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Managing representatives in absentify allows you to define who will take over the duties of an employee during an absence.

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Manage representatives

You manage representatives in the Representative tab in the employee’s profile.
1

Open user profile

Go to Settings → Users → select the employee → open the Representative tab.
2

Add representatives

Add one or more representatives who will cover for the employee during absences where a representative is required. You can define the order of representatives here.
3

Select approval process

Choose how representatives are contacted for approval:
  • Linear: Representatives are contacted one after the other in the defined order.
  • Parallel: Representatives are contacted at the same time.
4

Set number of required representatives

Define how many representatives must approve the request before it is forwarded to the approver. One or multiple representatives can be assigned.
5

Allow change of order (optional)

Enable this option to allow the employee to change the order of representatives during the request process.
If disabled, the contact order remains as defined in the profile.
6

Allow employee to choose representative (optional)

Enable this option to allow the employee to add or remove representatives when submitting an absence request.
If fewer representatives are available during the requested period than the defined minimum, the absence request cannot be submitted. Only an administrator can override this restriction by submitting the request on the user’s behalf.

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Representative selection

The selection and validation of representatives occurs during the creation of the absence request. You can define per leave type whether a representative is required or optional. See Representative requirement in leave type settings for full details. When an employee selects a leave type that requires a representative:
  • The predefined representatives from the employee’s profile will appear in the request form.
  • If allowed, the employee can override the default selection.
  • Representatives will receive a request to approve their assignment.
  • Only after the required number of representatives approve the assignment will the request be forwarded to the approver.
  • If the assigned representative is unavailable, an administrator can accept the request on behalf of the employee.
If multiple representatives are assigned:
  • If all representatives must approve and any representative is already absent during the requested period, the request cannot be submitted.
  • If not all representatives must approve, any representative who is absent will be automatically declined.
An absence request is forwarded to the approvers only after a representative has approved their assignment.

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Representative conflict

The representative conflict logic depends on two leave-type settings: “Count as leave” and “Allow representative overlap”.
  • Count as leave activated + Allow representative overlap disabled → The absence blocks representative assignments and triggers hard restrictions. Recommended for Vacation or Sick Leave.
  • Count as leave deactivated → The absence does not block representative assignments. Recommended for Home Office.
  • Count as leave activated + Allow representative overlap enabled → The representative sees a confirmation dialog and can proceed with their own absence request despite the active representation. Use this for leave types where overlap is acceptable but should be acknowledged.
Additionally, the system distinguishes between approved and pending representative assignments:
  • If the representative assignment is already approved, the overlap is treated as a conflict (blocking or confirmation dialog, depending on the settings above).
  • If the representative assignment is still pending, the system shows a warning that accepting the representation later may cause a conflict, but allows the request to proceed.
Example use case 1: If a representative has already accepted a representation, they cannot request leave during the same time frame if the leave type they are requesting has “Count as leave” activated and “Allow representative overlap” disabled. Example use case 2: If the assigned representative already has an absence during the user’s requested time frame and both leave types have “Count as leave” activated, the employee cannot submit their leave request for the same period. Example use case 3: If “Allow representative overlap” is enabled on the leave type, the representative sees a confirmation dialog explaining the overlap and can choose to proceed with their own absence request. Admin override: In all blocked scenarios, an administrator can override the restriction and submit the leave request on behalf of the representative, even if “Count as leave” is activated.

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Summary of logic