Approval rules let Administrators decide which time off requests need to be reviewed and which can be approved automatically. Rules can be set for each time off type, and there are two kinds:

• Default approval rule: The standard approval process for a time off type. All requests follow this rule unless a group-specific rule is set. If no default rule exists, requests are automatically approved. 
• Group-specific approval rules: These rules apply a different approval process for certain groups of employees. Define who a rule applies to using filters based on employee attributes (like a particular department, team, or job position). If an employee matches the filter, their request follows this rule instead of the default one. 

Only one rule applies to each request. When someone requests time off, Personio first checks if a group-specific rule applies to them. If one matches, it's used. If not, the default rule applies. If more than one group-specific rule matches an employee, the highest-priority rule applies. You can drag and drop rules to set their priority order. 

If no approval rules are set up for a time off type, requests are automatically approved.

Before you start

Permissions

Before you start, make sure the relevant users have the correct permissions:

• You need Administrator permissions to set up, edit, or monitor time off approval rules.
• To receive and action time off requests, approvers must have View permissions for the relevant employee and time off type. 
• Only users with Propose permissions for a time off type trigger an approval process. Users with Edit permissions skip the approval process altogether.

Considerations

Keep the following in mind:

• When you save a new approval rule, it applies to any new time off requests that match the criteria.
• If an approval process has multiple steps, they trigger in the order you set. Approvers only receive tasks after the previous step is approved. 
• If a step has several approvers, only one of them needs to action the task for it to move forward or stop.
• When you set an employee role as an approver, all employees in that role get the request, but only one needs to act. The task then disappears for all others. 
• If an approver rejects the request at any step, the process stops and the time off request is denied.
• If more than one group-specific rule matches an employee, the highest-priority rule applies. You can drag and drop rules to set their order. For this reason, we recommend assigning the most specific rule the highest priority and most general rule the lowest priority.  See how to change the priority of workflows.
• Approvers can manage their email preferences for approval tasks by going to Personal Settings > Notifications. Enable the checkbox for Approvals to activate email notifications. 

Set up a default approval rule for time off requests

To create an approval workflow for a time off type, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Time off & attendance section, click Time off. 
3. Click the time off type to set up > Choose time off approvers.
4. Enable the option to require approval for time off.
5. Choose at least one approver to review the time off request. You can choose from the following:
   • Supervisor
   • Supervisor's supervisor
   • Specific people
   • Employee roles
6. Optional: Create an approval chain by clicking Add approval step. The request moves to the next step once one person in the step approves it.
7. Optional: delegate approvals to avoid delayed responses.
8. Click Save to activate the approval rule.

All employee requests for this time off type will follow these steps, unless you set up a group-specific rule. This creates a different set of approval steps for a specific group of employees.

Set up group-specific approval rules for time off requests

You can create approval rules for a specific group of users with different logic than the default rule. For example, for a specific office, country, or department. 

Group-specific approval rules take priority over the default rule. If the system can match an employee to a group-specific rule, it will follow the workflow you set up here. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Time off & attendance section, click Time off. 
3. Click the time off type > Choose time off approvers.
4. Under Group-specific approval rules, click Add rule.
5. Give the rule a name.
6. Click Add filter to choose which group this rule applies to (like department, team, or location). Combine multiple filters to make it as specific as possible. 
7. Select the approvers and set up the approval steps as needed.
8. Optional: delegate approvals to avoid delayed responses.
9. Click Save to activate the rule.
10. Optional: Drag and drop the approval rule to set its priority.

Delegate approvals

Ensure requests aren't delayed by activating the Delegate the request if an approver is absent option. When you activate the option:

• The delegate receives already pending and new requests as soon as the original approver has been off for the set number of days. Their time off must be logged and approved on Personio.
• The system does not consider when a time off request is sent. 
• While the task is pending, it appears in both the original approver's and the delegate's inbox.
• As soon as one of them reviews the request, it disappears from the other's inbox. 
• If the delegate is also unavailable, the workflow creator receives the task. 
• When the original approver is back, the delegate stops receiving new requests. Any pending ones remain in both the original approver's and the delegate's inbox until reviewed by either of them.
• If an approver’s employee status is Inactive or On leave, requests for them do not go to their delegate. Instead, they go directly to the last editor of the approval process. If the approval process automatically migrated from our legacy system, this may be the longest serving employee with Administrator permissions. 

Note:
If an employee's supervisor is a top-level approver with no one above them, for example, a CEO or managing director, and that approver is absent, the delegation chain cannot continue. The request stays stuck with that approver. To fix this, create a group-specific rule for employees whose supervisor is the top-level approver and assign a different approver there.

Next steps

To check which time off submissions need approval, Administrators can go to the Automations > Activity tab. Find more details in the Monitor and manage workflows article.