Time off that respects the project schedule
Leave management for agencies
See who's billable and available before you approve, lock down launch weeks with blackout periods, and keep client work covered — without a spreadsheet that nobody trusts.
In an agency, one approved week off in the wrong week is the difference between a smooth launch and a fire drill. Account leads need to know who's actually available before they commit a delivery date, and a designer booking the same fortnight as the only other person who knows the client's brand is a problem you want to catch before it happens — not in the stand-up.
Absenca is leave management built around that reality. Managers see billable-team availability on a shared calendar and wallchart, blackout periods fence off launch and pitch weeks, and per-team limits stop a whole pod disappearing at once — so the people who can take time off do, and the projects stay covered.
Coverage you can see before you approve
A shared wallchart shows who's off and who's available across each team, studio or discipline — so an account lead approves leave knowing exactly who's left to cover the account.
Blackout periods for launches & pitches
Fence off a launch week, a pitch sprint or a peak season so leave can't be booked then — set it for one team, one studio or the whole agency, with a message explaining why.
Limits per pod, not just per person
Cap how many people in a team or discipline can be off at the same time, so you never lose both senior devs — or your only motion designer — in the same week.
Book leave from Slack, Teams or Google Chat
Agencies live in chat. Request and approve time off inside Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Chat, with a daily who's-off post so the team plans around absences without asking.
Protect coverage on every account
Agency work is lumpy — a quiet fortnight, then three deadlines in the same week. Absenca's wallchart gives account and resource leads a single month-at-a-glance view of who's off across every team, so they can spot a coverage gap on a key account before they sign off on the leave that would cause it.
Set a maximum number of people who can be away at once per team or discipline, and Absenca flags any request that would breach it at the moment it's made. The motion designer, the lead developer and the senior copywriter don't all end up out in your busiest week by accident.
Because every leave type — vacation, sick, personal, parental, TOIL and your own custom types — sits in the same calendar, the availability picture is complete, not just the planned holidays.
Blackout the weeks that can't slip
Most agencies have weeks that are simply off-limits for leave: a campaign launch, a big pitch, the run-up to a seasonal peak. Blackout periods let you fence those off so time off can't be requested during them — scoped to a single team, a whole studio, or the entire agency, each with a short message so people understand the why.
When the crunch passes, the block lifts and normal booking resumes. It's a far cleaner approach than a Slack reminder that everyone forgets, and it means resource planning and PTO stop fighting each other.
TOIL and billable hours, tracked honestly
Agency teams rack up time in evenings and weekends around deadlines, and the fair thing is to give it back. Absenca tracks TOIL alongside annual leave, so the hours someone banked finishing a pitch are recorded and can be taken later — without a side spreadsheet or a forgotten promise.
Half-day and hourly leave keep the maths honest for a team that doesn't always think in whole days: book a morning for a school run or a couple of hours for an appointment, and balances reflect it exactly. It's leave and absence management, though — not a timesheet or a billing system, so it sits happily next to whatever you use to track billable hours to clients.
Why teams choose Absenca
- Shared wallchart of who's billable and available, by team
- Blackout periods to protect launch, pitch and peak weeks
- Per-team limits so a whole pod can't be off at once
- TOIL, half-day and hourly leave tracked accurately
- Request and approve time off inside Slack, Teams or Google Chat
- Free for up to 15 people, then $0.75/user/month
Frequently asked questions
- Why use dedicated leave management for an agency?
- Agencies juggle multiple client projects with overlapping deadlines, so coverage matters more than in a steady-state office. Absenca shows who's available before you approve leave, blocks time off during launches and pitches with blackout periods, and limits how many people in a team can be off at once — so client work stays covered without a spreadsheet.
- Can I stop people booking leave during a launch or pitch?
- Yes. Blackout periods let you fence off specific date ranges so leave can't be requested then — scoped to one team, a whole studio or the entire agency, each with a message explaining why. When the period passes, normal booking resumes.
- How does Absenca protect project coverage?
- The shared wallchart shows who's off and available across each team, and you can cap how many people in a team or discipline are away at the same time. Any request that would breach the limit is flagged when it's made, so you don't lose your only motion designer or both lead developers in the same week.
- Does Absenca track TOIL and billable hours?
- Absenca tracks TOIL (time off in lieu) for the evenings and weekends agency teams put in around deadlines, plus half-day and hourly leave. It's leave and absence management rather than a timesheet or billing tool, so it sits alongside whatever you use to track billable hours to clients.
- Is it free for a small agency?
- Yes — Absenca is free for up to 15 people with the full feature set, including blackout periods, the wallchart and the Slack and Teams integrations. Beyond 15 it's a flat $0.75 per user per month, no credit card to start.