How to Set Up Slack Notifications for PTO Requests in Symple Team

Want PTO requests to show up in Slack so your managers don't miss them? Symple Team has a built-in Slack integration that posts every new request, approval, and rejection to a channel of your choice — using a free Slack Incoming Webhook.

This guide walks you through the whole setup. It takes about 2 minutes and doesn't require any custom code, OAuth flow, or Slack App Directory review.

What you'll get

Once connected, Symple Team posts a formatted Slack message whenever:

• An employee submits a PTO request (with type, dates, duration, and optional reason)
• A manager approves a request
• A manager rejects a request

Each message includes a Review Request or View Dashboard button that deep-links straight back into Symple Team.

What you need

• A Slack workspace where you can install apps (you may need workspace admin approval)
• Admin access in Symple Team for your company
• About 2 minutes

Step 1 — Create a Slack app

1. Open api.slack.com/apps and sign in to the workspace where you want PTO notifications to land.
2. Click Create New App → From scratch.
3. Give the app a name (e.g. "Symple Team PTO") and pick the workspace.
4. Click Create App.

Tip: the app only lives inside your workspace — Slack does not require review for Incoming Webhooks.

Step 2 — Activate Incoming Webhooks

1. In the left sidebar of your new app's settings, choose Incoming Webhooks.
2. Toggle Activate Incoming Webhooks to On.
3. Scroll down and click Add New Webhook to Workspace.
4. Select the channel where PTO notifications should be posted (e.g. #pto, #hr, or #general).
5. Click Allow.

Slack will generate a Webhook URL that starts with https://hooks.slack.com/services/…. Copy it.

Workspace admin approval: if your workspace requires admin approval for new apps, the Add Webhook button may submit a request to your admin first. Once they approve, come back to this page to grab the URL.

Step 3 — Paste the webhook into Symple Team

1. In Symple Team, open Settings → General (you must be an admin).
2. Scroll to the Slack Notifications card.
3. Paste the Webhook URL into the Webhook URL field.
4. Click Save.

You should see a green Connected badge appear next to the section title.

Step 4 — Send a test message

In the same card, click Send Test. You should see a confirmation message appear in your chosen Slack channel within a couple of seconds:

:wave: Symple Team — Webhook test successful! PTO notifications will be posted to this channel.

If the test fails, double-check:

• The URL was copied in full (it's quite long)
• The URL still starts with https://hooks.slack.com/services/
• The channel still exists and the app hasn't been removed from your workspace

What employees and managers will see

On submission — the channel gets a card like:

:calendar: New PTO Request — Jamie Lee has submitted a time off request. Type: Annual Leave • Duration: 3 days • Dates: Mon, Jul 8 – Wed, Jul 10 Reason: Family wedding [Review Request →]

On approval/rejection — the channel gets:

:white_check_mark: PTO Request Approved — Jamie Lee's request has been approved. Type: Annual Leave • Duration: 3 days • Dates: Mon, Jul 8 – Wed, Jul 10 • Status: Approved by Alex Chen [View Dashboard →]

Turning notifications off

Two options:

• Pause: open Settings → General → Slack Notifications → click Remove. Your webhook URL is cleared and notifications stop immediately. You can paste a new URL anytime.
• Disconnect at the Slack side: revoke the webhook from your Slack app's Incoming Webhooks page. Symple Team will silently fail webhook calls (no errors are surfaced to employees).

FAQ

Does this require a Slack paid plan? No. Incoming Webhooks are free on every Slack plan, including the free tier.

Can I post to multiple channels? Today the integration supports one webhook URL per company. If you need multi-channel routing, please contact us and tell us about your use case.

Will employees see the notifications? Only the people in the channel you picked. We recommend choosing a manager-only or HR channel for approval signal, or a public channel for full transparency.

What about email notifications? Slack notifications are additive. Email notifications still fire as before — Slack is just an extra channel.

Is the webhook URL secret? Yes. Anyone with the URL can post to your Slack channel as the app. Don't share it. If it leaks, regenerate it from your Slack app's Incoming Webhooks page.

That's it. Two minutes from signup to your first Slack ping.

Have an integration request — Microsoft Teams, Discord, Google Chat? Let us know. We're prioritizing based on user feedback.