Set up leave

Create leave types, decide who approves leave, group leave types for employees and keep yearly balances right.

For hr administratorsUpdated 4 Nov 2026

Before you start

  • Set up HR settingsPublic holidays (left out of leave days) and the Leave Settings section both live in HR Settings.
  • Set up employees and supervisorsEach employee's Reporting To field decides who approves their leave first, and their branch and gender decide holidays and which leave types they get.
In this article
  1. How a leave request moves
  2. Who approves leave, and where that is set
  3. Steps
  4. What employees and managers see

Leave needs three things before anyone can apply: leave types (what people can take and how many days), approvers (who says yes) and balances (how many days each employee has this year). This page sets up all three, in that order.

How a leave request moves

  1. Submitted: the employee applies. The days are held as pending and count against what's left.
  2. Supervisor approves: the employee's line manager approves. The days are still held, and the request goes to HR.
  3. HR approves: HR gives final approval. The days are taken off the balance and the employee is emailed.

A rejection at either stage ends the request and releases the held days. The employee is emailed when the request is fully approved or rejected, not when the supervisor approves.

Who approves leave, and where that is set

ApproverWho it isWhere it's set
Supervisor (first approval)The employee's primary supervisor: the Reporting To person on their employee recordSet up employees and supervisors
Stand-in supervisorThe employee's secondary supervisor, while the primary supervisor is on approved leaveSame page: Secondary Supervisor
HR (final approval)Anyone whose role has company-wide leave approval rights (HR-Admin, Super User)User roles. They work in HR Final Approvals
Relief officerThe colleague the employee names to cover. They don't approve, but a leave type can make them accept firstLeave type (step 3); not available yet

Steps

  1. Open the leave types

    Go to Settings › HR Settings › Configuration, select the Assets & Benefits tab and open Leave Settings. You can also select Leave types and entitlements on the Leave Management dashboard.

    1. Add Leave Type creates a new type.
    2. Max Duration: the longest single request, and also the number of days each employee gets a year for this type.
    3. Max Apps/Year: how many times a year it may be taken (see the note in step 2).
    4. Who it's for and which days count: gender, days included and who can apply.

    Use the ⋮ menu on a leave type to view, edit or delete it.

  2. Add a leave type

    Select Add Leave Type.

    1. Leave Title: the name staff see, for example Annual Leave. Required, and it must be unique. Description is required too.
    2. Max Duration (Days): required. Each employee gets this many days a year for this type, and no single request can be longer.
    3. Max Application (Times): required. Shown on the card as Max Apps/Year.
    4. Gender: All Employees (Male & Female), Male Employees Only or Female Employees Only. Only employees of that gender get days for this type.
    5. Days Included: which days count as leave days. Weekdays Only (Mon - Fri), Include Weekends (Mon - Sat) or Include Weekends (All Days). Public holidays in the employee's country are never counted.
    6. Applicable To: All Employees, Managers Only or Non-Managers Only.
  3. Choose the options and create the type

    1. Require Hand Over: the employee must name a colleague to cover and write handover notes.
    2. Delegate must accept cover: the colleague must accept before the supervisor sees the request. Greyed out for now.
    3. HR approval required: always on for now, so every leave type goes to HR for final approval after the supervisor.
    4. Carry Forward: unused days move into next year when you run Carry forward (step 6).
    5. Active: new types are always active.
    6. Create Leave saves the type.

    When you create a type, every active employee of the right gender gets this year's days for it straight away.

  4. Group leave types (optional)

    Go to HR › Leave › Leave Groups. A group bundles leave types for a set of employees, for example "Management Leave" or "Staff leave".

    1. New group: enter a Group name, an optional Description, tick its Leave types, then select Create group.
    2. Each group shows its leave types and their days. Select Open group to manage it.

    1. Add puts more leave types in the group.
    2. Remove takes a leave type out.
    3. Assign adds employees to the group.
    4. Members: the employees in the group. The icon on a row removes them.
  5. Check balances and fill in missing ones

    Go to HR › Leave › Leave Balance.

    1. The year you're looking at.
    2. Carry forward moves this year's balances into next year (step 6).
    3. Fill missing gives this year's days to employees who don't have them yet.
    4. The totals for the whole organisation: entitled, remaining, pending, used, carried forward and returned (days given back by cancelled or rejected requests).

    New employees get their days automatically when you add them, worked out from their join date. Select Fill missing, then Fill missing entitlements, if you added employees before a leave type existed, or if an employee's balance shows "No entitlements set". Select an employee's card and View breakdown to see each leave type.

  6. Start each new year

    Once a year, after the last approvals for the year are in, set the year to the year that's ending and select Carry forward. WbizManager creates next year's balances: each type gets its Max Duration again, plus the unused days for types set to Carry Forward.

What employees and managers see

SettingWhat changes for them
Leave typesThe cards employees pick from when they apply for leave, with each type's days and rules.
Days Included and public holidaysThe Days deducted count on the request, which managers also see in Approve leave.
Require Hand OverEmployees must name a colleague and write handover notes. That colleague can cover for them.
Supervisor on the employee recordWhose Pending approvals queue the request lands in: see Approve leave.
Balances and groupsThe Balance strip on Track your leave.

Next: Give HR approval for leave and Manage leave requests.