Time Off — Employee Guide
See how much leave you have, ask for time off, and follow each request until your approver decides. Asking does not use up your balance. An approval does, and so do leave hours you record on your timesheet.
Where it is
| Where | What you can do there |
|---|---|
| On the web: Labor → Leave Requests | Ask for any day, including in advance, and see and withdraw your requests. |
| On the phone: Time tab → Time off | See your balances, and ask for time off today. |
Use the web to plan time off ahead. The phone is for today: its request form is fixed to the current date.
Your balances
Both places show one line per kind of leave you hold, with the hours available.
You see the kind of leave, not the plan behind it. The list says PTO and Sick Leave. It does not name the internal plan your employer funds it through. You do not need that to ask for a day off, and the screens deliberately leave it out.
You see only the kinds you actually hold. If a kind is missing, you do not hold it. That is a payroll record question, not a display problem. People engaged as subcontractors hold no leave, so an empty list is correct for them.
If you hold two plans of the same kind, you see one line and one balance. They are added together.
Asking from the web
Open Labor → Leave Requests. The Request time off form sits at the top:
| Field | What it wants |
|---|---|
| First day | the first day you are away |
| Last day | the last day you are away, and it counts. Leave it alone for a single day. |
| Type | which kind of leave, chosen from the kinds you hold. Each shows your balance beside it. A kind you hold that cannot be used yet is grayed out, with the reason. Screen readers announce this list as Type of leave. |
| Hours | how many hours of that day. A single day only. |
| Hours per day | for a range, the hours on each working day. Leave it empty and each day uses the hours you are scheduled for, which is what most people want. |
| Note for your approver (optional) | anything your approver should know |
As you type the hours, the form shows what the request would use: Uses 8 of your 40 hours, leaving 32. If you ask for more than you have, it says so and tells you who to talk to: your supervisor, who can take it to Human Resources to arrange leave without pay or another option. The form does not send a request for more than you hold.
Select Request time off. It reads Sending while it works, then the form confirms: Requested. It is awaiting a decision, and your balance has not changed yet. If the request is refused when you send it, the form shows the reason.
To take a stretch of time off, set the last day and send ONE request. It covers every working day in between -- weekends and company holidays are skipped, so a Friday-to-Monday absence asks for two days, not four. The form shows the day count and the total before you send it, and your approver decides the whole request once.
Following your requests
Below the form, your requests are grouped by status:
| Tab | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Awaiting a decision | sent, not decided yet |
| Approved | approved; your balance has moved |
| Denied | not approved; your balance is unchanged |
| Withdrawn | requests you took back |
A request that is still Awaiting a decision can be withdrawn: open it and select Withdraw request. Once your approver has decided, the request can no longer be withdrawn.
Asking from the phone
On the Time tab, select Time off. Under Request time off:
- Pick the kind of leave.
- Enter the Hours, up to 24.
- Add a Note (optional) for your approver.
The Date is today and cannot be changed on the phone. The button names the request, for example Request 8h PTO; screen readers announce it as Send time off request. Until the form is complete, it says what is missing instead, such as Pick a leave type. or How many hours?.
After you send, the phone tells you which of three things happened:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Request sent for approval | The usual case. Your approver reviews it, and your balance does not change until it is approved. |
| Time off approved | Your employer approves this kind of request automatically. Only here has your balance already moved. |
| Saved — will send when you're back online | You had no signal. The request is stored on your phone and goes out by itself. |
The phone does not list requests you have already sent. Use Leave Requests on the web to see them.
Asking is not getting
Your balance does not change when you send a request. It changes when your approver approves it. Do not book travel on a request that is still awaiting a decision.
Whether a request is approved automatically depends on how your employer has set things up, so one colleague's experience is not a promise about yours.
Requesting is not recording
A request and your timesheet do two different jobs:
- The request asks your approver, and once it is approved it takes the hours out of your balance.
- Your timesheet records the hours you took. Add your leave line (for example PTO) and type the hours on the day, as described in Timekeeping. Leave can also go in ahead of the day: the Time tab in the mobile app takes leave hours on a day still to come, so next week's time off can be on your timesheet before you go. The hours come out of your balance as you enter them, and a day that asks for more than you hold is refused.
An approved request does not fill in your timesheet, and leave hours typed on your timesheet do not ask anyone. Do both. A day covered by an approved request is taken from your balance once, not twice.
Approving is somewhere else
You cannot approve your own request. Approvers decide requests on the same Leave Requests page, where a request routed to them carries a Decide action. Your supervisor can also decide it from the Approvals tab in the mobile app. Whoever decides it, the answer shows under your requests here.
When something looks wrong
"My balance did not go down after I was approved." Balances are read fresh each time the screen opens. Close it and open it again. If it still disagrees, ask whoever runs payroll to check your record.
"I sent a request and nothing seems to have happened." Check Awaiting a decision on the web. If it is there, it is with your approver.
"A kind of leave I expected is not in the list." You do not hold it. That is a payroll record question; see Your balances above.
"A screen says it cannot match my sign-in to an employee record." Your account is not linked to your personnel record yet, so a request cannot be filed under your name. Ask your administrator to link it.
"I have no signal." Send it from the phone anyway. You will see Saved — will send when you're back online, and it goes out on its own.
Related
- Timekeeping — recording the hours you worked
- Using the Arcvue Mobile App — everything else on the phone
- Checking Your Own Record — balances, statuses and your details