Announcements

New updates and improvements to absentify

  1. 🎉 Exciting News: absentify is Now Available in Outlook and Outlook Mobile! 🎉

    Announcement
    New Admin Feature

    We are thrilled to announce a significant expansion to our absentify platform! Thanks to Microsoft's recent developments, we are now able to integrate our trusted absence management tool directly within Outlook and Outlook Mobile.

     

    absentify-outlook

     

    What Does This Mean for You?

     

    - Even More Convenience: Manage absences directly within your Outlook application, whether on desktop or mobile.

    - Unified Experience: All the features you've come to know and love in absentify on Microsoft Teams are now available within Outlook.

     

    Please note that these new capabilities are only compatible with the latest versions of Outlook. We strongly recommend updating your applications to take full advantage of these features.

     

    We are proud to continue pioneering the integration of absence management tools into the Microsoft 365 environment. Your feedback is valuable to us, so please don't hesitate to share your thoughts and suggestions.

     

    Thank you for your ongoing trust and support. We look forward to continuing to serve you with absentify!

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  2. Customize the 'Reason for Absence' Field

    New Admin Feature
    Announcement

    📣 New Feature Alert: Users can now customize Absence Reasons!

     

    We are excited to announce a new feature that makes managing absences even more flexible and user-friendly.

     

    What's New?

    - Administrators can now centrally customize the 'Reason for Absence' field.

    - This field can be set as mandatory, if necessary.

    - A 'Hint Text' can be defined to guide users while filling out this field.

    - These settings can be individually configured for each leave type.

    - Only absentify administrators, relevant department managers, and approvers who need to approve the leave request can see the 'Reason for Absence'. It will not be synchronized with the Outlook Calendar.

     

    How Does It Work?

    Simply navigate to the "Leave Type" settings page, where you can customize the 'Reason for Absence' field.

     

    We hope this new feature further simplifies the planning and management of absences within your organization.

     

    Thank you for your ongoing support as we aim to continually improve absentify for our users!

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  3. Exciting Update: Customizable Fiscal Year Now Available!

    Improvement
    Announcement
    New Admin Feature

    We're thrilled to announce a game-changing update that brings flexibility to your absence management process – the ability to customize your company's fiscal year!

     

    At absentify, we understand that every organization operates uniquely, and adhering to a standard year format might not always align with your business needs. That's why we've listened to your feedback and are introducing this highly requested feature.

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    Year starting in different days

    The activities of our organization follow the academic year (e.g. Sep 2021 - Aug 2022). There could be an option to change the carry forward date. Please consider it.

    Luiz S
    Shipped 🚀

    40

    By tailoring your calendar year, you now have the power to delegate vacation contingent in a way that perfectly aligns with your organization's structure. Whether your fiscal year starts in July or October, absentify lets you set it up effortlessly.

     

    Bildschirmfoto 2023-08-01 um 16.10.22

     

    Embrace the power of flexibility and efficiency in absence management. We're confident that this enhancement will revolutionize the way you handle absences, empowering you to tailor your processes to your organization's unique needs.

     

    We look forward to seeing how this update will further revolutionize how you manage leave!

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  4. New Update: Never Miss a Time Off Request Again!

    Improvement
    New Feature
    New Admin Feature

    We're excited to introduce an enhancement that ensures a smooth and timely time-off approval process - the all-new time off request reminder! At absentify, we understand the importance of staying on top of your employees' time off requests, and this feature is designed to streamline the approval workflow.  

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    Email reminders to approve holiday

    When a manager misses the first request to approve holiday, a follow up email would be useful after a day or two as a reminder.

    Laura E
    Shipped 🚀

    6

     

    Here's how it works:

    Time Off Request Reminder:

    Users can now send their approvers a friendly reminder E-mail 24 hours after a time off request is created by simply clicking on the request and then the clock symbol. This reminder ensures that the approvers are promptly notified of pending requests, avoiding any delays in the approval process.

     

    Bildschirmfoto 2023-07-31 um 11.02.28

     

    Second Reminder for Pending Requests:

    In case an approver has not approved or denied the request within 48 hours, users can decide to send a second reminder E-mail. We know how busy workdays can get, and this additional prompt ensures that no request slips through the cracks.

     

    Say goodbye to missed time off requests and hello to a more organized and efficient absence management system with absentify. We value your time and strive to make your experience with our platform as seamless as possible!

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  5. Admin-friendly absence cancellation!

    New Admin Feature

    You talk, we listen! Based on your fantastic suggestions, we've added a cool new feature: department managers can now cancel old absence requests.

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    Manager need to cancel a old request

    Hello, I think there should be an option in the settings to allow the manager of the department to correct an old day. If only an administrator can make this change it takes a lot of administrator time.

    Carl P
    Shipped 🚀

    3

    How does it work? Just go to Settings / General under Privacy & Permissions and enable the "Retroactive absence cancellation by department manager" toggle. Just like that, your department managers have more control and can take a load off your admins.

     

    Keep in mind, regular employees can still only cancel their future absence requests. And don't worry, every cancellation triggers an email to everyone involved, so everything stays transparent.

     

    Give this new feature a try and let us know what you think!

