HR & recruiting
Time-off request form template
Request holiday, sick days or other leave: the type, the dates, half days and who's covering.
- 8 questions
- about a minute
- Logic
- Welcome screen
Free forever, with unlimited responses. No credit card.
What's in this template
-
What's your name?
-
And your work email?
-
What kind of time off?
With “Other”
-
Which days?
Your first and last day off, both included.
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Is any of it a half day?
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Which day, and morning or afternoon?
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07 Short text
Who's covering for you while you're away?
-
08 Long text
Anything your manager should know?
Why these questions
Time off gets requested in chat messages, emails and hallway conversations, and then someone has to piece it together at the end of the month. One form, used by everyone, puts every request in one table with the same details every time.
It asks for name and work email, then what kind of time off: holiday, sick leave, parental leave, bereavement or unpaid leave, plus "Other". Then comes which days, as a date range with the first and last day both included. One question for the whole period is quicker to answer and harder to get wrong than separate start and end questions.
Is any of it a half day? is a yes/no. Only a yes is asked which day and which half, through logic. Everyone else skips straight to who's covering for them and an optional note for their manager.
Getting it approved: turn on notifications so managers are emailed each request as it's sent, or send requests to your HR system or a shared calendar with a webhook. The ending tells the employee their manager will confirm by email, so change it if approval works differently for you.
Privacy: turn on encryption and the email address and dates are encrypted at rest. Keep the form in a workspace only HR and managers can open, since the type of leave can be personal.
Keeping a record: the responses table is your log of requests. Export it as a CSV at the end of each month or year to reconcile allowances.
How the logic works
Each rule is checked once its question is answered, and the first one that matches decides where the respondent goes next. How logic works
- After “Is any of it a half day?”: if the answer is No, jump to “Who's covering for you while you're away?”.
Make it yours
- Logic Answers decide what comes next, so each person only sees what applies to them.
- Welcome screen Opens with a title, a line of context and how long it takes.
- Design Your colours, font and corners, and a picture or video on any screen.
- Encryption Turn it on and personal answers are encrypted at rest.
- Email notifications Teammates hear about each response as it's completed.
- Webhooks Send every response to your own systems, signed.
- Embedding Put it on your site inline, as a popup or as a slider.
Questions people ask
Can managers approve requests inside hootform?
Not yet. hootform collects the request and tells the right people. Approve by replying to the employee, or send the request to an HR tool that handles approval with a webhook.
Can I use the form for sick leave as well as holidays?
Yes. It's one of the choices, and there's "Other" for anything else. The request type is its own column, so each kind is easy to count.
How do half days work?
Answering yes to "Is any of it a half day?" asks which day and whether it's the morning or the afternoon. Answering no skips that question.
Who can see time-off requests?
Only people with access to the form's workspace. Put it in a workspace for HR and managers, and invite them as viewers. See teams and roles.
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