How does time off management work in Wrok?

Vacation requests on paper slips, sick calls at 6 a.m., and a schedule that no longer matches reality: that is time off management in most small businesses. In Wrok the whole flow lives in the app, from the worker's request to the manager's decision to a schedule that plans around every approved absence automatically. Here is the process end to end.

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What does the request-to-approval flow look like?

Every time-off request in Wrok follows the same simple path, whether it is a two-week summer vacation or a single sick day:

  1. The worker requests. In the app, the worker picks the type of absence (vacation, sick, or personal day), selects the dates from a calendar, and submits. It takes a few taps and works from any phone or browser.
  2. The manager decides. The request appears for the manager instantly, with full context of the schedule. The manager approves or denies it, with an optional note explaining the decision.
  3. The worker sees the status in real time. Requests show as pending, approved, or denied, so nobody has to ask "did you see my request?" in person.
  4. The schedule updates itself. Once an absence is approved, the schedule adjusts automatically around it and the team is notified of changes by push notification. No manual erasing, no forgotten corrections.

How does the scheduler handle approved absences?

This is the part that separates real time off management from a shared calendar. Wrok's scheduling engine treats approved vacations and sick days as hard constraints, exactly like availability, contracted hours, and mandatory rest hours. When you generate a week, the algorithm evaluates the valid combinations of workers and shifts against all of those rules at once, so a worker on approved leave is simply never assigned a shift.

That means approving a vacation in March already shapes the schedules you generate in July. You do not need to remember who is away; the generator does. And because minimum staffing per role is also a rule, the algorithm fills the gap the absence leaves with the remaining available workers, keeping every shift covered. If the absences make a valid week impossible, Wrok tells you which rule is blocking it instead of silently producing a broken schedule.

Can workers and managers see balances and history?

Yes, both sides get a live picture instead of a guess:

  • Workers see their remaining vacation balance at a glance, the status of every request in real time, and their full request history in one list.
  • Managers see sick days and vacation usage per worker, with visual progress bars for a quick overview of the whole team.
  • Trends surface early. Because every sick day and vacation is recorded automatically, patterns show up in the data before they become staffing problems.
  • History is kept. Historical absence data stays available for HR reporting, so end-of-year questions have answers.

What about records for payroll and compliance?

In many countries, including across the EU, employers are required to keep records of working time and absences. Wrok builds that record as a side effect of running the schedule: hours worked are tracked per day, week, and month, attendance is marked per shift, and every vacation and sick day is logged with its dates and approval.

When payroll needs the numbers, you export them. On the Starter plan and above, Wrok generates professional PDF and Excel files with one tap, ready for printing, emailing, or handing to your accountant. The Excel export in particular is designed for payroll workflows, so hours and absences leave the app in a format spreadsheets and payroll tools can consume directly.

Note: Wrok records and exports the data; it does not interpret local labor law for you. What counts as paid leave or how sick days are compensated remains between you, your accountant, and your local regulations.

What if a worker just needs one shift covered?

Not every absence is a vacation. When a worker needs a single evening off, the right tool is a shift swap rather than a time-off request. In Wrok, workers propose swaps directly with coworkers, both workers approve, and the manager gives final confirmation, after which the schedule updates automatically for everyone. Swap requests can even be sent inside the built-in chat, so the negotiation and the paperwork happen in the same conversation.

Together, the two flows cover the whole spectrum: swaps for one-off shift changes, time-off requests for real absences, and an auto-scheduler that respects the results of both. For how this compares to other tools, see Wrok vs When I Work vs Deputy, or start at the Wrok homepage for the full feature overview.

FAQ

Common questions

Workers open the app, pick the type of absence (vacation, sick, or personal day), select the date range from a calendar, and submit. The manager sees the request instantly and can approve or deny it with an optional note. The worker tracks the approval status in real time and gets notified when the schedule changes.

Yes. When a manager approves a vacation or sick day, the schedule adjusts automatically around the approved absence, and the team sees the change instantly with push notifications. When you generate the next schedule, Wrok's scheduling algorithm treats approved vacations and sick days as hard constraints, so an absent worker is never assigned a shift.

Yes. Wrok keeps a record of every worker's sick days and vacation usage, tracks balances in real time, and shows remaining balance at a glance with visual progress bars. Managers get historical data per worker for HR reporting, which makes it easier to spot patterns before they become problems.

Yes. Wrok tracks hours worked per day, week, or month, and keeps historical attendance and absence records. On the Starter plan and above, you can export schedules and reports as PDF or Excel files, formatted for printing, emailing to staff, or keeping records for payroll and compliance.

Put the paper slips away

Start free for up to 6 workers, no credit card required. Your team requests time off from their phones, you approve with a tap, and the schedule takes care of itself. Flat pricing from €14.99 per month when you grow, plus a 90-day free trial.

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