Time off, inside Google Chat
A Google Chat leave tracker — finally
Request time off with /leave, approve from a card, and check who's away with /whosout — right inside Google Chat, with real balances and accruals underneath.
Absenca is a leave tracker built natively into Google Chat: type /leave to request time off, approve from an interactive card, and check who's away with /whosout — with real balances, accruals and public holidays underneath. Teams that run on Google Workspace have been the afterthought of leave tracking: most tools ship a Slack bot, maybe a Microsoft Teams bot, and tell Google Chat users to open the web app. Absenca treats Google Chat as a first-class citizen — request, approve and see time off without leaving Chat, with the same depth the Slack and Teams bots get.
Type /leave in Google Chat, pick your dates, and the request lands with your manager as a card they can approve in one click. /whosout answers the who's-away question, and an optional daily digest posts it to a space automatically. Underneath, Absenca keeps balances, accruals and public holidays accurate — and it's free for up to 15 people, then a flat $0.75 per user per month.
/leave — request in seconds
Type /leave in Google Chat, choose a leave type and dates, see your remaining balance, and submit without opening another app.
Approve from a card
Managers get an interactive card in Chat with the request details and decide in one click — from any device.
/whosout — instant visibility
Anyone can type /whosout to see who's away today and this week, and a daily digest can post it to a space automatically.
Native to Google Workspace
Sign in with Google, sync approved leave to Google Calendar, and keep time off inside the tools your company already runs on.
How the Google Chat bot works
Connect Google Chat to Absenca once, and the bot joins the conversation. An employee types /leave, picks the leave type and dates, sees their live balance, and submits. The request routes to the right approver as an interactive card; one click approves or declines it, and the employee is notified instantly.
/whosout shows who's away right now and who's off this week — and if you'd rather not ask at all, the daily digest posts the day's absences to any space you choose each morning. Every action updates the same balances, calendar and reports as the web app, so nothing needs reconciling later.
Why so few leave trackers support Google Chat
Most leave tools were built Slack-first and stopped there; Google Workspace companies typically get a calendar sync and a dashboard at best. If your team actually talks in Google Chat, that gap means the tracker lives outside the workday — and tools outside the workday get abandoned.
Absenca ships a real Google Chat bot — commands, interactive approval cards, digests — with the same coverage as its Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations. Pair it with Google Calendar sync and Google sign-in, and time off lives entirely inside your Workspace — see the full Google Workspace overview.
Set it up in a few minutes
1) Create your free Absenca account with Google sign-in. 2) Open Settings → Integrations and choose Connect Google Chat, then approve the permissions. 3) Map people to their Absenca profiles — or let them self-link the first time they use /leave — and optionally pick a space for the daily digest.
The Google Chat integration is included on every plan, free tier included: free for up to 15 people, then $0.75 per user per month. No per-integration fee, no card to start.
Why teams choose Absenca
- /leave to request and /whosout to see who's away — inside Google Chat
- One-click approvals from interactive cards
- Optional daily who's-off digest to any space
- Google sign-in and Google Calendar sync included
- Accruals, carry-over, public holidays and reports stay accurate underneath
- Free for up to 15 people, then $0.75/user/month
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a leave tracker that works in Google Chat?
- Yes — Absenca has a native Google Chat bot. Employees request time off with /leave, managers approve from an interactive card, and /whosout shows who's away — all without leaving Google Chat.
- What commands does the Google Chat bot support?
- /leave starts a time-off request with your live balance shown, and /whosout lists who's away today and this week. An optional daily digest can also post the day's absences to a space of your choice.
- Does it work with Google Calendar and Google sign-in?
- Yes. You can sign in to Absenca with your Google account, and approved leave syncs to Google Calendar — so time off is visible where your team already plans its week.
- Is the Google Chat integration free?
- Yes — it's included on every plan. Absenca is free for up to 15 people with the full feature set, then a flat $0.75 per user per month.
- What about teammates who don't use Google Chat?
- The web app and email flows cover everyone else, and Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Chat bots exist too — mixed teams stay in sync because every surface writes to the same system.