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  6. New Privacy Settings - Enhanced Privacy for Employees

    New Admin Feature

    We are excited to inform you that we have improved and expanded our privacy settings. From now on, you have two new privacy settings options available to better protect your employees' privacy.

    absentify-privacy

     

    Hide past absences:

    With this setting, you can determine that regular employees can no longer view their colleagues' absences in the past. Future absences will remain visible. This has the advantage of preventing employees from drawing conclusions, such as calculating the number of sick days. Managers, approvers, and admins will continue to have full access to their employees' past absences.

     

    Individual annual overviews:

    Another setting allows you to specify that regular employees can only view their own annual overview with all their absences. Managers, approvers, and admins will still have access to the annual overviews of all employees they supervise.

     

    We hope that these new privacy settings will help you protect your employees' privacy while ensuring information sharing within the team. If you have any questions or suggestions, we are always here to help.

     

    We would appreciate your feedback on these new settings. Please share your thoughts with us at:

    3

    Privacy: Restrict users to only see current and future calendar of other users

    Privacy of previous dates taken. User would only have the ability to see their own prior PTO dates.

    Libby A
    Shipped 🚀

    1

     

    Thank you for using absentify, and good luck implementing these new privacy settings!

     

     

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  7. Introducing the New Tabs Feature in absentify for Microsoft Teams

    New Admin Feature
    Announcement
    New Feature

    We are excited to announce a brand-new feature in the absentify app for Microsoft Teams – Tabs! With this latest update, you can now add a dedicated tab within your Microsoft Teams channel to view the absences of your department colleagues.

     

    This new feature is designed to make tracking and managing absences even more seamless within your organization. The added functionality of Tabs provides you with an easy-to-use and efficient way to keep an eye on your team's availability, directly from your preferred communication platform.

     

    To get started with the new Tabs feature, follow these simple steps (check how it works):

    image

    Navigate to the desired Microsoft Teams channel.

    Click on the "+" icon to add a new tab.

    Select "absentify" from the available options.

    Enter the department name and choose a title for the tab.

    Once the absentify tab has been added, team members with the appropriate permissions in absentify will be able to view the absences of their colleagues within that specific department.

     

    We hope this new feature will help enhance your experience with absentify and make managing your team's absences more efficient and convenient. As always, we appreciate your continued support and welcome any feedback you may have.

     

    Happy collaborating!

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  8. absentify Introduces Significant Performance Improvements

    New Admin Feature
    Announcement
    New Feature

    We are thrilled to announce that absentify has undergone significant performance improvements, making our absence management system faster and more efficient than ever before.

     

    We understand the importance of having a quick and reliable absence management solution, and we have worked hard to optimize the performance of our platform. Our latest update includes improvements to various features such as loading times and response rates, allowing you to manage employee absences with greater ease and speed.

     

    We value your feedback and want to hear from you about your experience with our optimized system. We invite you to share your thoughts and suggestions on our feedback page .

     

    As always, we remain committed to providing you with the best possible experience, and we will continue to enhance and improve our platform to meet your needs.

     

    Thank you for choosing absentify as your absence management solution.

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  9. absentify introduces Microsoft Teams Push Notifications

    New Admin Feature
    New Feature

    We are thrilled to announce that as of today, absentify will be sending all notifications not only via email, but also via Microsoft Teams push notifications. This new feature is available in all absentify plans, including the free version!

     

    One of the major advantages of this feature is that it enables employees to manage their absences and allowances without having to leave Microsoft Teams. Once push notifications are enabled, team members can easily view, approve or reject absence requests and update their holiday allowances directly from the Microsoft Teams interface.

     

    To activate push notifications, an absentify admin needs to give permission to the Microsoft API. You can find this option under "Settings/Microsoft" in your absentify dashboard. Once activated, push notifications will be enabled for the whole company, making it easier for everyone to keep track of employee absences and allowances in real time.

     

    We understand the importance of timely communication and are committed to providing you with the best tools to manage employee absences effectively. This new feature enables you to receive notifications instantly, helping you stay on top of your team's absences and manage them more efficiently.

     

    We hope you find this new feature useful, as we strive to always improve absentify to meet your needs!

     

    If you have any feedback, please feel free to post it here:

     

     https://feedback.absentify.com/roadmap/microsoft-teams-bot-notification 

     

    Thank you for choosing absentify!

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  10. New Videos Released: Learn How to Optimize Absence Management with absentify and Microsoft 365

    Announcement
    New Admin Feature
    New Feature

    We are excited to announce that we have released two new videos showcasing absentify's features and benefits:

     

    "Benefits of Using absentify with Microsoft (Animation)": This animated video highlights the benefits of using absentify in conjunction with Microsoft Teams, by demonstrating how the integration can streamline your absence management process and improve your team's productivity. Check out the video below:

    "absentify Product Presentation by Success Manager Brendan": This video provides an overview of absentify's features and capabilities, presented by our success manager Brendan. It's a great way to learn more about how absentify can help you manage employee absences more efficiently. Check out the video below:

    We hope you find these videos informative and helpful to manage employee absences more effectively in absentify.

     

    As always, if you have any questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to reach out to our support team.

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