StaffLeave Desktop (PlusPack) - Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started with Plus Pack

What is Plus Pack?

Plus Pack is StaffLeave's premium upgrade that provides desktop access and advanced administrative features. It costs £1 per user per month (+VAT) and includes a 7-day free trial.

Plus Pack unlocks:

• Desktop web access with expandable wall planner
• Full historical leave data (all previous years)
• Future-year booking beyond 12 months
• Set current and next year's allowances independently
• Audit trails showing who approved each request
• Advanced privacy settings and team-wide visibility controls
• Public holiday blocking with user-level overrides
• Enhanced reporting and filtering tools
• Allowance snapshots and advanced settings

How do I sign up for Plus Pack?

You can sign up for Plus Pack by following these steps:

1. Visit www.staffleave.com/account/login and log in
2. Once logged in, tap on Manage Team
3. Tap on Billing
4. Enter the number of Employees for your team
5. Hit the Subscribe to Staff Leave / Start 7 Day Trial button
6. You'll be redirected to Stripe (our payment provider) to enter your billing details
7. Hit Subscribe to gain instant access to Plus Pack

Does Plus Pack work on mobile devices?

Yes! Many Plus Pack features are also available on the mobile app, including:

• Enhanced privacy settings that apply to the mobile planner
• Public holiday and weekend blocking

However, the desktop web interface provides the best experience for administrative tasks like bulk editing, detailed reporting, and managing complex team structures.

Viewing Leave History & Audit Trails

How do I see who approved a holiday request?

Plus Pack provides full audit trail functionality showing detailed approval history for every booking:

• Who requested the leave
• Who approved the leave
• Date and time of approval
• Any modifications or cancellations

To view audit trail information:

1. Log in to the StaffLeave desktop portal at www.staffleave.com/account/login.
2. Navigate to the employee's profile or the leave request in question.
3. View the detailed audit trail showing the complete approval history.

Does StaffLeave auto-approve requests?

No, StaffLeave never automatically approves holiday requests, even if the date has passed while a request is still pending. A member of staff with approval permissions must manually approve every request.

If you see an approved request but no one remembers approving it:

• Check the audit trail in Plus Pack to see exactly who approved it and when.
• Remember that managers can approve their own leave by default.
• Verify whether there are multiple approvers or administrators who could have approved it.

How do I view complete leave history for previous years?

Unlike the mobile app (which shows 12 months max), Plus Pack provides unlimited access to historical leave data:

1. Log in to the desktop portal.
2. Navigate to People and select the employee.
3. View their complete leave history across all previous years.
4. Use the expandable wall planner to see team-wide historical trends.
5. Filter by date range, leave type, department, or employee.

Advanced Allowance Management

How do I set next year's allowance independently?

With Plus Pack, you can set current and next year's allowances to different values before the leave year starts:

1. Log in to the desktop portal.
2. Navigate to People and select the employee.
3. Access their allowance settings.
4. Set the current year's allowance.
5. Set next year's allowance to a different value if needed.
6. Save your changes.

This is useful for:

• Employees who are changing roles or contracts
• Part-time staff moving to full-time (or vice versa)
• Promotions that include additional leave entitlement
• Company-wide allowance changes taking effect next year

Can I see allowance snapshots from previous years?

Yes, Plus Pack provides allowance snapshots that show what an employee's allowance was in previous leave years. This is helpful for:

• Verifying historical entitlements
• Resolving disputes about past allowances
• Tracking changes in employee contracts over time
• Compliance and audit purposes

Planning & The Wall Planner

What is the expandable wall planner?

The expandable wall planner is Plus Pack's desktop-only feature that provides a comprehensive view of team leave:

• Unlimited future view: See as many months into the future as needed, regardless of whether leave is booked.
• Team-wide visibility: View all planned leave across your entire organization in one view.
• Flexible filtering: Filter by department, date range, leave type, or approval status.
• Better planning: Identify resource gaps, avoid overlapping leave, and plan coverage more effectively.

How do I book leave beyond 12 months into future years?

