[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":991},["ShallowReactive",2],{"announcements":3,"blog-/blog/performance-review-cycles-small-teams":184,"blog-related-/blog/performance-review-cycles-small-teams":394},[4,28,46,64,80,96,112,130,148,166],{"id":5,"title":6,"active":7,"body":8,"description":14,"extension":19,"link":20,"linkText":21,"meta":22,"navigation":7,"order":23,"path":24,"seo":25,"stem":26,"__hash__":27},"announcements/announcements/data-import.md","Move your team over from 48 HR and payroll platforms — employees, leave history and departments",true,{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":15},"minimark",[11],[12,13,14],"p",{},"Data Import & Migration is live. Upload a CSV or Excel export from your current HR or payroll system and BookYourPTO reads the column headers, works out which of 48 platforms it came from, and maps the fields for you — with 63 built-in templates covering everything from BambooHR, Rippling and Workday to Collage HR, Folks HR, Payworks and Wagepoint. Nothing is written until you approve the preview, and a completed import can be rolled back for 72 hours. BambooHR, Timetastic, Employment Hero and Zoho People can be connected directly over their APIs, so there is no file to export at all. Settings → Data Import, for administrators and executives, on every plan.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":18},"",2,[],"md","/switch-from","See the platforms",{},14,"/announcements/data-import",{"title":6,"description":14},"announcements/data-import","MvYRLBetKwuvH2CJd2LvSm2chpmyLpInw_paM6_39lY",{"id":29,"title":30,"active":7,"body":31,"description":35,"extension":19,"link":38,"linkText":39,"meta":40,"navigation":7,"order":41,"path":42,"seo":43,"stem":44,"__hash__":45},"announcements/announcements/review-cycles.md","Review cycles that run themselves — anniversary or fixed dates, reminders, notes and the signed form in one place",{"type":9,"value":32,"toc":36},[33],[12,34,35],{},"Review cycles now do the work. Set one to fall on each person's own hire-date anniversary or across a fixed company window, scope it to everyone, a department or named people, and it tracks the date for each employee and chases the right people as it approaches — the department head, administrators and executives, or the employee's manager where a department has no head, each emailed once however many of those they are. Reminders default to fourteen days and three days out and are yours to change. On a profile, the Reviews tab shows what is coming up and what has already happened, a review can be marked complete, and notes carry a visibility level — Employee and above, Department Head and above, or Administrator and Executive only — so a note is kept from the employee, or from their department head as well, without maintaining a list of names. A new Review mode on the upload page sends the signed form itself: choose the cycle, the file, the people who sign and which of them is being reviewed, and the document opens from that person's Performance tab afterwards. The employee it is about owns it whether they sign first or countersign after their manager.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":37},[],"/features#performance","See performance",{},15,"/announcements/review-cycles",{"title":30,"description":35},"announcements/review-cycles","UI4uhTFm26-dfu_MknZSaKWT4ps3qQqSub0hB5MLNdU",{"id":47,"title":48,"active":7,"body":49,"description":53,"extension":19,"link":56,"linkText":57,"meta":58,"navigation":7,"order":59,"path":60,"seo":61,"stem":62,"__hash__":63},"announcements/announcements/home-page.md","A home page that opens on what needs you — role-aware cards you can add, remove and rearrange",{"type":9,"value":50,"toc":54},[51],[12,52,53],{},"Signing in now lands on Home, a board of cards that answers one question first: what is waiting on you. Documents to sign, assessments you owe someone, tasks past their date and requests routed to you for a decision each get a card that links straight to the page where you act on it, and the card that lists what others are blocked on cannot be switched off. Alongside it sits your own record — leave balances, hours logged today, your next one-to-one, and a line each for goals, training, benefits, certifications and equipment — and what is happening around you, from who is away today to birthdays and work anniversaries. Managers additionally see their people and any onboarding still running; administrators and executives see headcount, joiners and leavers, review-cycle progress and what needs attention across the organization. Every card obeys the permissions and privacy settings already configured: with other departments hidden, people see only their own, and private leave types stay private. The board is yours to arrange — drag cards into the order you want, remove the ones you do not, and add optional ones such as company holidays, workforce mix, length of service or profile completeness from the tray. Your layout is stored on your account rather than in the browser, so it follows you to another device, and arranging it changes only what you see.