Make absence decisions easier to trust
Give employees clear answers while helping managers protect cover and handle sickness follow-up properly.
The challenge
Two people are already away, another request is waiting, and the manager cannot see whether saying yes leaves the team exposed.
What good looks like
Clear ownership, visible coverage and prompt decisions make absence fairer for the requester and workable for the team.
View how to
Review and decide
Open Absence from Admin Quick Actions, or open Absence in My Team to see the current status of requests. Use the overview for a summary, then review who submitted each request and what they have asked for.
Select a request and approve or reject it. For holiday requests, you can suggest alternative dates if there are coverage concerns. For sickness requests, you can ask for more information or query the absence. Updates are sent directly to the requester’s portal.
Manage cover and follow-up
Set the level of coverage you want to maintain using the coverage settings. You can also view emerging absence trends and select an item for more detail.
After someone has been off sick, set up a return to work from the top of the absence page. The employee receives the information and can complete the required items as they go.
Record sickness for someone else
If an employee tells their manager they are sick but cannot log the absence themselves, open People and then Team Overview. Select day and actions, choose the employee and mark them as sick.
Select the person, record the reason, add any helpful details and log the absence on their behalf.
Read and search transcript
As an absence approver in Zizzy, you have a few simple ways to manage absence requests. From the Admin Quick Actions, select Absence to head straight to the relevant area, or open Absence in My Team to see the current status of all requests.
The overview at the top gives you a quick summary. Below that, you can see who submitted each request and what they have asked for.
Select a request to review it, then approve or reject it as needed. For holiday requests, you can also suggest alternative dates if, for example, there are coverage concerns.
For sickness requests, you can ask for more information or query an absence. These updates are sent directly to the requester's portal.
At the top of the page, if someone has been off sick, you can set up a return to work for them so they can tick off the required items as they go. This information is also sent to the requester.
You can view any trends that are emerging and select an item to see more detail when needed. You can also update coverage settings here.
Set the level of coverage you would like to maintain at all times, along with the other available settings. If someone contacts their manager to report they will be off sick and cannot log it in ZZ themselves, go to People, then Team Overview.
Select day and actions, choose the relevant person, and mark them as sick. Select the person, record the reason, add any helpful details, and log the absence on their behalf.
And that is how to approve absence in ZZ – simple, easy, and always efficient.
Approval is a staffing decision
An absence request can look like a simple yes or no. In practice, it asks a manager to balance one person’s need with the work that still has to be covered. The requester’s plans may depend on a prompt answer, while colleagues need to know whether workloads or handovers must change.
It becomes difficult when the necessary context is scattered. One manager remembers that somebody else is away. Another knows about a deadline that was agreed in a meeting. The request itself sits apart from both. Decisions then depend on who happens to know what, rather than a clear and consistent view.
That uncertainty has human consequences. A delayed holiday decision leaves someone unable to make plans. A blunt rejection feels arbitrary if nobody explains the coverage concern. An unrecorded sickness absence can create confusion about who knew, what support is needed and what should happen when the person returns.
Consistency matters more than speed alone
A quick answer is useful, but only if the decision is sound. Good absence management combines three things: a clear owner, enough information to judge the request and a response the employee can understand. The aim is not to approve everything or protect the rota at any cost. It is to make a reasonable decision without leaving people guessing.
Coverage should be considered openly rather than used as a vague reason for refusal. If proposed holiday dates would leave the team short, an alternative may solve the problem without turning the conversation into a dead end. Sickness needs a different response. The immediate concern is recording what has happened, gathering only the information needed and making the return to work clear.
Trends also need proportionate attention. Repeated or changing patterns may deserve a closer look, but a pattern is a prompt for a thoughtful conversation, not proof of wrongdoing. Treating every absence as suspicious damages trust. Ignoring emerging issues can leave both the employee and the team without proper support.
Put the decision and the follow-up together
A calmer process keeps the request, its status, the coverage position and the next action close together. Managers can see what has been asked for, consider who else is away and respond directly. Employees receive a clear outcome rather than having to chase through messages or rely on a verbal answer.
Zizzy supports that practical rhythm. Absence approvers can review current requests, approve or reject them, suggest different holiday dates where coverage is tight, and ask for more information about sickness. Updates go to the requester’s portal, so the answer does not disappear into a private exchange.
The same place can support what happens around the decision. Managers can review absence trends, set the level of coverage they want to maintain and arrange return-to-work items after sickness. If an employee cannot record sickness themselves, their manager can log it on their behalf.
The real improvement is not simply quicker administration. It is a shared understanding of what has been requested, what has been decided and what needs to happen next. That gives employees firmer answers and helps managers protect cover without making absence feel adversarial.
Seen how it works
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