# Your first time off

Give yourself ten days of Paid Time Off, check the balance on your dashboard, request three days in December, approve the request and find it approved in your list.

**Time Off** follows the days off of every employee: the days each one may take, the requests, the approvals and the calendar of who is away. Most kinds of time off draw on days given beforehand, called an allocation; others, such as sick days, are simply requested. This walk-through goes once around the whole circle on your own employee record: you give yourself days, ask for some of them, approve the request and see the result.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- Your user must be linked to an employee record. The demo user is linked to **System Administrator (Demo)**.
- Here you play both roles, the employee who asks and the person who approves. Giving days and approving needs the **Officer: Manage all requests** access right on **Time Off**, and approving an allocation for yourself needs **Administrator**. The access rights are set on the user's form: [Create a user and set access rights](/docs/general-settings/create-a-user-and-set-access-rights).

## Step 1: give yourself days {#allocate}

1. Open **Time Off/Management/Allocations** and click **New**.
2. Replace the title with `Time off demo: Paid days 2026`.
3. Choose **Paid Time Off** in **Time Off Type**. **Employee** already shows your own employee.
4. Type `10` in **Allocation**, and `01/01/2026` as the start of the **Validity Period**. Leave its end empty: the days then stay valid with no limit.
5. Save. The allocation is **To Approve**, and an approval activity appears in the chatter for the person named under **Notify HR** on the type.

![The allocation of 10 days of Paid Time Off, saved and waiting for approval.](https://jaah.app/web/image/15244-af3fb722/time-off-your-first-time-off-allocation_saved-en.png)

6. Open **Actions** and choose **Validate**.

![Validate in the Actions menu of the allocation.](https://jaah.app/web/image/15248-01ef2c21/time-off-your-first-time-off-allocation_validate-en.png)

The status turns **Approved**: the ten days are now yours to take.

## Step 2: check your balance {#balance}

Open **Time Off/My Time/Dashboard**. The dashboard shows the whole year as a calendar, with one card above it for each type you hold days of. The **Paid Time Off** card reads 10 days available. Click **days available** to see the detail: the days allocated, approved, planned and still available.

![The dashboard now shows a card with the days of Paid Time Off still available.](https://jaah.app/web/image/15250-d9c7bb67/time-off-your-first-time-off-dashboard_balance-en.png)

On a phone, the cards are folded under **Summary** at the top of the calendar.

## Step 3: ask for the days {#request}

1. On the dashboard, click **New**. The **New Time Off** form opens.
2. Choose **Paid Time Off** in **Time Off Type**. The list shows next to each type how many days remain.
3. In **Dates**, type `15/12/2026` and `17/12/2026`. The form counts the working days of your schedule in between: 3 days.
4. Write `Time off demo: family trip` as the description.

![The request for three days of Paid Time Off, ready to submit.](https://jaah.app/web/image/15254-6c6521a7/time-off-your-first-time-off-request_dialog-en.png)

5. Click **Submit Request**.

The request appears striped on the calendar while it waits, and the card drops to 7 days available: days already requested are kept aside, so they cannot be asked for twice.

## Step 4: approve the request {#approve}

1. Open **Time Off/Management/Time Off**. It opens on the **Waiting For Me** filter, which leaves out your own requests that first wait for your own approver.
2. Remove the filter, then click **To Approve** under **Status** in the left panel.
3. Your request shows with an **Approve** button.

![The requests waiting for approval; yours carries an Approve button.](https://jaah.app/web/image/15258-7e28c214/time-off-your-first-time-off-approve_card-en.png)

4. Click **Approve**. The request leaves the list.

**Paid Time Off** asks for two approvals, the employee's approver and then a time off officer. Because you hold the officer right, one click gives both. An approver without that right gives only the first one, and the request waits under **Second Approval** for an officer. [Approve time off requests](approve-time-off-requests) goes through each case.

## Step 5: see the result {#result}

Open **Time Off/My Time/My Time Off**. Your request is **Approved**.

![Your request in My Time Off, now Approved.](https://jaah.app/web/image/15262-867f7793/time-off-your-first-time-off-request_approved-en.png)

The chatter of the request tells the employee that the time off was accepted, the days appear on **Overview** for the whole team, and the dashboard calendar shows them in full color.

## What you have done {#what-you-have-done}

You gave days, checked a balance, asked for time off and approved it: the whole circle the app follows. The next steps are [Request time off](request-time-off) for half days, files and cancellations, [Allocate time off](allocate-time-off) for giving days to many people at once, and [Configure time off types](configure-time-off-types) for deciding who approves what. [How time off works](how-time-off-works) explains the states and the balances behind these screens.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/time-off/your-first-time-off
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Version: Time Off 19.0.1.6
- Verified: 2026-10-28