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":55},[],"/features","See features",{},16,"/announcements/home-page",{"title":48,"description":53},"announcements/home-page","WV7nAzSgeff8xq63MYSyyNUWfHyC4WegQVzJPo6pjwA",{"id":65,"title":66,"active":7,"body":67,"description":71,"extension":19,"link":56,"linkText":57,"meta":74,"navigation":7,"order":75,"path":76,"seo":77,"stem":78,"__hash__":79},"announcements/announcements/org-chart-reports-to.md","An org chart drawn from Reports To — and downloadable as PNG, PDF or a .csv for Visio and Lucidchart",{"type":9,"value":68,"toc":72},[69],[12,70,71],{},"The org chart is now built from the Reports To field and from nothing else. It used to infer reporting lines from roles, handing department heads to administrators in turn, so the lines it drew could be invented; now every line is one somebody recorded. An executive who reports to a founder or a board appears beneath them, anyone who reports to nobody sits at the top, and a person whose manager has been deactivated, who is recorded as their own manager, or who is caught in a reporting loop surfaces at the top rather than vanishing, so the record that needs fixing is visible. Export offers a PNG of the chart as drawn, the same image as a PDF, and a .csv shaped for Visio, for Lucidchart, or unformatted for a spreadsheet — all built from the same field, so a download and the chart always agree. Who can download is set separately from who can browse, under Download Access in Company Directory settings; somebody who cannot view the chart can never download it, and every download, in every format, is recorded in the audit log.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":73},[],{},17,"/announcements/org-chart-reports-to",{"title":66,"description":71},"announcements/org-chart-reports-to","lDhWlPTbw2R3tIDNwVFrARNTWd0q0yBcbAoG_1fozUo",{"id":81,"title":82,"active":7,"body":83,"description":87,"extension":19,"link":56,"linkText":57,"meta":90,"navigation":7,"order":91,"path":92,"seo":93,"stem":94,"__hash__":95},"announcements/announcements/document-owner.md","Choose whose document it is when you send one for signature",{"type":9,"value":84,"toc":88},[85],[12,86,87],{},"A document sent to several people is filed under one of them, and until now that was simply whoever was added first. A salary letter signed by a manager and then the employee therefore landed in the manager's file. Sending a document to more than one person now asks whose document it is, the same question a review form already asks about the person being reviewed, and it is filed under that person whatever order the signatures are collected in. Everyone else still signs it and finds it in their own documents. The My Documents card on Home now counts every document you find in your folder, including the ones you sign alongside someone else.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":89},[],{},18,"/announcements/document-owner",{"title":82,"description":87},"announcements/document-owner","_Cq3hJJ4LHxH5DoZUR7vrgXKJQG08fdG3FHSRpPlwP0",{"id":97,"title":98,"active":7,"body":99,"description":103,"extension":19,"link":56,"linkText":57,"meta":106,"navigation":7,"order":107,"path":108,"seo":109,"stem":110,"__hash__":111},"announcements/announcements/reports-details-and-smoother-pages.md","Reports open the detail you clicked, and pages stay still",{"type":9,"value":100,"toc":104},[101],[12,102,103],{},"Clicking a row in the Leave, Time or Scheduling report now opens that leave request, time entry or shift in a read-only panel beside the report, with a link to where it is reviewed or edited, so you no longer lose your place. Report date ranges follow your own calendar rather than the server's, the Time report opens on the last 30 days instead of an empty year, and report CSV files keep notes and reasons as plain text in any spreadsheet. Across the app, switching tabs no longer jumps the page, paging a list brings the next page into view, and confirmations and error messages now appear on screen when you save, approve or export.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":105},[],{},19,"/announcements/reports-details-and-smoother-pages",{"title":98,"description":103},"announcements/reports-details-and-smoother-pages","CaYjA92fiC1V9prglnznYDQKVtdYJSWl2Kp1kYDckC8",{"id":113,"title":114,"active":7,"body":115,"description":119,"extension":19,"link":122,"linkText":123,"meta":124,"navigation":7,"order":125,"path":126,"seo":127,"stem":128,"__hash__":129},"announcements/announcements/expense-claim-redesign.md","Expense claims, redesigned",{"type":9,"value":116,"toc":120},[117],[12,118,119],{},"An expense claim now opens on a single header with a status stamp saying where it stands, its details in one panel, and the balance due beside the actions. Purchases, per diem and travel are tables with a totals row, per diem shows one row per day, items open in a panel beside the claim, and receipts preview on hover. On the claims list, a Columns menu lets you show or hide any column, and your choice is remembered. Trip dates also no longer show a day early west of UTC.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":121},[],"/expenses","See expenses",{},20,"/announcements/expense-claim-redesign",{"title":114,"description":119},"announcements/expense-claim-redesign","n91G7jkYNzcDLQaXH-QelEauU-0tqsZ05IaOT0-u1-k",{"id":131,"title":132,"active":7,"body":133,"description":137,"extension":19,"link":140,"linkText":141,"meta":142,"navigation":7,"order":143,"path":144,"seo":145,"stem":146,"__hash__":147},"announcements/announcements/public-api-and-webhooks.md","A public REST API and signed webhooks, on every paid plan",{"type":9,"value":134,"toc":138},[135],[12,136,137],{},"BookYourPTO now has a public REST API and outbound webhooks. Read people, departments, leave, time entries, timesheets, projects and expense reports from your own scripts, add and update people, book and cancel leave, decide requests, and have leave, people, time, expense and document events pushed to your HTTPS endpoint as they happen — ready for HRIS sync, payroll export, leave dashboards, and integration platforms such as Zapier, Make and Workato through their webhook and HTTP steps. Every token acts as a real person in your organization and never sees more than they can in the app, with required expiry, scopes, optional IP allowlists and rate limits; every webhook is signed with the Standard Webhooks scheme, and every change made through the API is written to the audit log. Included on Pro, Business and Enterprise, off until an executive switches it on in Settings → API.