# Absence requests

> Process the leave requests submitted by your employees from the mobile app, with the option of hierarchical validation.

Source: https://help.shyfter.com/en/schedules/absence-requests  
Category: Schedules  
Updated: 2026-06-30

Employees submit their leave requests from the Shyfter Staff app. These requests arrive in Shyfter and it is you, as the manager, who approve, reject or put them on hold. Once validated, the absence is automatically added to the employee's schedule.

## How employees make a request

From the Shyfter Staff mobile app, the employee goes to the **Absences** or **Leave** section and submits a request by choosing:

- The **absence type**: holidays, sickness, recovery, unpaid leave, etc.
- The **period**: start date and end date.
- An optional **comment**.

If your organisation allows a medical certificate to be sent (in case of sickness), the employee can attach a photo of the document directly from their phone.

## Processing requests

Go to **Schedules → Absence requests**.

The list shows, for each request: the employee's **Name**, the **Manager** (useful with hierarchical validation), the requested **Period**, the absence **Type**, the attached **Files** (for example a medical certificate), the creation date (**Created on**) and the **Status**. A filter at the top right ("Pending" by default) and a search let you target requests by their status.

Click on a request to open its details and process it:

1. **Approve**: the absence is added to the schedule and the balance is deducted. The employee is notified.
2. **Reject**: the request is rejected. A comment field lets you explain the reason.
3. **Put on hold**: if you need time to decide, the request stays visible without being processed.

## Downloading the medical certificate

If an employee has attached a medical certificate to their sick leave request, you can download it directly from the request's detail page. Click on the request concerned, then on the button to download the supporting document.

## Hierarchical validation of leave

Some organisations require a leave request to be validated at several levels (team leader, HR, management). Shyfter offers a **hierarchical validation** option that lets you define an approval workflow.

Enable and configure this workflow in **Settings → HR → Absence validation**. Requests then follow the defined workflow before being considered approved.

## Organising absences by sections

If your account uses sections, you can filter absence requests by section to make processing easier when you manage several separate teams.

Visibility depends, however, on the role:

- An **administrator** sees all staff and all requests, **even if they do not themselves belong to the section** concerned.
- A **schedule or HR manager** only sees the employees who share **the same sections as them**, and therefore only their absence requests.

Bear this in mind when assigning roles: for a manager to process a team's requests, they must be attached to the same sections as that team.