How to Write a Vacation Email Request

Writing a vacation email request is an important part of being respectful at work. Although you may be eager to take some time off, your team will still be working while you’re away. Sending this email can help your manager prepare for your absence and find people to fill in for you. Likewise, many companies have a vacation policy that requires employees to give plenty of notice before taking time off. By sending this professionally written email well in advance, you can ensure your manager will approve your request. Learn more: Rhetorical Strategies You Can Use in the Workplace and Beyond

Follow these steps when writing a vacation email request:

Read your employee handbook

Your employee handbook may outline how far in advance you need to request time off. It may also tell you who you need to send this request to, whether it be your manager or human resources department. Your work may also have a platform where you submit vacation requests.

Write a straightforward subject line

Including a direct subject line in your email can help the recipient keep their inbox in order. If they need to refer to this email later, it will be easy to find. Make the subject line something like, ‘Time Off Request,’ or ‘[Your Name]’s Vacation Request.’

Share your purpose for writing

Start your email by saying why you are writing. Make it clear that you will be needing some time off. Although it’s usually not necessary, you may want to include why you are taking time off. This can help your manager have a better understanding of why you need to use your vacation time.

Include the dates you want off

Write the exact dates you plan to be gone. You could even include how many days off you will be requesting, so you are both on the same page. This is helpful for when your manager updates your paid-time-off log. If you don’t get paid-time-off, it’s still helpful for planning purposes.

Explain how you will prepare

Even though you’re going on vacation, your work still needs to be done. In this email, explain how you plan to catch up on your work. This could be training another employee to do your urgent tasks or communicating to clients that you’ll be away for a few days. Show your manager that you are responsible and prepared to set your team up for success.

Show you’re open to questions

Close your vacation email request by letting them know you are open to any questions in the meantime. They may want to discuss how you’re going to make up your work in more detail. It also shows that you are being courteous to your team. Learn more: Writing a Thank You Letter to Your Boss

When deciding how to ask for a vacation, use these example vacation email requests as your guide:

Example 1

Subject line: Casey’s Vacation Request Hi Adrian, I am writing to request a few days off. My wife and I would like to take a honeymoon to the Bahamas in two months. I would like to request off the entire working week of February 1 (February 1-5). I would return the following Monday. This would be five full days of paid-time-off. Once you approve this time-off request, I will inform my team of my upcoming departure. I will have Jane fill in for my bookkeeping tasks for the week, as she has mentioned she would be willing to in the past. The rest of my work can be put on hold for that week. I plan to set up an automated away email and voicemail. If you have any questions or concerns about this request, please let me know. Thanks, Casey Neuman

Example 2

Subject line: Time-Off Request Hey Sherry, As you know, I live far away from my family. In order to see them for the holidays, I would like to request some time away from work. My ideal dates would be from December 21-25. Since we have off on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I would only need to use three days of paid-time-off. I’d imagine a lot of people are taking off for the holidays, which is why I am already preparing for my absence. I set up all of our social media posts to share automatically. I will check our notifications once a day to ensure we don’t receive any spam. Other than that, I hope to fully enjoy my time off with family. Let me know if you have any questions. Best, Jim Barrow

Example 3

Subject line: Maria Requesting Off March 16-18 Hi Artie, I mentioned this at last week’s meeting, but I figured I would officially put it in writing. I am requesting next Friday (June 14) off to spend the long weekend with my son. We hope to catch enough fish to feed the whole office! Since I still have eight days of PTO to use, I figured this should work out just fine. Fridays in the summer tend to be quite laid back for my team. The only thing I will need to prepare is my away email and voicemail. I plan to get caught up on everything the Monday after. Let me know if you want to discuss this further. Thank you, Maria Jones