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":139},[],"/blog/public-api-and-webhooks","Read the announcement",{},21,"/announcements/public-api-and-webhooks",{"title":132,"description":137},"announcements/public-api-and-webhooks","G6PRPGX0EzKXD6F2BASJVCTUpv8I7mOvMdLbdZ3CDc4",{"id":149,"title":150,"active":7,"body":151,"description":155,"extension":19,"link":158,"linkText":159,"meta":160,"navigation":7,"order":161,"path":162,"seo":163,"stem":164,"__hash__":165},"announcements/announcements/mobile-app-launch.md","The BookYourPTO app is on iPhone and Android — leave, approvals & expenses on the go",{"type":9,"value":152,"toc":156},[153],[12,154,155],{},"The BookYourPTO mobile app is now on Google Play as well as the App Store. Book leave, approve requests, clock in and out and claim expenses from your phone, signed in with the same account you use on the web.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":157},[],"/mobile-app","Get the app",{},22,"/announcements/mobile-app-launch",{"title":150,"description":155},"announcements/mobile-app-launch","6GA1Z2mFIMhC5E9Gq46fEpP7ZOWZjj921KQY0rrOR0g",{"id":167,"title":168,"active":7,"body":169,"description":173,"extension":19,"link":176,"linkText":177,"meta":178,"navigation":7,"order":179,"path":180,"seo":181,"stem":182,"__hash__":183},"announcements/announcements/template-versions.md","Update a signed policy without starting over — template versions",{"type":9,"value":170,"toc":174},[171],[12,172,173],{},"When a document needs a change after people have signed it, upload the amended file as a new version of the same template. It keeps its name, signers and signing fields, documents already sent keep the version they were signed on, and Bulk Send only ever offers the current one. Templates are now listed in one searchable table with each template's version and upload date.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":175},[],"https://docs.bookyourpto.com/documents/templates-and-bulk-send#updating-a-template-after-it-has-been-sent","How versions work",{},23,"/announcements/template-versions",{"title":168,"description":173},"announcements/template-versions","JYwWPTxknDHoragGL9x-O9fIqwQP2Zr9V9zdUm9a4TU",{"id":185,"title":186,"author":187,"body":188,"date":380,"description":381,"extension":19,"image":382,"meta":383,"navigation":7,"path":384,"readTime":385,"seo":386,"stem":387,"tags":388,"__hash__":393},"blog/blog/performance-review-cycles-small-teams.md","Performance Review Cycles for Small Teams: Timing, Reminders, and What Actually Gets Done","AnHourTec Team",{"type":9,"value":189,"toc":369},[190,195,198,201,204,208,211,218,224,227,233,237,240,243,259,263,266,269,283,286,289,293,296,299,319,323,326,330,333,337,354,358],[191,192,194],"h2",{"id":193},"the-review-that-never-happens","The review that never happens",[12,196,197],{},"Most small companies have a performance review process on paper. Far fewer have reviews that actually take place on time. The pattern is familiar: somebody sets up an \"Annual Review\" in January, it sits there with a name and two dates, and by the time anyone remembers it, half the team is overdue and the other half had theirs in a hallway.",[12,199,200],{},"The problem is rarely motivation. It is that a review cycle, as most teams set it up, is a label rather than a schedule. Nothing in it decides who is due, nothing tells the manager it is time, and nothing marks the difference between \"running\" and \"forgotten\".",[12,202,203],{},"This guide covers the three decisions that turn a cycle into something that runs: when reviews fall due, who they cover, and who gets reminded.",[191,205,207],{"id":206},"decision-one-a-shared-window-or-each-persons-own-date","Decision one: a shared window, or each person's own date?",[12,209,210],{},"There are two honest ways to time reviews, and they suit different teams.",[12,212,213,217],{},[214,215,216],"strong",{},"A shared window"," puts everyone in scope on the same dates — \"reviews happen in the first two weeks of March\". It is easy to explain, it lines up with budget and compensation planning, and managers can block out the time in one go. The cost is a crunch: a manager with eight reports does eight reviews in a fortnight, and someone who joined in February is reviewed after a few weeks.",[12,219,220,223],{},[214,221,222],{},"A hire-date schedule"," measures from each employee's own start date. Nobody is reviewed after three weeks, and the load spreads across the year. The cost is that it is invisible without a system — no spreadsheet reminds you that Priya's anniversary is on the 14th.",[12,225,226],{},"A hire-date schedule also handles more than the one-year mark. The same idea covers \"once, three months in\" for an end-of-probation conversation, or \"every six months\" for a team that wants more frequent check-ins. Two edge cases are worth deciding up front, because they will come up: someone who started on 29 February, and someone who started on the 31st of a month. A sensible rule reviews the first on 28 February in years without a 29th, and holds the second to the last day of a shorter month rather than letting it spill into the next one.",[12,228,229,232],{},[214,230,231],{},"How to choose:"," if your compensation decisions happen on a fixed date, use a shared window for the review that feeds them. If your reviews are mostly about development and fit, a hire-date schedule is fairer and easier on managers. Many teams run both — a shared annual cycle and a hire-date check-in for new joiners.",[191,234,236],{"id":235},"decision-two-who-is-in-scope","Decision two: who is in scope?",[12,238,239],{},"A cycle that covers \"everyone\" is the default, and it is often wrong. Engineering may review twice a year while sales reviews quarterly. A pilot programme might start with one department. Contractors may not be reviewed at all.",[12,241,242],{},"Whatever you choose, two checks keep scope honest:",[244,245,246,253],"ul",{},[247,248,249,252],"li",{},[214,250,251],{},"The scope you set should be the scope that is saved."," It sounds obvious, but it is worth