How Do I Make Adding a Reason Mandatory for a Leave Type?

Some companies want context on every request — why someone is taking the day off, not just that they are. Making the Reason field mandatory forces employees to write a short note before they can submit a leave request.

How to Make the Reason Mandatory

The Reason Required setting lives on each leave policy — meaning you can require a reason for Vacation at one Location, while leaving Personal Day open-ended at another. You do this per Location, per Leave Type.

1. Sign in at app.vacationtracker.io.
2. In the left-hand menu, expand Leave Setup and click Locations.
3. Click Edit Leave Policies on the Location you want to configure.
4. Find the leave policy you want to update (for example, Vacation or Sick Day) and click the edit icon on its row.
5. In the policy editor, tick the Reason Required checkbox.

1. Click Update to save your changes.

From this moment on, any employee assigned to that Location and Leave Type will need to type something in the Reason field before the request form will go through.

What Employees See

When a leave type has Reason Required turned on, the Request Leave form behaves slightly differently for that employee:

• The Reason field still looks the same on the form, but submitting with it empty won't go through — the employee has to type a note before the request will be accepted.
• Approvers and Admins see the reason alongside the request when they review or approve it. Teammates and anyone outside the approval chain don't see it.

Common Questions