Time-Off Request Email: How to Ask and Explain Cover

A time-off request should make the dates and effect on work easy to understand. Follow your organization’s leave process, since an email may support the request without completing it.

For planned leave, explain any handover you can arrange. You don’t need to include detailed personal information simply to make the message sound more convincing.

Request planned leave

Subject: Leave request for 19–23 October

Hi Priya,

I’d like to request leave from Monday, 19 October, through Friday, 23 October, returning on Monday, 26 October.

The customer report will be complete before I leave. If the dates work for the team, I’ll arrange cover for the weekly account update and prepare the handover notes.

Please let me know whether I should submit these dates in the leave system.

Thanks, Alex

Be clear about the last day away and the day you return. Don’t announce that a colleague will cover unless they have agreed and the arrangement has the necessary approval.

Request time for an appointment

Subject: Time away on Thursday afternoon

Hi Jordan,

I need to attend an appointment on Thursday, 8 October, and would like to be away from 2 p.m. for the rest of the afternoon.

I’ll complete the review notes before I leave and can move our one-to-one to Friday morning if that works for you.

Please let me know if there is anything else I need to arrange.

Thanks, Lee

Keep the explanation proportionate. “An appointment” may be enough for an ordinary scheduling request; follow the relevant workplace process if more information is required.

After the request is approved

Update your calendar, submit any required form, and confirm the cover arrangements. The email itself should not leave people guessing whether the leave was approved or merely proposed.

If your absence overlaps with a deadline, arrange the work before you leave. A handover that identifies the next action and owner will be more useful than an out-of-office message alone.

See the project handover guide for cover notes and the out-of-office examples for an automatic reply.