confirming that a department-wide cycle really covers that department — and only that department — before the first reminder goes out.",[247,254,255,258],{},[214,256,257],{},"Look at how many people a cycle actually covers."," A department that has been reorganised to zero people reads exactly the same as one with thirty, unless the cycle shows its headcount. Glance at the number before you rely on it.",[191,260,262],{"id":261},"decision-three-who-is-reminded-and-when","Decision three: who is reminded, and when?",[12,264,265],{},"A cycle that creates no reminders is a row nobody hears about. The question is how many reminders, and how far ahead.",[12,267,268],{},"One reminder is almost always wrong. Send it a month ahead and it is forgotten by the time it matters; send it the day before and there is no time to prepare. Two reminders cover both jobs:",[244,270,271,277],{},[247,272,273,276],{},[214,274,275],{},"About two weeks ahead"," — when there is still time to gather notes, look back at goals, and book the meeting.",[247,278,279,282],{},[214,280,281],{},"A few days ahead"," — when it has to be done, and the reminder is a nudge rather than a plan.",[12,284,285],{},"Teams that hold reviews on a tight schedule sometimes add a third on the day itself. More than a handful starts to read as noise.",[12,287,288],{},"The reminder should go to the person responsible for holding the review — usually the employee's manager — not to an HR inbox that then has to forward it. And it should stop the moment a cycle is paused or has ended, so nobody is chased for a review cycle that finished last quarter.",[191,290,292],{"id":291},"keep-running-and-finished-separate","Keep \"running\" and \"finished\" separate",[12,294,295],{},"A common trap is a cycle status that someone has to set by hand: Draft, Active, Completed. \"Completed\" is the one that never gets set, because nobody owns the moment a cycle is finished — and whether a review is done is really a fact about one person's assessment, not about the cycle.",[12,297,298],{},"A simpler model works better:",[244,300,301,307,313],{},[247,302,303,306],{},[214,304,305],{},"Active"," — the cycle sends reminders.",[247,308,309,312],{},[214,310,311],{},"Draft"," — it is being set up and sends nothing.",[247,314,315,318],{},[214,316,317],{},"Ended"," — its end date has passed. Nobody needs to mark it; the dates say so.",[191,320,322],{"id":321},"probation-is-its-own-thing","Probation is its own thing",[12,324,325],{},"It is tempting to run end-of-probation reviews as just another cycle called \"3 Months Probation\". That covers the reminder, but probation usually carries more than a review date: an agreed period, the possibility of an extension, and a decision that may affect someone's employment. Keep the probation review on the employee's own record, with its own period and extension date, and treat a hire-date review cycle as a complement to it rather than a replacement. (We cover probation reviews in more detail in a later post.)",[191,327,329],{"id":328},"link-the-review-to-the-conversations-before-it","Link the review to the conversations before it",[12,331,332],{},"The most useful reviews are the ones nobody is surprised by. When regular one-to-ones are linked to the review they lead up to, the review becomes the last step of a conversation that has been happening all along — the notes are already written, the goals have already been discussed, and the meeting is about what comes next.",[191,334,336],{"id":335},"a-short-checklist","A short checklist",[244,338,339,342,345,348,351],{},[247,340,341],{},"Choose the timing that matches the purpose: a shared window for pay decisions, hire dates for development.",[247,343,344],{},"Set the scope, then check the headcount the cycle actually covers.",[247,346,347],{},"Send two reminders to the person who holds the review: one to prepare, one to act.",[247,349,350],{},"Let the end date close the cycle, rather than relying on someone to mark it complete.",[247,352,353],{},"Keep probation on the employee's record, with its own period and extension.",[191,355,357],{"id":356},"how-bookyourpto-handles-it","How BookYourPTO handles it",[12,359,360,361,364,365,368],{},"In BookYourPTO, a review cycle runs either on ",[214,362,363],{},"specific dates"," for everyone in scope or on ",[214,366,367],{},"each employee's hire date"," — once a set number of months in, every year on the anniversary, or every few months. A cycle covers everyone, one department, or a chosen list of people, and the list shows how many people each cycle currently covers. Reminders go out 14 and 3 days ahead by default, and administrators can choose up to six per cycle. A cycle is created Active, can be switched to Draft to pause it, and reads as Ended once its end date has passed. The probation review stays on each employee's profile with its own period, extension and reminders.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":370},[371,372,373,374,375,376,377,378,379],{"id":193,"depth":17,"text":194},{"id":206,"depth":17,"text":207},{"id":235,"depth":17,"text":236},{"id":261,"depth":17,"text":262},{"id":291,"depth":17,"text":292},{"id":321,"depth":17,"text":322},{"id":328,"depth":17,"text":329},{"id":335,"depth":17,"text":336},{"id":356,"depth":17,"text":357},"2026-09-03","A review cycle is only useful if reviews happen when it says they will. How to choose between a company-wide window and hire-date reviews, who should be reminded and when, and how to keep cycles from quietly stalling.","https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1552664730-d307ca884978?w=1200&h=630&fit=crop",{},"/blog/performance-review-cycles-small-teams","7 min read",{"title":186,"description":381},"blog/performance-review-cycles-small-teams",[389,390,391,392],"performance","reviews","hr","guides","BETQNbO7TQNwlGnfzmgok-SajqmUcS0pC_x1mbf0xwA",[395,569,771],{"id":396,"title":397,"author":187,"body":398,"date":556,"description":557,"extension":19,"image":558,"meta":559,"navigation":7,"path":140,"readTime":560,"seo":561,"stem":562,"tags":563,"__hash__":568},"blog/blog/public-api-and-webhooks.md","Connect