With Plus Pack, you can book leave beyond the 12-month limitation of the mobile app:

1. Log in to the desktop portal.
2. Navigate to the employee's booking screen or use the wall planner.
3. Select any future dates, including dates in next year's leave cycle.
4. Submit the request for approval.

This is useful for:

• Planning family holidays far in advance
• Booking school holiday periods early
• Coordinating year-end holidays before the new year starts
• Ensuring employees can secure popular dates

Public Holiday Blocking & Working Patterns

How do I block UK public holidays with user-level control?

Plus Pack provides the most comprehensive public holiday blocking with user-level overrides:

1. Log in to the desktop portal.
2. Navigate to My Profile > People.
3. Select the user and click the User Edit icon.
4. Choose Holiday Settings.
5. Enable the option to block public holidays from being bookable.
6. Save your changes.

To override blocking for specific employees (e.g., retail or hospitality staff who work on bank holidays):

1. Navigate to the employee's profile.
2. Adjust their Holiday Settings or Working Patterns to allow them to book public holidays.
3. This employee can now book bank holidays while the rest of your team cannot.

Can I block weekends as well as public holidays?

Yes, Plus Pack allows you to block weekends from being bookable if your employees don't work Saturdays and Sundays. This prevents accidental bookings and ensures leave requests only deduct working days from allowances.

Use the same process as public holiday blocking to enable weekend blocking.

Privacy Settings & Visibility Controls

How do I change who can see the team planner?

Plus Pack provides advanced privacy settings to control planner visibility:

Default settings:

• Staff members can only see leave for others in their department
• Managers can see all leave for staff in their department
• Administrators can see leave across the entire team

With Plus Pack, you can customize this to:

• Make the planner public to the entire team (all staff can see everyone's leave)
• Restrict it so users only see their own leave (maximum privacy)
• Create custom visibility rules based on your organization's needs

These settings apply to both the desktop portal and the mobile app.

Managing Historic Leave

How do I manually add historic leave via Plus Pack?

Plus Pack provides a desktop interface that makes manual entry of historic leave easier than using Excel templates:

1. Log in to the desktop portal.
2. Navigate to the employee's profile or leave records.
3. Manually add each historic leave entry with the appropriate dates and leave type.
4. View immediate feedback on how the entry affects allowances.

Benefits over Excel import:

• Easier to add individual records without template formatting
• Full historical view of all leave years
• Immediate visibility of how entries affect allowances
• Access to advanced filtering and reporting

Can I import future leave as well as historic leave?

Yes, whether using Excel import or Plus Pack's manual entry, you can add both past and future leave. This is especially useful when:

• Migrating from another leave management system
• Setting up StaffLeave mid-year with pre-approved future holidays
• Bulk-loading school holiday periods or company shutdowns

Requesting and Managing Leave

How do I request leave using Plus Pack Desktop?

To submit a holiday request on desktop:

1. Login to your StaffLeave desktop portal
2. Click on your profile (top right) and select Request Leave, or click the Request Leave button on the home screen
3. Choose either Multiple Days or One Day booking option
4. Select the dates you need and tap SET DAYS OFF
5. Toggle any day between Full Day, Half Day (AM), or Half Day (PM) as needed
6. Review your allowance summary on the right to see remaining days
7. Tap Request to submit your booking

How do I check my remaining holiday allowance?

Navigate to the booking screen and check the right column summary panel. This shows your total allowance, days booked, pending requests, and remaining balance. You can also filter by status (Pending, Cancelled, Approved, Rejected) under the My Previous Requests section.

How do I view my holiday planner?

Access your personal Holiday Planner from:

• The right allowance summary panel on the booking screen
• Via your Profile menu

How do I cancel a holiday request?

To cancel or delete a request:

1. Scroll to the My Previous Requests section
2. Locate the booking you wish to cancel
3. Tap on the bin/delete icon
4. Confirm by tapping Yes I confirm

Approving and Rejecting Leave (For Approvers, Managers & Admins)

Who can approve leave requests?

By default, StaffLeave uses the following permission hierarchy:

• Administrators have full permission to approve and reject leave for all team members
• Managers have permission to approve and reject leave for all members of their department
• Approvers have permission to approve and reject leave only for their assigned approvees

How do I approve or reject a leave request?

