> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.spockoffice.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Policies
> Configure organizational policies for leave deletion, Team Manager approvals, administrative permissions, and approval reminders.
Policies in Spock allow you to define how your organization handles key leave management workflows and permissions. These settings determine who can perform certain actions, helping you establish clear governance while enabling appropriate autonomy for team leaders.
You can configure these settings from the Dashboard under Settings > Policies.
## Policy Configuration Options
**Purpose:** Control who has permission to delete leaves that have already been taken.
**Configuration:**
* **Enabled:** Regular users will have the ability to delete leaves that they have taken in the past
* **Disabled:** Only General Managers or Team Managers will be able to delete these leaves
**Use Cases:**
* Enable for organizations that trust employees to manage their own leave history and correct mistakes
* Disable to maintain stricter control over historical leave records and prevent unauthorized modifications
Enabling this option gives employees more autonomy to correct their own errors, but disabling it ensures that leave history remains under management oversight.
**Purpose:** Determine whether Team Managers' leave requests require approval from General Managers.
**Configuration:**
* **Enabled:** Automatically approve leave requests from Team Managers
* **Disabled:** The General Manager(s) will still need to approve a Team Manager's leave request
**Use Cases:**
* Enable to streamline the approval process for Team Managers who are responsible for their own schedules
* Disable if you want all leave requests, including those from Team Managers, to go through General Manager approval
Automatically approving Team Manager leave requests reduces administrative overhead and demonstrates trust in your team leaders while still maintaining oversight through the leave tracking system.
**Purpose:** Control whether Team Managers can modify administrative settings for their team members.
**Configuration:**
* **Enabled:** Allow Team Managers to adjust allowances, holidays, and working days for their team members
* **Disabled:** Only General Managers can manage members' allowances, holidays, and working days
**Use Cases:**
* Enable for organizations with decentralized management where team leaders should handle day-to-day administrative tasks
* Disable to maintain centralized control over employee allowances and schedules through General Managers only
Granting Team Managers this permission allows them to make significant changes to employee entitlements. Ensure your Team Managers understand their responsibilities before enabling this option.
This policy affects Team Manager access to:
* **Allowances:** Individual employee leave allowance adjustments
* **Holidays:** Holiday calendar assignments for team members
* **Working Days:** Individual employee working day configurations
## Approval Reminders
When an employee submits a leave request that needs approval, Spock immediately sends each approver a Slack DM with **Approve** and **Reject** buttons. Sometimes nobody clicks. The request sits there, the employee doesn't know whether to book flights, and the approver has scrolled past the message.
**Approval reminders** make Spock follow up. While a request is still waiting for a decision, Spock re-notifies the approvers on a schedule you choose, keeps the requesting employee informed, and — if you want it — escalates to your General Managers when the approvers still haven't acted.
Only **General Managers** can change approval reminder settings. These settings apply to the **whole workspace** — there are no per-team or per-leave-type overrides.
### Enabling Approval Reminders
Go to **Settings** > **Policies** and find the **Approval reminders** section.
Switch the master toggle on. The cadence options below become active.
Set how long Spock waits between reminders (**Remind every**) and how many reminders a single request can generate (**up to ... per request**).
Optionally tick **Escalate to General Managers**. This is off by default — see [General Manager Escalation](#general-manager-escalation) below.
Click **Save Changes**. Nothing is applied until you save — if you change the toggle without saving, the status line shows a "not saved yet" warning.
The default state depends on when your workspace was installed:
| Workspace | Approval reminders |
| ------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Installed before this feature was released | **Off** — you need to switch them on |
| Installed after the release | **On**, with the default cadence (every 24 hours, up to 3 reminders) |
General Manager escalation is **off by default** in every workspace, new or existing.
**Reminders only apply to requests submitted after you enable them.**
Turning approval reminders on does not start reminding about leave requests that were already pending. Spock begins tracking a request for reminders at the moment the approval request is sent, and only while the feature is switched on.
This is deliberate — switching the feature on never floods your approvers with a burst of DMs about a months-old backlog. Your existing backlog stays visible in **Pending approvals** and on the dashboard card; it just won't generate reminder DMs.
The same applies if you switch reminders **off and then on again**: requests submitted during the "off" period are never reminded, even after you re-enable.
### Settings Explained
| Setting | Options | What it does |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Approval reminders** (master toggle) | On / Off | Turns the whole feature on or off for the workspace. When off, no reminder DMs, no requester notifications, and no escalations are sent. |
| **Remind every** | 24 / 48 / 72 hours | How long Spock waits between reminders. The first reminder is sent one full interval after the original approval request. |
| **up to ... per request** | 1 to 5 reminders | The maximum number of reminders sent for a single request. Default is 3. Once the cap is reached, Spock stops reminding — and escalates, if escalation is on. |
| **Escalate to General Managers** | Checkbox, off by default | Notifies your General Managers once when a request is still unanswered after the last reminder, or has no active approver left to remind. |
**Changing the interval mid-flight:** if you change the interval while requests are already being reminded, the new interval takes effect from each request's *next* reminder onwards. Reminders that are already scheduled keep their existing time.
