Table of Contents:
Approvals settings - introduction & how to
Delegate alternate approver
Goal approval
Changes to Employee information
Primary manager review
Live Training Slot Enrollment
Compensation proposal
HRIS-specific approval flows
Absence request
Time Tracking
Payroll Cycle Approval
Approvals settings
In the 'Settings' > 'Automations' > 'Approvals' section of the settings, you can create and manage approval flows for different processes to ensure proper review and authorization. You can create approvals for the following processes:
- Individual goal creation
- Changes to Employee information
- Primary manager review
- Live Training Slot Enrollment
- Compensation proposal
Click on 'Actions' > 'New approval flow' to start. When setting up a new approval flow, you will:
- Give your flow a name
- Determine which process this flow applies to (for example, individual goal creation)
- Select if the flow is applicable to all or selected employees only
- Choose the steps for the approval. For example, the first step is manager approval; the second step is manager's manager approval)
Please note: If multiple approval flows within a process apply to a specific user, the highest configuration on the list will be used. For example, if you have set multiple 'Individual goal creation' approval flows and a user belongs to all - the highest in the list will be applied. Please drag to change the approval flow priorities.
If you haven't set up any approval flows for your organization - all processes will be auto-approved.
When creating an approval flow in admin settings, you can enable the setting 'Enable implicit approval'. If enabled, any steps in the approval flow that can be approved by the person requesting the approval, will be automatically approved. For example, if Goal Creation requires manager approval, and the manager is creating the goal on behalf of their direct report, the goal will be automatically approved.
If an approver rejects any action involved in an approval flow, they will be able to add an option comment that will be sent back to the user who submitted an action for approval.
Please note: If an approval flow is created - Super-Admins will also be involved in it. However, if there are no relevant approvers (for example, the admin themselves is the only approver), the change is auto-approved in that case.
Delegate alternate approver
There are situations where an approver is unavailable (on leave, sick, etc.). In such situations, it is useful to have an alternative approver set up within the approval flow to ensure that when an approver is unavailable, the alternate approver is set the necessary tasks to review and approve.
To delegate an alternative approver, go to the approval flow > step > enable the setting to delegate approval to another user if the approver is absent > add an alternate approver through the filters provided.
Please note: This is only relevant to users who use Leapsome as their HRIS and have absences specified through the absence module.
Goal approval
If you are a manager, you will find a separate section on your Home Dashboard titled 'Approvals'. In here, you will find all the non-private goals of your team members that need to be reviewed and approved by you.
To approve or reject a goal, you can hover over the goal and click the green checkmark (to approve) or a red circle 'x' (to reject). Alternatively, click on the goal to either reject or approve.
You will also be able to check the goal approval flow to know which employees are responsible for the approval flow.
When creating an approval flow in admin settings, you can enable the setting 'Enable implicit approval'. If enabled, any steps in the approval flow that can be approved by the person requesting the approval, will be automatically approved. For example, if Goal Creation requires manager approval, and the manager is creating the goal on behalf of their direct report, the goal will be automatically approved.
Please note:
- If a goal is rejected, it is sent back into draft mode so the employee can make relevant changes and submit the goal for approval again.
- If the approval configuration steps are changed by a system admin while a connected approval process instance is still in progress, Leapsome updates all approval flows using the configuration and resets the progress of the approval instance back to the first step.
- If the linked goal proposal is changed while the approval process is still in progress, Leapsome also resets the progress of the approval instance and starts the approval from scratch.
- If a user is deactivated, they can no longer approve a goal. The deactivated user will be replaced in all approval steps with an active super-admin. If the super-admin is already an approver in the process, the alternative would be the manager of the user.
- If an approval flow is created - Super-Admins will also be involved in it. However, if there are no relevant approvers (for example, the admin themselves is the only approver), the change is auto-approved in that case.
Changes to Employee information
As an Admin, you can set up an approval process for changes made by your non-admin colleagues to their profile attributes. This will allow you to oversee any critical updates made to the information of your organization's employees.
Setting up the approval
Non-admins proposing a change
FAQ
Setting up the approval
To set up an approval flow, navigate to 'Settings' > 'Automations' > 'Approvals' > 'Changes to Employee information'. Here, click on '+ New approval flow'. In the pop-up window, you can select the new approval flow's:
- Name
- Process (in this scenario, choose 'Changes to Employee information')
- Sections (this will define which sections within employee profiles will require approval)
- Relevant employees (choose for which employees this approval flow will be applied)
- You can additionally enable the setting 'Enable implicit approval'. If enabled, any steps in the approval flow that can be approved by the person requesting the approval, will be automatically approved.
