Leave management for startups, free up to 10 people
At a startup, leave usually starts in a shared spreadsheet and a Slack message that says "off Friday". It works until the team reaches eight or ten people, then balances drift, nobody knows who approved what, and the founder becomes the HR department. Tickin gives a startup a proper leave management tool without an HR hire: people request time off in Slack or the web, an approver decides with one tap, and balances stay right. It is free for up to 10 employees.
Free while you are small, cheap when you grow
Tickin is free for up to 10 employees, with leave requests, approvals and balances included. When you pass 10 people, Starter is $2 per employee a month, so the bill grows with the team instead of jumping to a minimum seat count. There is no setup fee and nothing to install for Slack users.
Requests and approvals where the team already talks
Employees request leave from Slack or the web portal (Microsoft Teams on the Scale plan): pick a leave type and dates, add a note, submit. The approver gets the request with Approve and Decline buttons in the chat, and the requester is told the outcome automatically. On Free and Starter an admin approves each request; once you add team leads, Growth and Scale route a request to the employee's team lead first and then to an admin.
A leave policy you can set up in an afternoon
Start with the standard types (Annual, Sick, Casual, Work From Home, Paternity, Maternity, Public Holiday and Unpaid Leave), add your own leave types, and set a yearly entitlement per type. Entitlements renew on each person's work anniversary. Half days, morning or afternoon, are on by default. Tickin does not run per-pay-period accrual schedules or hourly leave, so if your policy needs those, a dedicated leave tool with accruals is a better fit.
Leave that counts against hours automatically
Because leave and attendance live in one tool, an approved day off counts against required hours on its own, and a half day halves that day's target. When you start running payroll on the Growth plan, unpaid leave can reduce pay from the same record, so nobody re-keys absences into a payroll spreadsheet.
Know who is out before stand-up
Every working day Tickin posts a Daily Leave and WFH report to Slack or Microsoft Teams in your workspace timezone, showing who is off and who is working from home. A small team plans the day around who is actually there, without a round of messages.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Tickin really free for startups?
- Yes. Tickin is free for up to 10 employees, including leave requests, approvals, balances and Slack clock-in. Above 10 people, Starter is $2 per employee a month.
- Can we set our own leave types and allowances?
- Yes. Alongside the standard types you can add your own leave types and give each a yearly entitlement. Entitlements renew on each person's work anniversary, and half days work on every type except Unpaid Leave and Work From Home.
- Does Tickin support PTO accrual?
- Not as a per-pay-period schedule. Tickin uses a fixed yearly entitlement per leave type that renews on the work anniversary, and it has no hourly leave. If your policy accrues hours each pay period, choose a tool built for accruals.
- Who approves leave on a small team?
- On Free and Starter an admin approves each request. On Growth and Scale, a request goes to the employee's team lead first and then to an admin for final approval.