Submitting paid time off (PTO)

Recording paid time off via Roots

We submit and record all PTO using Roots, which allows you to submit all PTO events directly in Slack.

Visit this page to read more about Roots and how it works.

Please see below for a step by step breakdown:

  1. Go to your Slack app and scroll down to “Apps” on the left-hand side
  2. Click on “PTO by Roots” (this will take you to your homepage, where you’ll see any upcoming PTO events and buttons to create a new PTO event and option to chat with support)
  3. Click “Create OOO” and you will be prompted with a new screen with fields to fill out
  4. Select your type of leave (vacation, wellbeing, life, religious holiday, public holiday, parental, medical)
  5. Enter a name for your PTO event if you choose (this is optional)
  6. Select the dates you will be out for that particular PTO event
  7. You will receive a message from Roots prompting you to designate teammates to cover you while you’re away, click “Let’s do it!” (Note: you can create multiple assignments)
  8. Select “coworker” or “channel” based on who you would like to cover you while you’re away
  9. Select the teammate or channel in the dropdown that you’d need to cover for you
  10. Write down a description of the role or responsibilities and add an optional description (this will be shared with the assigned teammates and used your auto-reply message if someone tags you while you’re away)
  11. You will also receive a message from Roots asking you if you would like Roots to automatically adjust your status while you’re away– please select “yes” to grant permissions to update your Slack and Google Calendar automatically while you’re away.
  12. Record your time off in GCalendar

For additional resources from Roots, please see this folder.

Recording time off in GCalendar

Roots creates an event for you in your calendar that last through the time you’ve requested. We encourage you invite your team and people you are collaborating with to the event.

Keep in mind the event that Roots creates is not an OOO type event. This means that meetings you’ve accepted or that you are invited to won’t be rejected automatically. This means you have to go to Google Calendar and create an OOO event for the length of the time you will be out.

Recording time off in GMail

It is good practice to have an automated email response set for when you are out of office. You can do this by going to your email inbox, clicking on Settings –> See all settings –> General –> Vacation responder.

You can turn it on and off, select the range of days, change the email subject and add the content of the email.

You can read more about vacation responder here

For more information on our PTO philosophy and policy, please see Paid time off.