Timebutler has a delegate feature so that a delegate can approve requests while a manager is absent. Your managers probably already use this feature intuitively, as follows:
When a manager (or admin) enters vacation or sickness for themself, they can also select a delegate. If, during the manager’s vacation or sickness, one of their employees submits a vacation request (or another request that requires approval), Timebutler detects that the manager is absent and that a delegate was selected. The delegate then additionally receives an email with the information about the vacation request and two buttons to approve or reject the vacation as a delegate.
So the delegate does not get full viewing rights to the manager’s employees during the manager’s absence. Instead, they receive email notifications and can approve/reject individual requests via the email. The manager still receives the email with the employee’s vacation request, even during their vacation/sickness.
You can find more information about the delegate feature if you open the input form for a new request and click the question mark icon next to the word “Delegate”.
Disable the delegate feature
Your company may have the delegate feature disabled. An admin can configure whether the delegate feature described above should be active or not. Sign in to Timebutler as an admin and click bottom left on “Settings > More..”, then on the right on “Global settings”. Check/change the option “Delegates may approve requests”.
Delegate selection required depending on absence type
You can configure individually for each absence type whether [a delegate must be selected(/absence-management/settings/delegate-selection-required/) or not.
Useful notes about the delegate feature
- Delegate selection also has a convenience option. As a rule, employees have a colleague who often or always covers for them. When the user enters an absence, they can activate an option in the delegate selection so that the chosen delegate is automatically preselected in the future. This removes the need to pick a delegate for future entries and ensures the delegate is preset.
- If you want to see who approved a request, open the request’s detail view. In the “Processing history” box, it shows, among other things, who approved the request, with a timestamp.
- If a manager will be absent for an extended period, for example due to foreseeable long-term sickness or parental leave, you should temporarily assign the employees to a different manager instead. In that case, sign in as an admin in Timebutler, click bottom left on “Settings > Managers” and assign the employees of the absent manager to another manager. After the manager returns, you can assign the employees back.
Activate delegate selection
Delegate selection may be completely disabled. If that is the case, no delegate can be selected and the delegate feature is therefore not possible.
So check whether delegate selection is enabled. To do this, sign in to Timebutler with an admin user, click bottom left on “Settings > More..”, then on the right on “Global settings”. Here you will find the option “Offer delegate selection”.
Screenshot: Offer delegate selection
