Time off Request Form

Every employee needs a break from time to time that could be for leisure, vacation, or medical reasons. There may be a prescribed format to apply for leaves in your organization or not? However, the best way to streamline the process of applying for leave is through a ready-made time off request form.

Let’s know about it in detail.

What Is an Employee Time-Off Request Form? 

Employee time off request form is a prescribed form that an employee has to fill and provide to its employer. If you are a white-collar job employee, employee time off request form becomes essential as it depends on your employer to accept the request or not.

Employee time off request form is also known as employee vacation request form, paid time off (PTO) request form, leave application form, vacation request form, and days off request form.

What to Include in an Employee Time-Off Request Form?

Depending on the purpose of the leave, employee time off request form can be of many types. These could be

PTO Request Form

A PTO or paid time off request form is utilized when asking for sick leave, vacation, jury duty, or for any personal time off.

Medical Leave Request Form

The medical leave request form is designed for maternity leave or a long period time off due to medical reasons

Bereavement Leave Request Form

This is used for taking leave to attend a funeral.

The contents of employee time off request form should include the following:

• Date of the request submitted
• Duration of the leave, the starting, and the end date
• Date of returning to work
• Reason of leaving: sick leave, funeral leave, jury duty, vacation, military leave, medical leave, or others
• Name and signature of the employee
• Supervisor name and signature
• HR representative name and signature
• Approval

Importance of an Employee Time-Off Request Form

Employee time-off request forms are important for employees as well as employers. Here are some of the benefits of having employee time off requests forms:

• Provides a sense of time

Employees need to inform well before time for leave in certain circumstances, especially if it’s for a decent period. Time off request form acts as a responsible step from employees to apply for leave.

This gives the employer a sense of time before providing approval for the same.

• Acts as a record

Time off request forms also act as a means of future record. These documents can be accessed at any time to calculate the number of leaves taken by respective employees in the organization. They also help to know which employees are taking more leaves than others.

• Easy replacement of employees

An employee time off request form provides ample time for the employer to look up for a replacement employee to fill in the vacant position. Receiving a time off request form makes it easy to fulfill workforce needs efficiently.

• Keeps track of employee on leave

Not all employees asking for leaves can be approved at the same time. Comparing the various time off request leaves makes it easy for an employer to decide which employees can be granted a break at a time.

When Should You Use It?

Employee time off request form can be used in various circumstances. This form can be used when:

• An employer doesn’t already have a pre-existing request form pending
• An employer has all the necessary details required regarding taking leaves
• An employer wants all employees to have all the necessary forms they might need
• You are an employee working in Human Resources

Why Should You Use It? 

Filling out an employee time off request form and submitting the same to the employer makes it official that you are on leave. This helps in eliminating distortion while taking leaves.

Also, employers should ask for time off request forms from their employees to keep track of their leaves along with the reason for which they took it.

Key Considerations Regarding Time-off Requests

Various considerations should be put in place regarding time-off requests. The key considerations are:

Decide upon the deadline of time off requests

For time off request forms to work smoothly, the organization must clearly mention how well in advance an employee can submit day off request form. Also, it should mention how often time off requests form can be submitted so that there isn’t always one employee or the other submitting it for no reason at all.

Decide upon how soon approval or rejection of form is delivered

It is also important for employees that the organization mention how soon an approval or rejection of time off requests form can be expected.

Policy for overlapping requests

Receiving multiple requests for leaves for the same days should be sorted out with a first-come, first-serve basis. Perhaps, they should also be considered based on the reason for leave.

CocoSign provides a range of forms and templates and various other new employee forms that are ready to use and customizable. Download them now.