Overtime approval workflow

How it works

1. A new request waits as Pending. If the policy needs no approval, it is approved and paid out at once.
2. The reporting manager sees it on the Overtime tab of My Team, on the web or in the app, and approves or rejects it.
3. If the employee has no reporting manager, the request skips that step and goes to HR.
4. HR opens the Overtime page, filters by status, month and department, and sees whose step each request is waiting on.
5. HR approves or rejects one request, or ticks several and uses Approve selected or Reject selected, with an optional reason that the employees are told.
6. HR can open a request to see the day, hours, rate, payout and each approval step, and can cancel it; detection will not raise that day again.
7. On the final approval the payout is applied once: an earning in payroll for the month of the day, or a comp-off credit.

What you can set

• Overtime needs: manager then HR approval, or no approval.
• Status tabs: Waiting, Approved, Rejected, Cancelled and All.
• Filters: month and department.
• Bulk actions: Approve selected and Reject selected, with an optional reason on rejection.
• Cancel: withdraws the request and its approval; detection does not raise the day again.
• Summary tiles: Waiting, Approved, Money approved and Comp-off credited.
• With the employee's choice payout, the approver picks Pay it as money or comp-off while approving on the Overtime page.

Why overtime needs two approvals

The manager knows whether the extra hours were needed for the work: an urgent shipment, a machine breakdown, a month-end close. HR knows whether the request fits the policy, the budget and the cap. Asking both keeps overtime honest without slowing it down, because each person looks only at what is waiting on them. The approval engine lets a person decide only at their own step, so a request cannot skip the manager.

Worked example: month end at a Vadodara chemical plant

On 31 October, 38 overtime requests are waiting at a Vadodara chemical plant. The production manager clears his 30 on the Overtime tab of My Team from his phone during the shift change. He approves 28 and rejects 2 for hours logged while a line stood idle, with the reason 'Line stopped, no work'. Those two employees are told, and their requests close.

The next morning HR filters the Overtime page to October and the Production department. The 28 approved by the manager now wait on HR, so HR ticks them all and clicks Approve selected. The money goes into October payroll as overtime earnings, and one request paid as comp-off is credited to the leave ledger. The other 8 requests still wait on the maintenance manager, so HR reminds him before the payroll run.

Keeping approvals quick

An approval chain only works when people act within a day or two, well before the payroll cut-off. Agree a rhythm with managers and make the Overtime tab of My Team part of their daily routine, just like leave approvals.

• Ask managers to decide within two working days of a request appearing.
• Use bulk approval for routine overtime and open single requests only when something looks odd.
• Give a reason on every rejection, so the employee knows why the hours were not paid.
• Clear the queue before the payroll run, so approved money reaches the right month.

Frequently asked questions