Guides
Leave approval workflows for small teams
Last updated: 16 August 2026
A leave policy without a named approver is a spreadsheet with extra steps. Someone applies in chat, a manager reacts with a thumbs-up, HR finds out after the person has already left for the airport. The fix is not more reminders — it is an approval mode the whole organisation can see.
Three modes that cover most SMEs
- Admin only — every request goes to organisation admins. Simple for very small teams, or where HR must see every day off. Becomes a bottleneck past ~15 people.
- Manager only — the employee’s manager decides. Fast, and matches how coverage is actually planned. Needs every employee to have a manager assigned, and an admin fallback when the manager is away.
- Manager then admin — two-level. The manager confirms the team can cover the dates; admin confirms policy, balance, and (when relevant) paid vs unpaid. Slower, but the usual choice once payroll LOP depends on the unpaid flag.
Pick one mode per organisation. Mixing “sometimes WhatsApp, sometimes the tool” is how balances go stale.
Statuses worth making explicit
Employees should see more than “waiting.” A practical set: draft (not submitted), pending (with the current approver), approved, rejected, cancel pending (employee asked to cancel an approved request), and cancelled. Cancel-pending still counts against paid balance until the cancellation is accepted — otherwise people cancel after payroll has used the days.
Paid vs unpaid at approval time
The person who approves should be able to approve as paid or unpaid. That is how you handle “balance is 0.5 days, they applied for 2.” Unpaid approved leave should not consume paid allocation, and should flow into LOP on the next payroll run. If only HR is allowed to make that call, use manager-then-admin rather than manager-only.
What the server should reject before anyone approves
Approvers should not be the overlap police. Validate on submit: overlapping requests, Sundays, organisation holidays, Saturday-off, and (for paid intent) remaining allocation. Half-day and short leave need the same checks, or people will stack a morning half-day on top of a full-day request.
Those rules are part of what leave management software is for — not extra process on top of Excel. For a side-by-side with sheets, see spreadsheet vs dedicated software.
How Leafwage implements this
Each organisation sets admin only, manager only, or manager then admin. Employees apply with full day, half day, or short leave. Notifications go to the current approver (in-app on every plan; email on Starter and above). Admins still see the organisation inbox. Access is invite-based — request access if you want this workflow on your tenant rather than in a group chat.
Ready to replace the spreadsheet? Request access — we review organisations within one business day.