PTODesk

Employee time off tracker

Employees request in seconds. Managers approve in one tap. Balances update themselves.

Free for teams up to 5 · No credit card

Request in under a minute

Request time off

Leave type

Vacation 8.5 left

From

Tue 1 Sep

To

Fri 4 Sep

4 working days

Sat–Sun not counted · balance after: 4.5

Submit request

Manager notified in Slack

Request from a phone in under a minute

Pick a type, pick two dates, submit. The working-day count updates as you type and excludes weekends and company holidays before you commit, so nobody books four days and gets charged five.

Request in under a minute

Request time off

Leave type

Vacation 8.5 left

From

Tue 1 Sep

To

Fri 4 Sep

4 working days

Sat–Sun not counted · balance after: 4.5

Submit request

Manager notified in Slack

See what you have actually earned

Accrued is the headline number, with available beside it and projected on a separate screen with its date attached. Employees who see a projected annual total tend to treat it as already theirs, and that is where payout disputes start.

Balances you can audit

Accrued

12.5

+0.63 this period

Available

8.5

4.0 pending

Used

6.0

this year

31 Jul Accrual · semi-monthly +0.63 12.50
19 Jul Usage · 1 day, approved −1.00 11.87
15 Jul Accrual · semi-monthly +0.63 12.87
15 Jun Opening · prorated first year +10.96 10.96

Every number is a sum of ledger entries — nothing stored that can drift.

The manager decides without logging in

The request lands in Slack with the balance it would leave and who else is off. One tap approves it, the balance moves, the calendar updates, and the message is rewritten so nobody clicks twice.

Approve without logging in

#time-off Slack · just now
SM

Sara Malik requested 4 days of vacation

Tue 1 Sep – Fri 4 Sep · “Family trip, back Monday.”

Balance after

8.5 days

Also off

Nobody

Notice given

14 days

Approve Deny

Approved by Ahmed — buttons replaced, balance updated, calendar synced.

Know who else is out before you ask

The team view shows who is off today and who is off next week, so a request is not a surprise to the person who has to cover it.

Know who is in before standup

Today · Tuesday 18 Aug

3 of 24 out

  • SM Sara Malik Vacation back Mon 7 Sep
  • JT Jordan Tate Sick back tomorrow
  • RN Rina Novak Personal back Thu

Subscribed in Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar via one feed.

How this compares

The honest version. We are not the simplest tool in this category and we do not try to be.

Employee time off trackerTypicalPTODesk
Requesting on mobile Cramped desktop layout Built for a phone first
Day count before submitting After the fact Live, as you pick dates
Headline balance shown Projected annual total Accrued to date
Manager needs to log in Usually yes No — Slack or email
Seeing who else is off Separate screen On the request itself

Questions

Do employees need an account to request time off?

They need a login for the web app, but a manager can approve from Slack or email without one. Employees invited to the roster get the right balance from their hire date whether or not they have logged in yet.

What is the difference between accrued and available?

Accrued is what you have earned to date. Available is accrued minus anything already requested or approved for the future. Projected is what you will have by a date you choose — and it is not yours yet.

Can someone book a half day?

Yes, at either end of a range. A half day only subtracts where it lands on an actual working day, so flagging one on a Saturday does not quietly cost half a day.

Plans

Free

$0 /mo

Up to 5 employees

Start free

Starter

$29 /mo

Up to 25 employees

Start free trial

Team

$59 /mo

Up to 75 employees

Start free trial

Business

$99 /mo

Up to 200 employees

Start free trial

Retire the PTO spreadsheet this week

Import your team from a CSV and go live in under an hour.

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