BookYourPTO to Your Own Systems: A Public REST API and Signed Webhooks",{"type":9,"value":399,"toc":549},[400,404,407,414,418,421,453,456,460,463,470,474,477,527,531,538],[191,401,403],{"id":402},"why-an-api-and-why-now","Why an API, and why now",[12,405,406],{},"Most teams that run leave, time and expenses in BookYourPTO also run something else: a payroll provider, an HRIS, a finance system, a dashboard somebody built in a spreadsheet. Until now, the only way to move data between them was an export, a download and an upload — repeated every pay period, by hand.",[12,408,409,410,413],{},"BookYourPTO now has a public REST API and outbound webhooks. Your own scripts and tools can read and write your HR data directly, and your systems can be told the moment something changes instead of asking every few minutes. Both are included on the ",[214,411,412],{},"Pro, Business and Enterprise"," plans. They are off until an executive in your organization switches them on.",[191,415,417],{"id":416},"what-you-can-build-with-it","What you can build with it",[12,419,420],{},"A few of the jobs the API is shaped for:",[244,422,423,429,435,441,447],{},[247,424,425,428],{},[214,426,427],{},"HRIS and directory sync."," Read people, departments and teams, and create or update people from the system that owns your employee records.",[247,430,431,434],{},[214,432,433],{},"Payroll export."," Pull approved time entries, finalized timesheets, leave and leave balances for a pay period, in plain JSON, instead of assembling a spreadsheet.",[247,436,437,440],{},[214,438,439],{},"Leave dashboards."," Feed who is away, for which leave type, into a wall display, an intranet page or a BI tool — with public holidays and locked dates alongside.",[247,442,443,446],{},[214,444,445],{},"Approvals from where people already work."," Approve or reject leave requests, time entries and expense reports from your own tooling, under the same rules as the app.",[247,448,449,452],{},[214,450,451],{},"Event-driven automations."," Integration platforms such as Zapier, Make and Workato can receive webhooks and call REST APIs through their webhook and HTTP steps, so a leave approval, a new starter or a paid expense report can start a workflow elsewhere.",[12,454,455],{},"The API covers people, departments, teams, leave types, leave requests and balances, holidays, time entries, timesheets, projects and clients, schedules, expense reports, document records, onboarding, and per-person records such as training, certifications, assets and goals. A few things are deliberately left out: signing a document is a legal act tied to a person, and clocking in depends on the device's location, so neither is available through the API.",[191,457,459],{"id":458},"webhooks-be-told-rather-than-ask","Webhooks: be told, rather than ask",[12,461,462],{},"Polling an API every few minutes is wasteful and still late. A webhook endpoint receives an HTTPS request when something happens. Events cover the life of a leave request (requested, approved, rejected, updated, cancellation requested, cancelled), people (added, updated, deactivated, reactivated), departments, time entries and finalized timesheets, expense reports through to paid, and signed or declined documents.",[12,464,465,466,469],{},"Each delivery carries a unique event id that stays the same across retries, so your receiver can ignore a duplicate. A receiver that is down or returns an error is retried on a schedule that backs off over roughly two days, and every attempt is visible in a delivery log, where a failed delivery can be sent again. A ",[214,467,468],{},"Send test event"," button lets you check a new endpoint before relying on it.",[191,471,473],{"id":472},"the-security-model-in-plain-words","The security model, in plain words",[12,475,476],{},"An API is a second door into the same data, so it has to be held to the same rules as the first. These are the ones that matter:",[244,478,479,485,491,497,503,509,515,521],{},[247,480,481,484],{},[214,482,483],{},"A token acts as a person."," Every token belongs to someone in your organization and sees exactly what that person could see in the app — computed by the same permission checks the app uses, not a copy of them. An employee's token sees what that employee sees. A department head's token stays within their department.",[247,486,487,490],{},[214,488,489],{},"It follows that person."," If its owner is deactivated, offboarded, or moved to a role that may not hold tokens, the token stops working on the very next request.",[247,492,493,496],{},[214,494,495],{},"Scopes limit it further."," A token is created with only the permissions it needs — read the directory, read leave, approve time entries — and can never hold a scope above its owner's role. The most sensitive fields, such as personal details and compensation, need their own scopes and are recorded every time they are read.",[247,498,499,502],{},[214,500,501],{},"Every token expires."," There is no \"never\". Your organization sets the longest lifetime allowed, and the owner is emailed a week before a token runs out. A token can be rotated with a short overlap so an integration does not drop, and revoked at any time.",[247,504,505,508],{},[214,506,507],{},"IP allowlists."," A token can be restricted to the addresses or ranges your servers actually call from.",[247,510,511,514],{},[214,512,513],{},"Rate limits."," Each token and each organization has a request budget per minute, and every response says how much is left, so one runaway script cannot affect anyone else.",[247,516,517,520],{},[214,518,519],{},"Signed webhooks."," Every delivery is signed using the open Standard Webhooks scheme, so your receiver can prove it came from us and has not been