Use Case

Absence requests that route themselves to the right approver

A small business services and IT consultancy uses Airtable forms to collect PTO and sick-day submissions from employees, route them for HR approval, and send automated confirmation emails, all without giving employees access to sensitive HR tables.

The problem

The team tracked employee time-off requests manually. When a PTO or sick-day request came in, HR had to follow up to log it, confirm receipt, and update records by hand. There was no approval trail and no automated notification to the requesting employee.

An added risk: using a shared Airtable base for this work meant any form-submitting employee could inadvertently gain access to tables containing sensitive HR data. Seat counts grew unpredictably each time a new form user logged in.

What they built

The team built a form-based intake that accepts PTO and sick-day submissions from employees. Submitted records route directly to HR for review and approval. Once actioned, an automated email confirmation goes back to the submitting employee.

Access is separated by design: employees interact only through the form, not the underlying base. This keeps the approval workflow running without expanding seat counts or exposing sensitive tables.

The outcome

HR now has a single, consolidated record of all absence requests with a clear approval trail. No request requires manual re-keying, and employees receive prompt automated confirmation without HR needing to draft individual replies.

The solution resolved the seat-growth issue by design. Form submissions no longer create uncontrolled base access, and the team can safely scale form use without concern for data exposure or license costs.

Inside the solution

PTO and absence request workflow with approval routing

People and Talent Operations

Human Resources

  • Employee PTO and sick-day form submissions
  • Approval routing and tracking
  • Automated email confirmations
  • Time-off record management
  • Manual absence tracking with no approval trail
  • Uncontrolled seat growth from form users logging in
  • Security concerns about employee access to sensitive tables
  • No automated notification back to the requesting employee
  • Consolidated absence records for all staff
  • Automated approval notifications
  • Reduced manual coordination for HR
  • Controlled access without seat sprawl
  • HR
  • Administration
  • Engineering
  • Email
Build out this use case

PTO and absence request workflow with approval routing

Collect PTO and sick-day requests through a simple intake, route each one to the right HR approver, and keep a consolidated absence record with live balance tracking for every employee. Automations log an approval trail on submission, email employees the decision the moment a request is approved or declined, and send HR a weekly digest of everything still pending.

Use this template
PTO and absence request workflow with approval routing - Overview dashboard
How it works

How the PTO approval workflow operates

Employee submits a form

An employee fills out an Airtable form to request PTO or a sick day. The form captures the dates, type of absence, and any relevant notes, then creates a new record in the HR base without granting the employee access to that base.

Request routes to HR for review

The submitted record appears in the HR team's approval view. HR can see all pending requests in one place, review details, and update the approval status for each record.

Automated email confirmation fires

Once HR approves or declines a request, an automated email goes to the submitting employee. No manual drafting required, and the record is updated to reflect the decision.

Absence record stays current

Every approved and declined request remains in the consolidated record. HR can filter by date range, employee, or status to get an accurate view of team availability at any time.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

No. Employees interact only through the submission form, which creates a record in a base they cannot access. Each employee sees only their own submission confirmation, not the full HR record.

HR can add notes to the record and update the status to a pending or follow-up state before sending a final decision. The automated email fires only when the approval status is set to a terminal value.

Form submissions do not require the employee to log in or hold a seat. The form is accessible without an Airtable account, which prevents the uncontrolled seat growth the team experienced before this workflow.

The submission form includes a field for absence type. HR can filter the consolidated record by type to see PTO separately from sick days, making it straightforward to report on each category.

Yes. Because the workflow separates form-based access from base access, adding more employees to the form does not add seats or change the approval logic. HR views and automations remain consistent as headcount increases.