- Lastly, define the approval steps. This can be only one (for example, the approver is a Super-Admin). Or you can select multiple approval steps. The approver's can be: a specific person, manager, manager's manager, team member or admin).
Please note: If an approval flow is created - Super-Admins will also be involved in it. However, if there are no relevant approvers (for example, the admin themselves is the only approver), the change is auto-approved in that case. You can also enable the approval flow to applied to admins as well.
Non-admins proposing a change
When your non-admin colleagues want to propose a change within the restricted employee attributes, they will need to navigate to their profiles from the menu bar on the left-hand side and click on 'Edit' in the 'Info' tab. After they complete their changes, they will see a button 'Propose changes' at the bottom. Clicking that will send the proposed change through the configured approval flow steps and relevant employees will see these proposed changes in their Home Dashboards > 'Your checklist' > 'Approvals'.
FAQ
1) What happens when the entire 'Section' from the employee's profile is deleted while there’s an approval configured?
The approval configuration gets deleted.
2) What happens when an 'Attribute' is deleted while there’s an active approval?
The approval is deleted.
Primary manager review
When launching a Review cycle, you might want the managers to receive additional input when they are assessing their direct reports. At Leapsome, this can be enabled with a structured approval process. This will allow feedback to be fully aligned and complete before sharing it with the employee.
Leapsome's approval step 'Primary manager review' introduces an approval step in manager assessments. Here, Admins can set up reviews in a way that manager's assessment will require approval from their own managers, HR Business Partners (HRBPs) or specific individuals, such as internal coaches, before the feedback is shared with the employee. This structured approval process ensures that all relevant perspectives are considered, resulting in more comprehensive and accurate feedback.
Setting up the approval
Admins can set up the approval by navigating to 'Settings' > in the 'Automations' section selecting 'Approvals'. In here, under 'Primary manager review', click on '+ New approval flow'. When creating an approval, consider the following:
- The Name of the approval flow. For example: 'Leadership approval in Annual cycles'
- Process - here, ensure the flow 'Primary manager review' is chosen
- Relevant employees - here, define which employees this approval step will be relevant to.
- Lastly, define the Steps. Steps will be used for the groups of people who will be responsible for approving the manager's assessment. You can configure either only 1 step or more. For example, you might want manager assessments to be reviewed by that manager's manager. In that case, the first step's approver would be 'Manager's manager'.
Please note: This approval flow is only relevant for primary manager reviews (not peer, direct report, additional manager, or self-reviews).
What does it look like in a Review cycle?
In an active Review cycle, once a primary manager finalizes their manager assessment, they will see the option to submit it for approval. Then, the relevant approver will see this approval request in their 'Approvals' tab of their home dashboards. The approver can review the assessment and either approve or reject it. The approver sees everything that the manager sees (i.e., all the peer/direct report assessment, etc. based on the visibility rights).
The reviewee will not see assessments that are not approved.
Please note: Calibration can still happen in parallel during approval (and it only impacts sharing of the review).
When a manager assessment is currently in the approval process for a configured approval flow, a status, ‘Pending approval,’ will be displayed in the dashboard as well as 'Progress' analytics.
Assessment is approved
Once the manager assessment is approved, the assessment follows the normal flow. For example, the manager can now share it based on whether sharing is part of the visibility settings or it is visible to the reviewee immediately once all steps are approved.
Please note: Admins can share finalized reviews, bypassing the approval process.
FAQs
1. What implications does this have on the visibility of the cycle's results taking into consideration the 'Cascading access' setting is enabled?
The approval flow takes priority over the cycle visibility settings during the approval process. Once the approval is done, the usual cycle visibility takes precedence.
2. How are calibrations affected?
All scores can be calibrated regardless of the approval status of the review.
3. What happens if a manager re-opens their assessment, makes changes and finalizes it again?
If an approved assessment is re-opened, and the information is updated, then it will go through the approval process again.
Approval flow for Live Training
As an Admin, you can set up an approval process for Live Trainings. This will allow you to oversee which employees are registering for which trainings, and have established checks in place to ensure.
Setting up the approval
To create an approval flow, navigate to 'Settings' > 'Automations' > 'Approvals' > 'Live Training Slot Enrollment' and click on 'New approval flow'. In the pop-up window, you can select the new approval flow's:
- Name
- Process (in this scenario, choose 'Live Training Slot Enrollment')
- Relevant employees (choose for which employees this approval flow will be applied)
- You can additionally enable the setting 'Enable implicit approval'. If enabled, any steps in the approval flow that can be approved by the person requesting the approval, will be automatically approved.
- Lastly, define the approval steps. This can be only one (for example, the approver is a Super-Admin). Or you can select multiple approval steps. The approver's can be: a specific person, manager, manager's manager, team member or admin).
