Pending
TM

Tom Mitchell

WFH · 28 May

Approved
KM

Kate Murphy

Sick · 23 May

Declined
DF

Dan Foster

Training · 4 Jun

Cancelled
Edit Request
26–30 May27–30 May
5 days4 days

"26th is a bank holiday — doesn't need to be deducted."

Employee will be notified of changes

Edit Requests

Fix mistakes without starting again.

Managers can adjust dates, correct leave types, or update details on a request before approving — without forcing the employee to cancel and resubmit. Fewer steps, less friction, faster resolution.

  • Adjust dates before approving
  • Correct leave types if submitted wrong
  • Update request details and notes
  • All edits recorded in the audit trail
  • Employee notified of any changes
Notifications

Nobody gets left wondering.

Managers receive requests the moment they're submitted. Employees receive decisions the moment they're made. Updates happen instantly across email and Slack. No one needs to ask "what happened to my request?"

  • Instant notifications when requests arrive
  • Immediate updates when decisions are made
  • Slack and email notification channels
  • Configurable notification preferences
  • Reminder nudges for pending requests
View notification integrations

New leave request

Sarah Chen requested 5 days holiday

Just now

Request approved

James Park approved your holiday

4 min ago

Slack notification sent

Tom Mitchell reminded via Slack

1 hr ago

Pending reminder

2 requests awaiting your decision

Today
Slack Integration

Approve leave directly from Slack.

When a request arrives, managers get a Slack message with the full details and one-click approve or decline buttons. No need to open Offly, no context switching, no delays. Approve from wherever you're already working.

  • Approve or decline with one button tap
  • View full request details in Slack
  • Instant confirmation back to the employee
  • Works in Slack desktop, mobile and web
  • Future: automatic Slack status syncing
See all integrations
#

Offly

App · Direct Message

O
Offly10:32 AM

📋 New Leave Request

Employee: Sarah Chen

Type: Annual Leave

Dates: 26–30 May 2026 (5 days)

Remaining: 18 days after this request

Conflicts: None

Approved — Sarah has been notified

Approval workflows that match your organisation.

Every company is different. Offly lets you configure exactly who approves what — from simple department managers to multi-level chains with fallbacks.

Department Manager

Each department has a designated manager who approves all leave for their team.

Specific Approver

Assign individual approvers for special roles, contractors, or cross-functional teams.

Admins & Owners

Organisation admins can approve any request across all departments.

Auto Approval

Optionally auto-approve certain leave types (e.g. WFH) without requiring manual action.

Fallback Approvers

When the primary approver is unavailable, requests automatically escalate to a fallback.

Audit Trail

Every decision is recorded.

Complete audit logs capture every action in the approval process — from the moment a request is created to the final outcome. Who did what, when they did it, and what changed. Full compliance, zero manual record-keeping.

  • Request creation with full details
  • Approval and decline decisions
  • Edits made before or after approval
  • Cancellations with reasons
  • Notification delivery confirmations
Audit Log — Request #247

Request Created

10:28 AM

Sarah ChenHoliday · 26–30 May

Manager Notified

10:28 AM

SystemJames Park via Slack + Email

Request Approved

10:32 AM

James ParkApproved without changes

Employee Notified

10:32 AM

SystemSarah Chen via Email

Calendar Updated

10:32 AM

SystemAdded to team calendar

Built for teams that need reliable approvals

Whether you manage a dev team, an agency, or a growing company — approval workflows should make life easier, not harder.

Software Teams

Manage engineering leave without release conflicts. Managers see who else is off before approving, preventing sprint disruptions and missed deadlines.

Agencies

Keep client work covered by seeing approval requests alongside project schedules. Never approve leave that would leave a client without their lead contact.

Operations Teams

Maintain minimum staffing levels. Approval workflows check against team capacity so managers can prevent understaffing before it happens.

Growing Businesses

Scale approvals without chaos. As your team grows from 10 to 100, approval routing adapts — no manual reassignment, no bottlenecks, no missed requests.

Offly vs Email-Based Approvals

Email was designed for conversations, not leave management. Every request becomes a thread that gets buried, forwarded, or forgotten.

Feature
Offly
Email
Approval Workflow
Status Tracking
Audit History
Automatic Routing
Conflict Visibility
Slack Approvals
Department Rules
Auto-Approval Options

Every view managers need.

From pending queues to detailed request modals — designed to help managers make fast, confident decisions.

Pending Approval View

See all requests awaiting your decision in one prioritised queue.

Approval Modal

Full context — leave details, conflicts, and one-click actions.

Approval Dashboard

Track all requests across the organisation by status.

Manager Workflow

A purpose-built view for managers to handle approvals efficiently.

Slack Approval

Approve or decline directly from a Slack message.

Built for accountability.

Every approval decision is visible, traceable, and compliant. No hidden actions, no lost records.

Audit Logs

Every action tracked for compliance.

Role-Based Permissions

Employees, managers, admins — correct access.

Department Rules

Approval routing matches your structure.

Manager Visibility

Managers see exactly what they need.

Approval History

Full history of every decision made.

Frequently asked questions

Stop managing leave approvals by email.

Give managers a faster way to approve requests and employees a clearer process. Leave approvals should take seconds, not email threads.

One-click approvals
Slack integration
Full audit trail
Department routing