Request time off

Follow these steps to ask for time off to go to that pirate convention you’ve been saving up for.

Time off today or tomorrow? Try Grant the chatbot

Grant makes it easy to take time off in the near future. (If you’re requesting time off for days further out than tomorrow, skip to Check if your request is likely to be approved.)

A bell appears next to the Grant icon in the upper-right corner of the page if there’s wiggle room to make a short-term change in your schedule.

Or you might see this notification at the bottom of the page:

  • Click the Grant bot icon. A chat window opens in the lower-left corner of the page, and Grant checks to see if you can take some time off. If you can, Grant guides you through the process.

If you need to cancel the request later, see Cancel a time-off request.

Check if your request is likely to be approved

WFM uses color coding to indicate how likely your request is to be approved. That color coding might appear as a small oval or a vertical line, depending on how your system is set up.

  1. Click Schedule in the top menu.

  2. Click the calendar icon or arrows to see the date(s) you want off. If your employer uses the oval, that appears as green, yellow, or red.

  3. To see the vertical line, click Staffing Info, and select Show absence probability. The vertical line uses green and yellow.

Submit a request

  1. Click Requests in the top menu.
  2. Click Absence Request.
  3. Select the kind of absence from the Absence type drop-down list.
  4. Select the first and last days of your time off from the calendars. To request just one day off, select the same day in both calendars.
  5. If you are requesting a partial day off, clear the Full Day check box, and select the start and end time. Otherwise, leave this box checked.

  6. Enter a Subject and Message for your request.

    NOTE   Ask your supervisor if they need you to include any specific information in the Subject or Message fields.

  7. Click Save. Your request might be automatically approved or denied, or your supervisor might need to approve it.

Check the status of a time-off request

You’ve asked for time off for the pirate convention, but did your supervisor approve your request? Follow these steps to find out.

  1. Click Requests in the top menu. A list of your recent requests appears.

  2. Look at the Status field for the request, and click the request to see more information. Absence requests have one of the following statuses.

Status What it means

New

The system hasn’t handled your request yet. Talk to your supervisor if your request stays New for a long time.

Pending

The request is waiting for a response from your supervisor.

Approved

Your request was approved.

Denied

Your request was denied, either automatically by the system or manually by your supervisor. Click the request for more information about why it was denied.

Canceled

You canceled the request, or your supervisor canceled the request for you.

Waitlisted

Your request can’t be automatically approved (for example, too many people have already asked to take the day off). It might be approved later if something changes.

Cancel a time-off request

Bummer, you’ve realized that you can’t go to the pirate convention after all. Follow these steps to take back those vacation hours.

  1. Click Requests in the top menu. A list of your recent requests appears.
  2. Click the X in the upper right corner of the request. A confirmation message appears.
  3. Click Yes or Delete (the word you see depends on whether the request was approved or not). The request disappears.