Describe your sick leave policy. Makeform builds an employee request form with dates, a brief reason, work coverage, and manager notification.
Send sick leave requests to Slack, Google Sheets, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a prompt, adapt it to your policy, or send it to the builder.
Audience
Employees requesting one or more sick days
Format
Short request with dates and coverage
Prompt size
246 chars
Example form structure
Short request with dates and coverage
Employee and manager
First and last date of absence
Full day or partial day?
Urgent work to cover?
Preferred contact during leave
Suggested routing tags
New request
Manager review
Return update
Ask only for needed absence information. A broad reason category avoids unnecessary health detail.
Step 1
Submit
employee, dates, duration, and brief reason
Step 2
Route
the right manager and HR contact are notified
Step 3
Plan
coverage and return timing are recorded
Step 4
Update
changes stay linked to the request
Why use one request form
A structured request gives HR the dates and managers the coverage information they need.
Start dates, optional end dates, and duration choices replace ambiguous messages.
Conditional fields can show shift times for partial days, a follow-up date for uncertain returns, or handoff questions only for longer absences.
Route the submission to the employee's manager and HR contact so scheduling and leave records can be handled from the same request.
Built around real absence patterns
Start with routine requests, then reveal fields for different schedules and return dates.
Start and end dates, broad reason category, manager, and a short handoff note for planned coverage.
Scheduled shift, missed hours, arrival or departure time, and shift-lead notification for accurate scheduling.
Let employees select ‘not known yet’ and provide a follow-up date instead of guessing an end date.
A compact follow-up can reference the earlier submission and notify the same manager when dates change.
Request workflow
Turn the essentials of your policy into a focused form, then connect each submission to the people who manage schedules and leave records.
Specify full days, missed hours, manager review, HR notification, and location paths.
Show times for partial days and a follow-up date when return is unknown.
Notify the manager and appropriate HR inbox with a useful summary.
Share one link and organize submissions in your inbox or connected workflow.
Form vs email vs paper
Informal messages vary. A form collects dates, manager, and follow-up details at submission.
Field guide
Collect enough information to identify the employee, understand the requested time away, plan immediate coverage, and follow up—without inviting unnecessary health details.
Employee details
Use familiar work identifiers. Department, location, and manager fields route requests across teams.
Absence dates
Separate the first absence and expected return dates. Allow an unknown return status instead of forcing an estimate.
Duration and schedule
Use a full-day or partial-day choice. Reveal time and shift questions only for partial requests.
Reason and contact
Use a broad, optional reason category and ask how the employee prefers to receive urgent work questions.
Coverage
Ask only for urgent handoff information. Show coverage fields for longer absences or time-sensitive work.
Confirmation and follow-up
Explain who receives the request and how to update a return date. Add an accuracy confirmation.
Related tools
Use focused forms for broader leave, planned vacation, schedule adjustments, and attendance records alongside your sick leave intake.
Create a general request path for multiple leave types and review routes.
Open toolCollect paid-time-off dates, balances to review, and manager routing.
Open toolPlan future vacation dates, coverage, and approval before schedules are set.
Open toolHandle changes to hours, days, locations, or recurring work schedules.
Open toolRecord attendance entries consistently across employees and locations.
Open toolCreate a reporting workflow for absences that have already occurred.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for HR managers building a consistent employee absence process.
It lets an employee report time away because of illness or care needs. It captures the employee, absence dates, duration, manager, brief reason, and coverage needs.
Include employee, department, manager, first absence date, expected return, and full or partial day. Add an optional reason, urgent handoff, contact preference, and accuracy confirmation when useful.
Keep routine intake limited to information HR and the manager need. A broad optional category can avoid unnecessary detail. Use your internal process for any separate follow-up.
Ask whether the date is known. If not, show a follow-up date and contact preference. A later update can reference the original request.
Yes. Use a duration choice, then reveal scheduled shift, arrival or departure time, and hours requested only for partial days.
Configure notifications around a manager or department field. Keep summaries focused on scheduling and request details.
Yes. Makeform is unlimited free for generating, editing, publishing, and collecting responses. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge.
Use a short update form for the original reference, old date, revised date or unknown status, and scheduling note. Route it to the same contacts.
Replace scattered absence messages with one clear request.