1. Login to your StaffLeave desktop portal
2. Click on Holiday/Leave Requests at the top right, or access requests directly from the shared planner (pending requests show in orange)
3. Tap on the leave request you want to review
4. Tap Approve or hit the [X] to reject it
5. Confirm the action—you may be asked to enter the staff member's annual allowance if not already set
6. The team member will automatically receive a notification confirming the status

Managing People and Profiles

How do I view and edit employee profiles?

To edit a profile (Admin only):

1. Login to your StaffLeave desktop portal
2. Click on My Profile (top right) and select People
3. Tap on the profile you wish to edit
4. Scroll to the bottom and edit details as required
5. You can also add departments via the Departments menu on the left

How do I invite colleagues to StaffLeave?

To invite a colleague:

1. Navigate to My Profile > People
2. Use the search field to look for the colleague
3. If they're not found, click Invite Colleague under the search field
4. Enter their email address and send the invitation

How do I manage user permissions?

Administrators and managers can edit user permissions:

1. Navigate to My Profile > People
2. Locate the person you wish to edit
3. Click on the user icon with a cog and select Permissions
4. Toggle permissions as needed

Administrators can set and revoke administrator and manager roles for other users.

How do I assign an approver to an employee?

Administrators can assign approvers:

1. Navigate to My Profile > People
2. Tap on the profile of the person you want to amend
3. Tap the top right User menu icon and select Approvers
4. Tap Assign approver
5. Tap Assign next to the staff member you wish to grant approval rights

To remove an approver, follow the same steps, select the approver, and tap Remove.

Managing Allowances and TOIL

How do I update an employee's holiday allowance?

Approvers, Managers, and Admins can update allowances:

1. Navigate to My Profile > People
2. Tap the User Edit icon on the person you want to amend
3. Select Holiday Settings
4. Amend the current holiday year allowance and next year's allowance as needed

How do I issue Time Off in Lieu (TOIL)?

Approvers, Managers, and Admins can issue TOIL:

1. Navigate to My Profile > People
2. Tap on the profile of the person
3. Tap the top right User menu icon and select Time Off in Lieu
4. Tap Issue
5. Enter the amount in days (0.5 increments) and a custom reason
6. Confirm to issue the TOIL

To delete a TOIL entry, select the entry and tap Revoke, then confirm deletion.

How do I manage staff working patterns?

You can define if users work weekends and/or public holidays:

1. Navigate to My Profile > People
2. Tap the User Edit icon on the person
3. Select Holiday Settings
4. Toggle whether they work weekends and public holidays

Company Setup and Administration

How do I access company settings?

Administrators can access company settings:

1. Login to www.staffleave.com
2. Click on My Profile (top right)
3. Scroll down and click My company & billing
4. Edit settings as needed

How do I upload a company logo?

1. Access company settings as above
2. Click the + icon on the logo placeholder
3. Select your logo file (we recommend a square image as it will be cropped to a circle)
4. Click SAVE to apply changes

How do I change my company subdomain?

1. Access company settings
2. Scroll to the Your Subdomain section
3. Type in the new subdomain name
4. Click SAVE

How do I create or edit departments?

To add a new department (Admin only):

1. Navigate to My Profile > My company & billing
2. Select Departments from the left menu
3. Enter the department name and click Add

To edit a department, click on it, change the name in the modal, and click Save.

How do I grant access to specific email domains or addresses?

When employees register, StaffLeave matches them to your company by checking their email domain. To add more domains or specific email addresses:

1. Navigate to My Profile > My company & billing
2. Select Employee Access from the left menu
3. Enter the new domain or email address and click Add
4. Repeat for each domain or email address

Holiday Settings and Policies

How do I configure holiday settings for my team?

Administrators can configure holiday settings:

1. Navigate to My Profile > My company & billing
2. Select Holiday Settings from the left menu
3. Make changes as required

What are the default privacy settings for leave visibility?

By default, StaffLeave uses these privacy settings:

• Staff members can only see leave of those in their department
• Administrators can see leave for all team members
• Managers can see all leave for staff in their own department

You can change this behavior by:

• Hide Department Holidays: Hides leave on the main planner from staff members (they'll only see their own leave)
• Set Planner Public to Team: Makes the main planner public to all team members across all departments

Can I block public holidays and weekends from being booked?