When an approval flow for Live Training is established in Admin Settings - this will show when creating a new Live Training in the 'Learning' module as a setting 'Requires approval to enroll in live training slots?'. If you enable this option, participants will need to wait for approval before they can enroll in the slot and it is only applicable if there are any approval flows for this action set up in the company settings. If the checkbox remains unchecked, it means the approval flow will be ignored for this live training.
When employees book a live training and the approval flow is required, it will go into the approval process. Employee will see that their live training is in the 'Pending approval' state.
- Employees can still cancel a slot at any time. If it is in the approval flow, the approval gets dismissed.
- If the approval request is rejected by the approver, the employee gets removed from the participant list, however, they can still book it again.
- If the Live Training host adds a participant manually - the approval flow will be skipped and the enrollment will be automatically accepted.
Compensation proposal approval
You can select what the approval flow will look like for the Compensation proposals by navigating to 'Settings' > 'Automations' > 'Approvals'. You can choose the following:
- The name of the Compensation cycle approval flow
- Ensure the process 'Compensation proposal' is selected
- Is the flow relevant to all or selected employees?
- You can additionally enable the setting 'Enable implicit approval'. If enabled, any steps in the approval flow that can be approved by the person requesting the approval, will be automatically approved.
- Steps. Here, you will select how many steps the approval should go through and who is responsible for each step. For example, the first approval step can be done by a manager and the second step can go through an admin.
Absence request approval
As an Admin, you can set up an approval process for absence requests made by your employees. This will allow you to oversee any absence requests made by your organization's employees and gives you the ability to approve absences based on capacity through communication with the approvers who may oversee different departments.
Setting up the approval
To set up an approval flow, navigate to 'Settings' > 'Automations' > 'Approvals' > 'Actions' > 'New approval flow'. You can also go to the respective sections (absence requests) and select 'New approval flow' to add subsequent approval flows to absence requests.
In the pop-up window, you can select the new approval flow's:
- Name
- Process (in this scenario, choose 'Absence request')
- Absence types (this will define which absence types will require approval)
- Relevant employees (choose for which employees this approval flow will be applied)
- You can additionally enable the setting 'Enable implicit approval'. If enabled, any steps in the approval flow that can be approved by the person requesting the approval, will be automatically approved.
- Lastly, define the approval steps. This can be only one (for example, the approver is a Super-Admin). Or you can select multiple approval steps. The approver's can be: a specific person, manager, manager's manager, team member or admin).
Please note:
- If multiple approval flows apply to a specific user, the configuration highest in the list will be used. Please drag to change the approval flow priorities.
- If no approval flow is designated, then the submitted requests/changes will be auto-approved.
Time Tracking approval
Whenever employees submit their timesheets, Super-admins or a configured approver will see them in the approval dashboard in their home dashboards. All approvers see a list of all employees whose timesheets need approval. By default, approvers see all timesheets that are pending approval across all the policies.
Setting up the approval flow
To set up the approvers for Time Tracking, navigate to 'Settings' > 'Automations' > 'Approvals' > 'Time tracking' > '+New approval flow' or 'Actions' > 'New approval flow'. When creating an approval, consider the following:
- The Name of the approval flow
- Process - here, ensure the flow 'Time tracking' is chosen
- Relevant employees - here, define which employees this approval step will be relevant to.
- Lastly, define the Steps. Steps will be used for the groups of people who will be responsible for approving the Time Tracking entries. You can configure either only 1 step or more. For example, you might want Time Tracking timesheets to be reviewed by that manager's manager. In that case, the first step's approver would be 'Manager's manager'.
For more information on Time Tracking approvals, see our article 'Time Tracking: Approval dashboard for approvers'.
Payroll Cycle Approval
Cycle approvals are designated through the approval workflow assigned in the 'Approvals' menu. Multiple approval workflows can be created and assigned to different relevant employee groups to manage payroll cycles for different users, teams, locations, or custom attributes granularly.
Create a new approval flow for Payroll cycles
Navigate to Settings > Company settings > Approvals > Create a payroll cycle approval workflow.
When creating a new approval flow for a payroll cycle, input the following information:
- Name
- Process: Payroll Cycle Approval
- Relevant employees:
- All Employees
- Specific employees using the filter for: users, teas, locations, or custom attributes.
- Enable implicit approval
- Select approvers for each step: admins can set up a multi-step approval flow
As a fail-safe to ensure employees are being paid on time, it is possible to still approve a cycle, even if all validation rules have not been met or if employee attributes are missing. The logic is that if a new joiner has a missing IBAN or salary attribute, this would not prevent the cycle from being approved and the rest of the employees from being paid.
For more information on Payroll approvals, see our article 'Payroll: Approve a Payroll Cycle'.