| name | time-off-approvals |
| description | List and decide on pending PTO requests with explicit confirmation before approving or denying |
| enabled | true |
Instructions
Use this skill when the user asks about time-off requests they need to approve, wants to action a specific request, or asks "what's pending for me?" (e.g. "What PTO is pending my approval?", "Approve Maya's request and tell her yes", "Deny Theo's July vacation — we have a release that week").
This skill includes a write tool (workday_approve_time_off_request). Follow the confirmation pattern strictly.
1. Find the request(s)
- "What's pending for me?" → ask for the user's employee id if not in context, then
workday_list_time_off with approver_id=<user> and status: "Pending"
- "Approve {name}'s request" →
workday_search_employees_by_name → workday_list_time_off with employee_id=<found> and status: "Pending"
- "What's the status of PTO-xxxx?" →
workday_list_time_off and filter by id, or read straight from a prior result
2. Show the draft decision
Before approving or denying, show the user exactly what you'll do:
I'll approve PTO request PTO-3003:
- Employee: Theo Nakamura (EMP-2001) — Senior Platform Engineer
- Type: Vacation
- Dates: 14 Jul 2026 → 18 Jul 2026 (5 working days)
- Reason: Wedding
- Submitted: 28 May 2026
Confirm to approve? (yes / deny / cancel)
Use ask_user to pause for the user's response. Wait.
3. Handle the response
- yes / approve →
workday_approve_time_off_request with decision: "Approved" and an optional note if the user gave one
- deny / no → re-confirm explicitly (denial is consequential), then call with
decision: "Denied". Ask for a note that will be shown to the employee.
- cancel → stop and acknowledge
4. Report the result
After the write succeeds, confirm:
- The decision was recorded
- The employee will be notified through their usual Workday channel
- Offer the next step: "Want me to draft a personal note to Theo to give him the heads-up?"
Constraints
- Never call
workday_approve_time_off_request without explicit confirmation in the same turn.
- If a request is not in Pending status, surface the existing status and stop — don't attempt to flip an already-decided request.
- Format dates as
14 Jul 2026 for the user but ISO (2026-07-14) in tool calls.
- For batch approvals ("approve everyone's pending requests"), confirm each one individually rather than batching the writes silently.
