Time Off

Last updated: February 26, 2026

Time Off allows you to record when people are unavailable for work, such as vacation, medical leave, or parental leave. This ensures accurate workforce planning by preventing people from being assigned to projects when they're unavailable and helps identify when backfill coverage is needed.

When you add time off, you can specify whether someone else needs to cover the person's work. If backfill is required, Bridgit automatically creates an unfilled role for affected assignments. If backfill isn't required, the person remains assigned to their projects but their absence is visible in gantt views and in their profile.

Eligibility/Prerequisites

Permission to add, edit, or delete time off depends on your role:

  • View only: You can see time off in gantt views but cannot add or modify entries

  • Edit People: You can add, modify, and delete time off for any person in the system

  • Self-service users: May be able to add their own time off depending on account configuration

How to Use

Adding Time Off

From a person's profile:

  1. Navigate to People and select the person

  2. Go to the Details tab

  3. Scroll to the Time Off section

  4. Click + Time Off

  5. Enter the start date (required)

  6. Enter the end date (required if backfill is not needed)

  7. Add a description (optional) and mark it private if needed

  8. Check Backfill required on project if someone needs to cover their work

  9. Click Save

Understanding Backfill Options

Backfill required:

  • The person is unassigned from all projects during the time off period

  • Unfilled roles are automatically created on affected projects

  • The person cannot be assigned to new projects during this time

  • Best for absences over 5 days or when coverage is essential

Backfill not required:

  • The person remains assigned to existing projects

  • Their absence is visible on the gantt and profile

  • They can still be assigned to new projects (though their time off is flagged)

Viewing Time Off

Time off appears in multiple places:

Person's profile: The Details tab lists all time off entries with dates and backfill status.

People Gantt: Time off is displayed as bars on the timeline.

Smart Suggestions: When backfill is required, the person won't appear as available during their time off period. A tooltip shows the time off details.

Modifying Time Off

  1. Navigate to the person's profile

  2. Go to the Details tab

  3. Find the time off entry in the Time Off section

  4. Hover over the entry and click the edit icon

  5. Update the dates or description

  6. Click Save

Deleting Time Off

  1. Navigate to the person's profile

  2. Go to the Details tab

  3. Find the time off entry in the Time Off section

  4. Hover over the entry and click the delete icon

  5. Confirm the deletion

Note: When you delete time off that required backfill, any unfilled roles created on projects remain. To fill the unfilled roles, you'll need to manually place the person back on those roles or delete the unfilled allocations.

Common Workflows

Tracking a short absence: Add time off without backfill for brief absences like a single day off or a long weekend. The person stays assigned to projects, but their absence is visible in planning views.

Planning for parental leave: Add time off with backfill required for extended leaves of absence. This prevents the person from being assigned to new work and creates demand for long-term coverage.

Reassigning after cancelled time off: If you delete time off with backfill, place the person back on the unfilled roles to merge their allocations back into a single continuous assignment.

Common Questions

Q: What happens to a person's existing projects when I add time off with backfill?

The person is removed from all projects during the time off period, and unfilled roles are created for each affected project. You'll need to assign other people to fill those gaps.

Q: Can someone be assigned to a project during their time off?

If backfill is required, they won't appear in Smart Suggestions during the time off period. If backfill is not required, they can technically be assigned, but their time off will be visible as a warning.

Q: Does time off affect utilization calculations?

Time off with backfill required shows as unavailable time and affects utilization. Time off without backfill does not affect availability calculations or idle time metrics.

Q: What happens if I delete time off after someone else has been assigned to the backfill role?

The unfilled roles remain on the projects. You can either delete them manually or reassign the original person to those roles, which will merge the allocations back together.

Q: Can I make time off entries private?

Yes, when adding a description to time off, you can mark it as private. This restricts visibility to users with permission to view confidential fields.