replayed. Endpoints must use HTTPS, the signing secret is shown once and stored encrypted, and payloads contain only what the endpoint's owner is allowed to read.",[247,522,523,526],{},[214,524,525],{},"Everything is on the record."," Every change made through the API is written to the audit log, marked as made through the API and naming the token that made it.",[191,528,530],{"id":529},"getting-started","Getting started",[12,532,533,534,537],{},"An executive switches the API on under ",[214,535,536],{},"Settings → API",", where your organization also chooses who may create tokens and how long a token may last. From there you create a token — from a ready-made template such as Leave sync or Read-only directory, or with exactly the scopes you choose — and add webhook endpoints.",[12,539,540,541,548],{},"The full reference, with every endpoint, a downloadable OpenAPI description and a Postman collection, is in the app, and the guides are in our documentation: ",[542,543,547],"a",{"href":544,"rel":545},"https://docs.bookyourpto.com/api/overview",[546],"nofollow","API overview",".",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":550},[551,552,553,554,555],{"id":402,"depth":17,"text":403},{"id":416,"depth":17,"text":417},{"id":458,"depth":17,"text":459},{"id":472,"depth":17,"text":473},{"id":529,"depth":17,"text":530},"2026-10-13","Read and write people, leave, time and expense data from your own scripts and tools, and get a signed webhook the moment something changes. Every token acts as a real person in your organization and can never see more than they can.","https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1611926653458-09294b3142bf?w=1200&h=630&fit=crop",{},"6 min read",{"title":397,"description":557},"blog/public-api-and-webhooks",[564,565,566,567],"product","api","integrations","security","tOx9rc6BhnF3REmEypIRe2-1T2i95SQXh7Inv4XJuVo",{"id":570,"title":571,"author":187,"body":572,"date":759,"description":760,"extension":19,"image":761,"meta":762,"navigation":7,"path":763,"readTime":764,"seo":765,"stem":766,"tags":767,"__hash__":770},"blog/blog/home-page-what-needs-you.md","A Home Page That Opens on What Needs You",{"type":9,"value":573,"toc":749},[574,578,581,588,592,604,607,614,618,654,658,672,676,679,707,711,717,720,724,731,737,739],[191,575,577],{"id":576},"where-a-working-day-should-start","Where a working day should start",[12,579,580],{},"For a long time, signing in to BookYourPTO dropped you on the Dashboard: a calendar grid built to answer \"who is off, and when\". It answers that question well. It answers almost nothing else. A document waiting on your signature, an assessment somebody is waiting for, a leave request routed to you for a decision — each lived behind a sidebar entry you had to think to visit.",[12,582,583,584,587],{},"Signing in now lands on ",[214,585,586],{},"Home",". It gathers what needs you, your own records, and — for people who manage or administer — their team and the organization. The Dashboard has not gone anywhere; it is still in the sidebar, unchanged.",[191,589,591],{"id":590},"what-needs-you-comes-first","What needs you comes first",[12,593,594,595,598,599,603],{},"The first card is ",[214,596,597],{},"Action Required",": documents waiting on your signature, assessments you owe somebody, onboarding tasks and training past their date, and certifications that have expired. Each row says what it is for and opens the page where you deal with it. An onboarding task assigned to you for a new starter opens ",[600,601,602],"em",{},"their"," onboarding, where the task lives, not your own.",[12,605,606],{},"This is the one card that cannot be switched off. When there is nothing outstanding it says so, rather than disappearing — \"you are clear\" is information too.",[12,608,609,610,613],{},"Beside it, ",[214,611,612],{},"Waiting on You"," appears for anyone requests are routed to, with leave, expense and time requests counted separately, each count matching the queue it opens.",[191,615,617],{"id":616},"your-own-record-at-a-glance","Your own record, at a glance",[244,619,620,626,632,642,648],{},[247,621,622,625],{},[214,623,624],{},"Time Off"," — your Annual and Sick balances, the same figures as the Leave Balance panel on your calendar, and your next booked leave.",[247,627,628,631],{},[214,629,630],{},"Today's Hours"," — hours logged today and whether you are clocked in, when your organization uses time tracking.",[247,633,634,637,638,641],{},[214,635,636],{},"My Expenses"," and ",[214,639,640],{},"My Documents"," — your claims and documents by where they have got to, naming the most recent ones so you know which report is awaiting approval, not only how many.",[247,643,644,647],{},[214,645,646],{},"Next 1:1"," — who you next speak to, and when.",[247,649,650,653],{},[214,651,652],{},"My Stuff"," — a line each for goals, training, certifications, benefits and equipment.",[191,655,657],{"id":656},"what-is-happening-around-you","What is happening around you",[12,659,660,663,664,667,668,671],{},[214,661,662],{},"Who's Out"," shows who is away today and, over the next fortnight, who is away on which day — with their photo and the type of leave. ",[214,665,666],{},"Celebrations"," lists birthdays and work anniversaries over the next two weeks. Anyone with people reporting to them gets ",[214,669,670],{},"My Team",": who is away and when they next speak to each. Department heads also see the onboarding still running in their own department, and administrators and executives see onboarding across the organization along with headcount, review cycles and what needs attention.",[191,673,675],{"id":674},"every-card-follows-the-rules-you-already-set","Every card follows the rules you already set",[12,677,678],{},"Home restates information that other parts of the product own, so it follows their rules rather than inventing its own:",[244,680,681,688,694,697,704],{},[247,682,683,684,687],{},"With ",[214,685,686],{},"other departments hidden",", Who's Out and Celebrations show only your own department, as the Dashboard does. Administrators and executives are exempt, as the setting says.",[247,689,690,693],{},[214,691,692],{},"Private leave types"," read as \"Private\" to anyone not entitled to the detail.",[247,695,696],{},"Who's Out sends a name, a date and a leave type — the reason somebody gave for being away stays on the server.",[247,698,699,700,703],{},"A ",[214,701,702],{},"work anniversary"," reveals tenure, so it is shown only to the person, their manager, their department head, and administrators and executives.",[247,705,706],{},"A module your organization has switched off — time tracking, say — does not appear on Home and cannot be added to it.",[191,708,710],{"id":709},"arrange-it-your-way","Arrange it your way",[12,712,713,716],{},[214,714,715],{},"Customise"," turns the board into an editor. Drag a card to move it, or use the arrow keys; remove the ones you do not need; and add optional cards from the tray — Company Holidays, Leave Balance, Deductible and Non-deductible Leave, Organization Time for anyone working away from head office's timezone, and, for administrators and executives, Workforce Mix, Length of Service and Profile Completeness. Nothing is saved until you select Save.",[12,718,719],{},"Your layout is stored on your account rather than in the browser, so it follows you to another device. Switching a card off changes only what you see: it grants no access, and every card's data is still permission-checked on the server.",[191,721,723],{"id":722},"an-org-chart-you-can-trust-and-take-with-you","An org chart you can trust — and take with you",[12,725,726,727,730],{},"Home's My Team card links to the org chart, which is now built from the ",[214,728,729],{},"Reports To"," field and nothing else. It used to infer reporting lines from roles; now every line on it is one somebody recorded. A person whose manager has left, who is recorded as their own manager, or who is caught in a reporting loop surfaces at the top of the chart, so the record that needs fixing is visible.",[12,732,733,736],{},[214,734,735],{},"Export"," offers a PNG of the chart as drawn, the same image as a PDF, and a .csv shaped for Visio, for Lucidchart, or for a spreadsheet. Who may download is a separate setting from who may browse, and every download, in every format, is recorded in the audit log — an export is a roster in a file, and it should be possible to say who took one.",[191,738,530],{"id":529},[12,740,741,742,744,745,748],{},"There is nothing to switch on. Sign in and you are on Home; select ",[214,743,715],{}," to make it yours. Administrators can set who may download the org chart under ",[214,746,747],{},"Download Access"," in Company Directory settings.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":750},[751,752,753,754,755,756,757,758],{"id":576,"depth":17,"text":577},{"id":590,"depth":17,"text":591},{"id":616,"depth":17,"text":617},{"id":656,"depth":17,"text":657},{"id":674,"depth":17,"text":675},{"id":709,"depth":17,"text":710},{"id":722,"depth":17,"text":723},{"id":529,"depth":17,"text":530},"2026-10-01","Signing in to BookYourPTO now lands on Home: a board of cards built for your role that starts with what is waiting on you, can be rearranged to suit you, and respects every privacy setting your organization already has.","https://assets.bookyourpto.com/blog/home-page-cover.webp",{},"/blog/home-page-what-needs-you","5 min read",{"title":571,"description":760},"blog/home-page-what-needs-you",[564,768,769],"home","org chart","wg8-y8bp8k8Wv67jNqvo3aXf0XeIzf1zlvR3PWA2HNc",{"id":772,"title":773,"author":187,"body":774,"date":980,"description":981,"extension":19,"image":982,"meta":983,"navigation":7,"path":984,"readTime":560,"seo":985,"stem":986,"tags":987,"__hash__":990},"blog/blog/probation-period-reviews-checklist.md","Probation Period Reviews: A Practical Checklist for Managers",{"type":9,"value":775,"toc":969},[776,780,783,786,791,795,798,818,821,825,828,854,857,864,868,871,885,888,892,895,915,919,922,933,936,940,943,947,964,966],[191,777,779],{"id":778},"the-deadline-that-sneaks-up","The deadline that sneaks up",[12,781,782],{},"Most people decisions can wait a week. The end of a probation period usually cannot. It falls on a specific date, it often has contractual weight, and if it passes without a conversation, the decision tends to make itself — the person is simply confirmed, ready or not.",[12,784,785],{},"That is how probation reviews go wrong in small companies: not through bad judgment, but through a date nobody noticed until it had gone. This checklist covers the practical side — tracking the date, telling the right people, extending well, and keeping a clean record.",[12,787,788],{},[600,789,790],{},"A note before we start: probation rules differ by country, province and state, and by employment contract. Nothing here is legal advice. Check what your contracts and local employment law say about notice, extensions and what a probation period permits.",[191,792,794],{"id":793},"_1-record-the-period-not-just-the-start-date","1. Record the period, not just the start date",[12,796,797],{},"A probation review date is calculated, and calculations need inputs:",[244,799,800,806,812],{},[247,801,802,805],{},[214,803,804],{},"The start date"," — the employee's first day of employment.",[247,807,808,811],{},[214,809,810],{},"The length of the period"," — commonly expressed in months, and sometimes different by role or seniority.",[247,813,814,817],{},[214,815,816],{},"Any extension"," — a later date that replaces the original if the period is extended.",[12,819,820],{},"Store all three on the employee's own record. A review date written only in a calendar invite, or in a manager's notes, is lost the moment that manager changes jobs.",[191,822,824],{"id":823},"_2-decide-who-should-know-it-is-coming","2. Decide who should