# Leave Request Initial Setup

Setting up leave tracking in Job Book: the Labour Cost Items, the Leave Job and the three employee profile fields it needs.

Source: https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request-initial-setup
Last updated: 2026-09-18

## Key Concepts

Before you can use the Leave Request module, there are four things to know about.

### Eligible Jobs

Only certain jobs are eligible for use in a Leave Request or to be set as a Leave Job in an employee's profile. These jobs must have their **DWR Billing Type** (a DWR is a Daily Work Record) set to **Overhead**. See [Job Setup](https://getjobbook.com/help/Job_Setup) for setting up jobs.

### Leave Types

In Job Book, "Leave Types" are **Labour Cost Items**: the types of leave that employees can request, such as "Vacation," "Sick Leave," or "Personal Day." Set them up with these settings:

*   **Billing Unit**: Set to **HR** (for hours)
*   **Billing Unit Cost**: Set to **$0.00**. The field is required, so it cannot be left blank; zero means the leave carries no charge

Best practice is to group all your leave-related Labour Cost Items under a single category, such as "Leave." See [Administration Settings](https://getjobbook.com/help/Administration_Settings#labour-cost-items) for creating and managing Labour Cost Items.

### Employee Profiles

An employee profile is the record Job Book knows a person by. It is created and edited from **Settings**, then
**Employee Profiles**. See [Users and Employee Profiles](https://getjobbook.com/help/Users_and_Employee_Profiles) for the whole
screen. Three of its fields matter to leave tracking:

*   **Leave Job**: The default job used when the employee creates a leave request.
*   **Leave Manager**: The employee's manager, who approves or rejects their leave requests.
*   **Office**: This is what the Company Calendar's office filter works from, so an employee with no
    office set will not appear when you filter the calendar by office. See
    [Company Calendar](https://getjobbook.com/help/company-calendar#filtering-the-calendar).

Set **Leave Job** and **Leave Manager** on the profile before anyone requests leave: the request form then opens
with both filled in, and without them the employee has to find the right job and manager themselves. See
[Creating a Leave Request](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request#creating-a-leave-request).

### Weekend Configuration

The system can be set to include or exclude weekends when working out the duration of a leave request. You cannot change this setting yourself; contact Cyanic Automation to change it.

## Performing Common Tasks

Setting up the Leave Request module for the first time takes three steps.

### 1. Create Labour Cost Items

Create a **Labour Cost Item** for each type of leave your employees can request.

1.  Click **Navigate**, expand the **Administration** group, then click **Labour Cost Items**.
2.  Click **Create**.
3.  Fill in the details for the new leave type. Remember to set the **Billing Unit** to **HR** and the
    **Billing Unit Cost** to **$0.00**.
4.  Repeat this process for all the leave types you need.

For more detail, see [Administration Settings](https://getjobbook.com/help/Administration_Settings#labour-cost-items).

### 2. Create a Leave Job

Next, create one or more "Leave Jobs." These are the jobs that leave requests are filed against; an approved request
writes no time to the job. You might need more than one if your company has several offices or different tracking requirements.

1.  On the dashboard, in the **Jobs** card, click **Create New**.
2.  Give the job a name, such as "Internal - Leave Tracking."
3.  Set the **DWR Billing Type** to **Overhead**. This is what makes the job eligible for leave tracking.
4.  In the **Line Items** section, add all the leave-related **Labour Cost Items** that you created in the previous step.

For the full guide to creating jobs, see [Job Setup](https://getjobbook.com/help/Job_Setup).

### 3. Update Employee Profiles

Finally, update each employee's profile to link them to the Leave Request system. The list and its views are
described on [Users and Employee Profiles](https://getjobbook.com/help/Users_and_Employee_Profiles).

1.  Click **Settings** in the top right of the screen, then click **Employee Profiles**.
2.  Click an employee to view their profile. The list opens on **Active**; if the person is not there, try
    **All**.
3.  Click **Edit**.
4.  Set the **Leave Job** to the Leave Job you created in the previous step.
5.  Set the **Leave Manager** to the employee's direct manager.
6.  Set the **Office**, if it is not already set, so the employee shows up when the Company Calendar is filtered
    by office.
7.  Save the changes.

![Leave Request Setup in Employee Profile](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/leave-request-setup-employee.D0MugxZW.png)

*With Leave Job and Leave Manager on the profile, the employee's request form opens already pointed at the right job and the right approver.*

Repeat this process for all employees who will be using the Leave Request system.

## Related Guides

- [Leave Tracking: Overview](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-tracking-overview)
- Leave Request Initial Setup
- [Leave Requests](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request)
- [Leave Request Report](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request-report)
- [Company Calendar](https://getjobbook.com/help/company-calendar)