Manage staff member leave

This guide shows you how to manage staff member leave from start to finish. Tracking leave in AtomicSam ensures your job scheduling and resource forecasting are accurate.

Managing staff leave helps you plan capacity. When you know who is available and when, you can schedule jobs with confidence. It also gives your team a clear way to request time off and see their balances.

Before you start

• To create and manage leave types, you need Administrator or Full Access permissions.
• To approve or decline leave requests for others, you need Manager or Team Lead permissions.
• All staff members can submit their own leave requests and view their own leave balances.

Set up leave types

First, define the different kinds of leave your organization offers. You can create paid leave types, which draw from a staff member's balance, and unpaid leave types for tracking non-accrued time off.

1. Navigate to Settings → Leave Settings.
2. Click Add Leave Type.
3. Enter a Name for the leave, such as Annual Leave or Sick Leave.
4. Choose a Leave Category from the dropdown menu.
5. If needed, add a Description to explain when staff members should use this leave type.
6. Click Save.

Assign leave entitlements

After creating your paid leave types, you assign annual entitlements to each staff member. This sets their yearly allowance for each type of paid leave. You do not need to assign entitlements for unpaid leave types.

1. Go to Staff → Staff Members.
2. Select the staff member you want to update.
3. Click the Leave tab on their profile.
4. In the Leave Entitlements section, click Add Entitlement.
5. Select a paid Leave Type from the dropdown menu.
6. Enter their Annual Allowance in hours.
7. Set the Start Date for when this allowance becomes active. The balance will reset on this date each year.
8. Click Save Entitlement.

💡 Tip: You can assign multiple entitlements to one staff member. For example, they might have 160 hours of Annual Leave and 40 hours of Sick Leave.

Review leave requests

When a staff member submits a leave request, their manager receives a notification. You can review and respond to these requests from the main Leave section.

1. Navigate to Leave → Requests.
2. The default view shows all Pending requests. You can filter this list by Status, Staff Member, or Date Range.
3. Click on a request to view its details. You will see the dates, total hours, and any comments from the staff member.
4. The request also shows the staff member's remaining leave balance for that specific leave type.
5. To approve the request, click Approve. The time is blocked out on the schedule and hours are deducted from their balance.
6. To decline the request, click Decline. You will be prompted to add a reason, which is sent to the staff member in a notification.

⚠️ Heads up: Once leave is approved, the hours are deducted from the staff member's entitlement balance immediately. This time also becomes unavailable in the scheduler, preventing them from being booked on jobs.

Good to know

• Leave is always requested and tracked in hours. For multi-day requests, AtomicSam calculates the total hours based on the staff member's standard working day as set in their profile.
• A staff member can submit a request even if they have an insufficient leave balance. A warning will appear for the approver, who can decide whether to approve it as an exception. This will result in a negative balance.
• You can edit or cancel an approved leave entry. To do this, go to the staff member's Leave tab, find the entry in their history, and click Cancel. This returns the hours to their balance.
• Leave balances do not automatically carry over from one year to the next by default. To account for carry-over balances, you must manually adjust the staff member's new Annual Allowance when it renews.

What's next

• Schedule jobs and book time for your team
• Understand staff member permissions
• Run reports on staff availability and utilization