### When Reminders Are Sent
Two rules decide the timing: the **interval** you configured, and the **delivery window**. Both must be satisfied.
Reminders are delivered at approximately **9:00 in the requesting employee's timezone**, and only on **working days**. Weekends, non-working days, public holidays, and company holidays are skipped — Spock rolls the reminder forward to the next working morning.
This means the interval behaves as "working mornings", not as an exact clock countdown:
| Scenario | What happens |
| ------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Request submitted Monday 14:00, 24-hour interval | First reminder Tuesday around 9:00 in the requester's timezone |
| Request submitted Friday 16:00, 24-hour interval | Saturday and Sunday are skipped — first reminder Monday around 9:00 |
| A reminder would land on a public holiday | Rolled forward to the next working day at around 9:00 |
| 48-hour or 72-hour interval | The reminder is due 2 or 3 days later, then rolled forward to the next working morning if that day is not a working day |
A reminder is never sent **earlier** than the configured interval. If a request goes in at 14:00 with a 24-hour interval, the reminder waits until the following morning — it does not fire at 9:00 the same day just because that date matched.
**An approver who is on leave is still reminded.** Spock deliberately does not skip reminders because the approver happens to be on vacation — the request would otherwise be silently stranded. If this becomes a problem for you, use General Manager escalation.
#### When Reminders Stop
Spock stops reminding about a request as soon as any of these is true:
* The request is **approved** or **rejected**
* The request is **cancelled** or **deleted**
* The **leave's start date has passed** (judged in the requester's own timezone) — reminding about leave that already began is pointless
* The **maximum number of reminders** for the workspace has been reached
* The workspace **turns reminders off**
### What People Receive in Slack
Each approver gets **one DM per reminder round**, no matter how many requests are due for them. Approvers get a single, actionable message instead of one DM per request.
**One request waiting** — the full approval card, under a reminder header:
> 🔔 **Reminder — approval still needed**
> *This leave request is still waiting for your approval.*
>
> *\[the standard leave request card, with **Approve** and **Reject** buttons]*
**Several requests waiting** — a list, each row with its own buttons:
> 🔔 **Approval reminders — 4 requests waiting for you**
> *These leave requests are still waiting for your approval.*
>
> *\[each pending request, with **Approve** and **Reject** buttons]*
The Approve and Reject buttons in a reminder are the **same buttons** as in the original request card. Clicking them approves or rejects the request immediately — there is no extra step and no difference in behavior.
**Large digests:** if an approver has a lot waiting, the digest shows the first **10** requests and adds a note such as *"…and 3 more requests waiting — open Spock to review them all."* The header always shows the true total.
On each reminder round, the employee who submitted the leave also gets a short DM:
> ⏳ Reminder: your **Vacation** request for **12 Aug – 16 Aug** is still awaiting approval from Sarah Connor and John Doe.
The named approvers are the ones actually reminded in that round.
A reminder digest lists several requests at once, so it cannot simply flip to "Approved" the way a single request card does. Instead, Spock **re-renders** it:
* The moment any request in the digest is approved, rejected, cancelled, or deleted, each affected approver's **most recent** reminder digest is rewritten in Slack to show only what is still pending
* If nothing is left, the message becomes: *"✅ All caught up — nothing waiting for your approval."*
* The **original** approval request card still flips to its resolved state exactly as it always has
**Older reminders may look stale.** Only the latest digest per approver is kept live. If you scroll back and click a button in an older reminder, Spock responds with *"Leave request was already approved by …"* — nothing breaks, and nothing is double-approved.
An assigned approver is skipped when they are:
* Deleted or deactivated in Slack
* Not using Spock
* A bot account
* Using Spock with **instant notifications switched off** in their own preferences
The requester's notification is likewise suppressed if they have instant notifications off.
**Approvers who lost their manager role are still reminded.** If someone was assigned as an approver and later stopped being a manager, Spock keeps reminding them as long as their account is active — they were the person asked, and Spock never silently rewrites who was asked. This preserves the record of who was responsible for the request.
### General Manager Escalation
When escalation is enabled, Spock notifies your workspace's **General Managers** once about a request that is stuck. A General Manager can approve or reject any request in the workspace, so they can resolve it straight from the DM.
