Emails, spreadsheets, calls to check available days… Plain eliminates all that friction. HR controls every employee's balance, manages absence types and approves requests in one click, without losing visibility of the team.
How it works
The request and approval process is so simple that HR stops being the bottleneck.
They choose the absence type, dates and add a comment if needed. Plain shows available days in real time before submitting.
The manager receives the request, sees the impact on team coverage and makes the decision. The employee gets the answer instantly with an automatic notification.
Your employees request vacations and absences by the hour directly in Plain, regardless of their contract type. Every request is recorded in writing and in each employee's profile — no data loss, no errors. Set the minimum and maximum hours per request, and combine days and hours in a single always-up-to-date view.
Adapt the approval process to your organisational structure. From direct manager approval to two-step workflows with final HR validation.
The manager receives the request and approves or rejects it directly. Ideal for small teams or low-impact absences.
The manager gives initial sign-off and HR validates the final decision. For higher-impact absences or companies with more formal processes.
Plain calculates each employee's vacation balance in real time based on their contract, collective agreement and days already taken. No Excel sheets, no recalculating by hand when someone requests a single day.
Both HR and the employee can see their updated balance at any time: total days, taken, approved pending use and available. No questions, no confusion.
Configurable absence types
Not all absences are the same. Plain lets you configure as many types as your company or agreement requires, each with its own approval workflow, day counter and validation rules.
Employees request from the app knowing exactly how many days of that type they have available. HR approves with full context: team coverage, pending days and applicable rules.
Plain's calendar centralises all team absences in a single view. HR can see at a glance who is available and which days affect coverage.
National, regional and local public holidays are included and updated every year. You can also add company-specific or agreement-specific holidays.
In just a few clicks and from anywhere, design the perfect vacation calendar for your business. Match absences to your employees' needs and preferences while covering shifts in detail.
Keep the calendar always up to date, adding changes and modifications in real time. Fast, efficient and available for anyone to consult. Say goodbye to vacation and day-off errors.
Supervisors see the calendar for all employees at once: spot overlapping absences at a glance and guarantee minimum coverage at all times.
Someone off sick? An unexpected absence? Someone you need is on vacation? See the status and situation of every team member at any time and from anywhere, straight from your phone.
Make fast and effective decisions in any unexpected situation. With the Plain App you can access all people management data in a single tap.
All you need is an internet connection — and your company is right at your fingertips.
Plain automatically exports payroll variables derived from absences — vacation taken, sick leave, paid leave — to the leading HR management and payroll systems.
No checking spreadsheets, no copying data by hand, no transcription errors. Every approved absence is ready to be processed for payroll.
Features designed so HR can stop managing absences in spreadsheets and focus on what matters.
Spreadsheets require error-prone manual calculations and don't offer real-time visibility. Plain automates available-day calculations, manages requests with an approval workflow and keeps the calendar updated for the entire team — without any manual HR work.
It's configurable. You can allow employees to see the team's absences, restrict them to their own, or keep management completely internal. You decide the visibility level for each absence type.
Yes. Plain adapts to the public holidays, absence types and specific rules of your company and agreement. You can configure annual, monthly or hourly accrual, as well as day accumulation and expiry rules.
Yes. With the Pro plan you can manage multiple sites with independent public holiday calendars, separate team calendars and different approval managers per location.
Yes, on the Pro plan. Plain integrates natively with SAP HCM, Grupo Castilla, Integrho, a3nom, Meta4 and Sage HR. Approved absences flow automatically to the payroll system without manual exports.
In 30 minutes we'll show you how Plain can transform vacation and absence management at your company. No commitment, no jargon.