Review staff requests
Approve or deny the team's time off, schedule changes and other requests, on the Staff requests tab.
What it's for
Anyone on the team can ask for time off, a schedule change, equipment, help with a payroll question or anything else from their My requests page. As a Manager you review these requests and approve or deny them, like an administrator. Approving is a record of the decision: it never changes pay or schedules by itself.
You review everyone's requests: chatters, schedulers, social media VAs, other managers and administrators. You can't review your own.
What the statuses mean
| Status | In plain words |
|---|---|
| Submitted | New. Nobody has picked it up yet. |
| In review | A reviewer clicked Start review. Still open: any reviewer can decide. |
| Approved | Yes. Final. |
| Denied | No, with a reason. Final. |
| Cancelled | The person withdrew it before a decision. Final. |
Before you start
- You're signed in as a Manager.
- Someone else has sent a TEST request. Sign in as the Chatter test account in a private window and send one on Operations → My requests, with a title that starts with TEST (for example "TEST time off").
- Never approve or deny a real person's request while testing: the list shows the whole team's requests, and decisions are final.
- Nothing open? The tab says Nothing waiting for review and "Staff requests from the team appear here."
Steps
Open the Staff requests tab
In the menu on the left, click Operations → Requests, then the Staff requests tab. (Staff requests are on the Requests page, not on My requests: that page is only for your own.)
Filter the list
- Status: Open (shown first: Submitted and In review), Approved, Denied or Cancelled.
- Type: All types, Time off, Schedule change, Equipment, Payroll question or Other.
Read the list
Newest first. Each row shows the Request (title and type), From (the person and their role), When (for example "Oct 25, 2026 – Oct 27, 2026", with "· 4 h" for part of a day, or "—"), the Status and when it was Submitted. An Awaiting decision label means it has been open for 3 days or more.
Open a request
Click its title. You see the type and status, "From" with the person's name and when they sent it, When, and their details.
Check who else is off
For Time off and Schedule change there is a box Coverage on these dates ("Advisory: approving never changes pay or schedules."):
- Their other requests on the same dates, or "None."
- Team time off already approved on those dates, or "Nobody else is off."
- Rostered on: the shifts this person is on the roster for on those dates (day, shift and creator page), or "Not on the roster on these dates." Approving doesn't remove them: those shifts show as conflicts on Roster → Coverage until you change the roster.
- Their scheduling tasks on those dates, or "No scheduling tasks."
Claim it (optional)
In the Review box ("Claim it so others know you are on it, or decide right away."), click Start review. The status becomes In review, so the other reviewers see someone is on it.
On a request that is already In review, the box says "You can decide now." and there is no Start review button.
Approve or deny
Write a note in the Note to box (it shows the person's name). The note is optional for Approve and required for Deny (at least 3 characters). Click Approve or Deny.
What you should see
- Start review: the message You are reviewing this request., the status In review and the History line "Started reviewing."
- Approve: the message Request approved. and the status Approved. Deny: the message Request denied. and the status Denied.
- History says "Approved.", or "Approved:" or "Denied:" followed by your note. The person sees your note on their request as Decision note.
- The Review box is gone, and the person can no longer edit or cancel the request.
Test checklist
Good to know
Approving changes nothing else
Approval is a record only. If time off affects pay or a schedule, tell an administrator: they change payroll or the scheduling tasks.
If someone changed the request while you had it open (for example the person edited it), you see "This request changed while you were looking at it. Reload and try again." Reload the page and decide again.
Nobody is emailed about new requests or decisions yet. Check this tab, and the request's History. History shows dates the raw way, for example "Submitted for 2026-10-25 → 2026-10-27."
You are testing on real data
The test app shares its data with the live app. Only start, approve or deny TEST requests sent by the test accounts. A decision is final, and approved time off shows on everyone's calendar.
Cancelled requests stay visible
A request its sender cancelled stays under the Cancelled filter, with no Review box.