Escalation fires in exactly two situations:
| Trigger | Meaning |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Reminder cap reached** | The assigned approvers were reminded the maximum number of times and still haven't decided. |
| **No active approver** | Every assigned approver has been deleted, deactivated, stopped using Spock, or turned notifications off — there is nobody left to remind. |
The escalation message contains the full leave request card with **Approve** and **Reject** buttons, plus an explanation:
> 🚨 **Approval needed — escalated to you**
>
> *\[the full leave request card, with **Approve** and **Reject** buttons]*
>
> *Mark Smith's request has been waiting 4 days. The assigned approver(s) (Sarah Connor) were reminded 3 times and have not acted — escalating to you as a General Manager.*
To enable escalation, make sure the master toggle is on, tick **Escalate to General Managers when a request is still unanswered after the last reminder, or has no active approver left to remind**, then click **Save Changes**.
**Things to know:**
* Escalation is sent **once per request**. It is not a recurring reminder.
* It goes to **all active General Managers** in the workspace who have instant notifications enabled.
* It is a **notification, not a reassignment**. The original approvers stay assigned to the request and stay on record.
* It is delivered in the same **9:00 requester-local** window as reminders, on the first morning after the trigger condition is met.
Escalation is **off by default** — escalating over an approver's head is a policy decision each workspace should make deliberately.
If escalation is off and every approver is gone, the request is not silently lost. It is flagged as **needs attention** in the Policies status summary and on the General Manager's dashboard card.
### Tracking Pending Approvals
#### Status Summary on the Policies Page
Directly under the approval reminder settings, Spock shows a small read-only summary so you can confirm the feature is working:
| Indicator | Meaning |
| -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Reminders are on / off** | The current saved state of the master toggle. |
| **N pending approvals** | All leave requests in the workspace currently awaiting a decision. |
| **N waiting > 48h** | How many of those have been waiting more than two days. |
| **N needs attention** | Pending requests with no active approver left to remind. Shown only when the count is above zero, with a link to the pending approvals list. |
**Needs attention** is the one to watch. It means Spock has nobody it can DM about that request. Either escalation will handle it (if enabled), or a General Manager needs to step in and approve or reject it directly.
#### The Pending Requests Dashboard Card
Managers see a **Pending requests** card on the Spock dashboard. It appears only when there is something pending in their scope, and only for managers.
**General Managers** see the whole workspace:
| Tile | Meaning |
| ------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| **Pending** | All pending requests in the workspace. |
| **Waiting > 48h** | Pending for more than two days. |
| **Needs attention** | Pending with no active approver left. |
**Team Managers** who are not General Managers see only their own scope — requests from the teams they manage, plus any request they are personally an approver of:
| Tile | Meaning |
| -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Pending in your teams** | Pending requests across the teams they manage. |
| **Waiting > 48h** | Pending for more than two days. |
| **Awaiting your approval** | Requests where they are personally an assigned approver. |
Below the tiles, the card lists the **oldest waiting** requests (up to four), each showing the employee, leave type, dates, and how long it has been waiting. Rows are tagged **Awaiting you** when you are an assigned approver, and **No active approver** when nobody is left to remind (General Manager view only). A footer link opens the full pending approvals list.
Regular employees never see this card, and it disappears entirely when there is nothing pending in your scope. The card works whether or not reminders are enabled — you can use it as a manual follow-up tool even with reminders switched off.
### Approval Reminder FAQ
Reminders are enable-forward only. Only requests submitted *after* you enabled the feature are reminded. Use the dashboard card or the pending approvals list to clear the existing backlog manually.
At most one reminder DM per reminder round, regardless of how many requests are waiting for them. With the default settings (every 24 hours, up to 3), an approver with pending requests gets at most one DM per working morning, for at most three mornings per request.
Not in this version. The settings are workspace-wide.
No to both. Reminders are always delivered around 9:00 in the requesting employee's timezone, and snooze is not part of this version.
No. If they were the assigned approver when the request was submitted, Spock keeps reminding them while their account is active — it never rewrites who was originally asked. If they should no longer act on it, a General Manager can approve or reject the request directly.
## Best Practices
When configuring organizational policies, consider the following recommendations:
Configure policies to match your company's management hierarchy and decision-making processes.
Begin with more restrictive settings and gradually enable permissions as you build trust and processes.
If enabling Team Manager permissions, ensure they understand their responsibilities and the impact of their decisions.
Periodically review these policies as your organization grows to ensure they still meet your governance needs.
## Related Topics
Learn about user roles and their permissions
Understand team structure and Team Manager roles
Configure the leave approval workflow
Learn how leave deletion works for users
Policy settings play a crucial role in defining how your organization manages leave processes. Consider your company culture, size, and compliance requirements when configuring these options, and communicate any changes clearly to your team.