know it is coming",[12,826,827],{},"A probation review is personal. It should be visible to the people who have a reason to act on it, and to nobody else:",[244,829,830,836,842,848],{},[247,831,832,835],{},[214,833,834],{},"The employee themselves."," Nobody should discover their own review date from someone else.",[247,837,838,841],{},[214,839,840],{},"Their manager."," They hold the conversation.",[247,843,844,847],{},[214,845,846],{},"Their department head."," They are accountable for the team.",[247,849,850,853],{},[214,851,852],{},"Administrators and executives."," They maintain people records and may need to act on the outcome.",[12,855,856],{},"Colleagues do not need to see it. A team calendar that shows everyone's upcoming probation reviews tells a team who is still \"on trial\", which helps nobody. If your system shows probation milestones on a shared calendar or a home page, check that they are limited to this list.",[12,858,859,860,863],{},"One edge case to watch: a rule like \"department heads see probation for their department\" should never match a department head who has ",[214,861,862],{},"no"," department assigned against employees who also have none. Two empty values are not the same department.",[191,865,867],{"id":866},"_3-give-the-manager-enough-lead-time","3. Give the manager enough lead time",[12,869,870],{},"The review itself is a short conversation; the preparation is not. A useful rhythm:",[244,872,873,879],{},[247,874,875,878],{},[214,876,877],{},"About two weeks before"," — a reminder to look back over the period: goals, feedback from colleagues, any one-to-one notes.",[247,880,881,884],{},[214,882,883],{},"A few days before"," — a reminder to book the conversation if it is not already in the calendar.",[12,886,887],{},"The reminder should go to the manager directly. An HR inbox that has to forward it adds a step that eventually gets missed.",[191,889,891],{"id":890},"_4-extend-deliberately-not-by-default","4. Extend deliberately, not by default",[12,893,894],{},"Sometimes the right answer is \"not yet\" — the role changed, the manager changed, or there has not been enough time to judge fairly. An extension can be the fairest outcome, provided it is a decision rather than a drift:",[244,896,897,903,909],{},[247,898,899,902],{},[214,900,901],{},"Agree the new date"," and record it as an extension, so the original date is not quietly forgotten.",[247,904,905,908],{},[214,906,907],{},"Say what needs to be different"," by the new date, specifically enough that both sides can tell whether it happened.",[247,910,911,914],{},[214,912,913],{},"Check what your contracts allow."," Some limit how long a probation period can be extended, or require notice.",[191,916,918],{"id":917},"_5-hold-the-conversation-then-write-it-down","5. Hold the conversation, then write it down",[12,920,921],{},"Keep the review itself simple:",[244,923,924,927,930],{},[247,925,926],{},"What has gone well, with examples.",[247,928,929],{},"What needs to improve, with examples.",[247,931,932],{},"The outcome: confirmed, extended (with the new date), or ended.",[12,934,935],{},"Then record it on the employee's file the same day — a short note, or a signed review form if your process uses one. A decision that only exists in two people's memories is not a record.",[191,937,939],{"id":938},"_6-make-probation-part-of-onboarding-not-separate-from-it","6. Make probation part of onboarding, not separate from it",[12,941,942],{},"The best probation reviews confirm what everyone already knows. That happens when the period itself has structure: an onboarding checklist in the first weeks, regular one-to-ones, and clear goals. By the time the review arrives, the evidence is already written down.",[191,944,946],{"id":945},"the-checklist","The checklist",[244,948,949,952,955,958,961],{},[247,950,951],{},"Store the start date, period length and any extension on the employee's record.",[247,953,954],{},"Show the review date only to the employee, their manager, their department head, and administrators and executives.",[247,956,957],{},"Remind the manager about two weeks ahead, and again a few days ahead.",[247,959,960],{},"Extend deliberately: new date, specific expectations, and a check against your contracts.",[247,962,963],{},"Record the outcome on the employee's file the same day.",[191,965,357],{"id":356},[12,967,968],{},"In BookYourPTO, each employee's probation review lives on their profile with its own period, extension date and reminders. Upcoming probation reviews appear on the Dashboard and in the Probation Reviews card on Home for the next two weeks, visible only to the employee, their manager, their department head, and administrators and executives — and a department head with no department assigned does not see the probation data of other unassigned employees. For teams that want a recurring check-in on top, a review cycle can be set to fall a set number of months after each employee's hire date.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":970},[971,972,973,974,975,976,977,978,979],{"id":778,"depth":17,"text":779},{"id":793,"depth":17,"text":794},{"id":823,"depth":17,"text":824},{"id":866,"depth":17,"text":867},{"id":890,"depth":17,"text":891},{"id":917,"depth":17,"text":918},{"id":938,"depth":17,"text":939},{"id":945,"depth":17,"text":946},{"id":356,"depth":17,"text":357},"2026-09-24","The end of a probation period is one of the few people decisions with a fixed deadline. How to track it, who should know it is coming, when to extend, and how to keep the record straight — without turning it into paperwork.","https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1521791136064-7986c2920216?w=1200&h=630&fit=crop",{},"/blog/probation-period-reviews-checklist",{"title":773,"description":981},"blog/probation-period-reviews-checklist",[988,989,389,392],"probation","onboarding","zHdOIQ-fe8LGMvo45252-LxzJs8FYjKOCYWuMNEmpHs",1792553414615]