Yes, Plus Pack supports blocking specific days from being bookable. Currently, this supports UK bank holidays and weekends. By default, this setting is set to No.

This setting works with individual user working patterns, and can be overridden if a user is marked as working weekends or public holidays.

Can employees overbook beyond their allowance?

Yes, you can enable holiday overbooking in Holiday Settings. By default, this setting is set to No. When enabled, employees can request leave even if it exceeds their allocated allowance.

How do I set the holiday start month and rollover policy?

In Holiday Settings, you can:

• Change the holiday start month (from the 1st of any month, default is January)
• Specify how many days of unused leave roll over to the following year (default is None)

How do notification settings work for administrators and managers?

By default, when an approver is set for a staff member, department managers and administrators will not receive a copy of leave notifications.

You can change this by enabling CC options in Holiday Settings to send copies via email and mobile notifications. Note that if an administrator has notifications turned off in their privacy settings, they won't receive any alerts.

How do I add links to company policies?

You can add links to company policies (holiday policies, GDPR, etc.) that will appear in the app and portal footer:

1. Navigate to My Profile > My company & billing
2. Select Important Links from the left menu
3. Add a name and fully qualified HTTP URL for your document
4. Click Save Changes

Data Import and Export

How do I import users and leave data in bulk?

Administrators can import users and holiday records using Excel templates:

1. Download the templates:
   • User template
   • Holiday template
   • User template (with allowances)
2. Navigate to App Settings > Import Data
3. Drag or click to upload your populated file
4. The file will auto-verify—if there are issues, you can delete, amend, and re-upload
5. Once verified, tap Confirm and import data

How do I export holidays to my calendar?

StaffLeave allows you to export holidays via iCal feeds to Google Calendar, Outlook, and Apple Calendar:

1. Login to your StaffLeave desktop portal
2. Navigate to Leave Requests from the left menu
3. Click the cogs icon and select Calendar Export
4. Click the copy icon to copy your calendar URL

For Apple Calendar:

1. Open Apple Calendar and click File > New Calendar Subscription
2. Paste the StaffLeave URL and click Subscribe
3. Select update frequency and other preferences

For Google Calendar:

1. Open Google Calendar and scroll to Other Calendars
2. Click the + icon and select From URL
3. Paste the StaffLeave URL and click Add Calendar

Desktop Setup Checklist

What should I configure when first setting up Plus Pack?

When you first create an account, complete these setup steps:

1. Initial Details: Set your company email, name, subdomain, and optionally VAT/Company numbers (required for EU businesses outside UK)
2. Employee Access: Register all email domains for your company and add specific email addresses for users without company emails
3. Departments: Create and configure departments for your organization
4. Holiday Settings (Optional): Configure holiday settings, privacy rules, start month, rollover policies, and blocked days

Notifications

What notifications does StaffLeave send?

StaffLeave sends notifications via email and mobile push for these events:

When leave is requested:

• Employee receives confirmation that their request is pending
• Approvers receive notification 15-20 minutes after the request (allows time for corrections)

When leave is approved:

• Employee receives approval confirmation

When leave is rejected:

• Employee receives rejection notification

When leave is cancelled:

• If pending: Employee receives immediate cancellation confirmation
• If approved: Employee receives pending cancellation notice, approver receives cancellation request

When allowances are updated:

• Employee receives notification of entitlement change

Automatic rollover:

• Administrators receive 48-hour warning before rollover
• Administrators receive confirmation when rollover is processed

What's Next

For more detailed guides on specific Plus Pack features, explore these articles:

• Holidays - Requesting and Managing Leave, including Half-Days
• Holidays - Approving and Rejecting Requests (for Approvers, Managers & Admins)
• People - Managing Allowances (for Approvers, Managers & Admins)
• Holidays - Exporting Holidays via a Live Calendar (iCal) Feed
• Import Data - Leave Records & Users in Bulk (Admin only)
• Holiday Settings (Admin Only)