Leave request form template: the fields it needs and the approval steps

A leave form sits on the HR desk: the dates are filled in and there is a signature, but the “return to work” box is empty. Did the employee ask for 12 days or 10? The manager says “I approved it”, yet the paper does not show which type of leave it is, and the remaining-balance box has been crossed out by hand. When a form is designed with gaps, every missing field later turns into phone calls, a correction memo and an argument about the balance. In this article you will find a leave request form you can copy and adapt to your own company, a filled-in example and the approval steps.

A leave form is the document that records an employee’s leave request, the type of leave, the dates and the approval steps on a single page. A good leave request form makes the request clear on first reading, shows the remaining balance and makes the approval chain traceable through the order of signatures.

Leave request form template: 12 fields

Annual leave form template: extra fields

For annual leave, adding a few fields to the same form reduces disputes about the balance. They can be grouped in a separate box at the bottom of the form:

• Date of entitlement and leave year (which year’s entitlement is being used)
• Total entitlement, days already used and days remaining
• If the leave is split, the order of this part and the plan for the remaining parts
• A short note on any earlier correction to the balance

Extra fields for hourly leave and unpaid leave

The same form also works for hourly and unpaid leave; only some fields are replaced by others. For hourly leave, instead of the day field you enter the start and end time, the total hours and whether the employee will return to work that day. For unpaid leave, the effect on pay matters most:

• For hourly leave: start time, end time and total hours
• Which balance hourly leave is deducted from (annual leave, excused leave or none)
• For unpaid leave: the employee’s confirmation that no salary is paid for these days
• For unpaid leave: the number of days for payroll and for reporting to the SGK, Turkey’s social security institution
• For leave that may be extended, a review date

How does the leave approval process work?

1. The employee fills in the form, signs it and passes it to their manager.
2. The manager checks the work plan and whether anyone else in the team is off on the same days.
3. The manager writes the decision on the form: approval, rejection or alternative dates. For a rejection or alternative dates, the reason is given in one short sentence.
4. HR checks the balance and the leave type and gives its own approval.
5. The leave is entered in the records and the team calendar, and the balance is updated.
6. The employee is told the outcome and the form is filed.

Six common mistakes on leave request forms

1. There is no return-to-work date, so the employee and the manager read the end date differently.
2. The leave type is missing, and later there is a dispute over whether it was excused or annual leave.
3. The form does not say whether the number of days includes weekends and public holidays.
4. The remaining balance was written by the requester and is an old figure.
5. The approval date is missing, so nobody can tell how long the request waited.
6. There is no cover information, so when the leave starts nobody knows who has the work.

Three small rules make designing the form easier: write dates in the same format everywhere, put a date and a name next to every signature, and keep the form to one page. If it runs to two pages, there is usually either an unnecessary field or a need for a separate form.

A filled-in example

The filled-in example below is entirely fictional; the people and figures only show how the form is read.

When reading the example, look at four points. The end date is a Friday and the return date a Monday; the weekend is not counted separately and the two dates do not get mixed up. The number of days is written down, so the change in balance (from 11 to 6) can be checked at a glance. The manager’s and HR decisions are dated, so you can see how many days the request took. Because the cover box is filled in, it is clear who takes over the work when the leave starts.

Paper form, WhatsApp photo and Excel: where they work and where they break down

All three share one problem: the form is a record on its own, but it does not update the balance or the calendar. Even if the leave form is complete and signed, if someone forgot to deduct the days from the balance, the next request starts with the wrong figure. A form is evidence, not a record system; the record system is where the outcome of the form is entered into the balance and the calendar. When the same person does these two jobs by hand, one after the other, this is where things most often slip: the form is approved, the record is updated the following week, and in between a second request is assessed against the old figure.

No form needed: requests from the phone and multi-level approval

In YazSis KurumsalPortal, the Mobile Leave Management module moves the steps of the form into a digital workflow. The employee creates a leave request in their phone’s browser, without installing an app, and the workflow runs as follows:

1. Create the request.
2. Check the balance.
3. Send it to the manager.
4. Complete HR approval.
5. Enter it in the calendar.

The counterpart of the signature order on a paper form is the approval chain: the leave is not final until the multi-level approval is complete, and every step stays on record. Approved leave is entered in the team calendar and the balance is updated; records can also be exported as XLSX reports. Which fields of the form are kept in the portal, and in what format, depends on the setup; this article does not claim that the module holds all twelve fields listed above.

If you want to turn the paper form into a request workflow that employees complete on their phones, you can explore the modules on the KurumsalPortal page.