A vacation tracking app is the employee-facing half of a vacation calendar, and it is worth exactly what the manager-facing half behind it is worth. On the phone an employee should see their balance, make a request and see whether the week they want is already at the cap. At the desk the manager should see the week with the cap on it, the requester's balance and return date, and approve with the approval recorded. An app that gives the employee a booking button and the manager an email is a spreadsheet with push notifications. The free vacation schedule template on this site sizes the year the calendar will hold; Offdayly Pro is the calendar, and it works in a phone's browser without an app store.
What the phone should do
Show the person their balance today, let them request days, and show them whether the week is already full before they ask. Seeing the cap before requesting saves the manager a no and is most of what an employee-facing app is for; the rest is a notification when the approval comes back and the return date in their own calendar.
What the desk should do
Show the week with the cap, the requester's balance and return date, and record the approval with a name and a date. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics factsheet cited below found after one year of service 31 percent of private industry workers with paid vacation received 10 to 14 days, so a small team places enough days that the desk view is where collisions are prevented.
What the price should be
Flat for the team, not per user, because an app priced per user charges the small team for every hire. Timetastic, cited below, publishes $1.50 per user per month for its Business plan; Offdayly Pro is $15 per month for the whole team, and the free tools stay free whether or not anyone subscribes.
Questions people ask about vacation tracking app
Do we need a native app for vacation tracking?
No. A calendar that works in the phone's browser does the employee-facing job without an app store; the record behind it is what matters.
Should employees approve their own requests in the app?
No. Requests come from the employee; approvals stay with the manager, against the cap and the balance, and are recorded.
q
a