Custom Approval Templates

The article provides guidance on customizing approval templates in BambooHR, focusing on four primary categories: Compensation, Employment Status, Job Information, and Promotion. Each template serves specific functions, such as requesting changes in employee compensation or job details. Users can view default templates and examples, and it is noted that while default templates cannot be deleted, they can be disabled or restored to original settings. Additionally, users can edit templates, adding fields as needed, but must adhere to pre-set fields that cannot be altered. The article emphasizes the importance of completing all required fields for submission and suggests the option to create advanced approval paths for departmental needs.

  • Jun 30, 2026
  • Knowledge

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Custom Approval Templates
Article Text
This feature is included in the Core, Pro, and Elite packages.

What approval templates are available in BambooHR?

Purpose: Custom approval templates are based on the most common use cases for approvals: Compensation, Employment Status, Job Information, and Promotion. This guide will show you how you can customize these approval templates to meet your needs in BambooHR.

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Table of Contents

Default templates

Below is a description for each of the default templates:

  • Compensation - Use this template for requesting changes to an employee’s compensation. This request contains all fields in the Compensation table.
  • Employment Status- Use this template for requesting an employment status change for an employee. This request contains all fields in the Employment Status table.
  • Job Information - Use this template for requesting changes to an employee’s job information. This request contains all fields in the Job Information table. You can add additional fields to this request.
  • Promotion - Use this template for requesting a promotion for an employee. This request includes all fields from the Compensation table and the Job Information table. This approval process enables you to request a promotion without the need to send two separate requests - one for Compensation and one for Job Information.
Would you like to see examples of the default approval forms?

For testing purposes, these examples will show you what a manager access level group will see while having no access to table data under the Job tab. Please note that they do not have access to see these fields on an employee's profile. However, by assigning the manager to approvals, they can see the current status, rate, etc., of an employee to submit a change request different from what the employee currently has.

Compensation

Note: If you use BambooHR Payroll and add an employee to a pay schedule that syncs with BambooHR Payroll, the approval form will update to include the required fields for payroll.

Alternatively, if you remove an employee from a syncing pay schedule to a non-syncing pay schedule, then these additional fields will no longer be required on the approval form.

The increase/decrease percentage will only display if the pay type is staying the same.

Employment Status

When you are a BambooHR Payroll customer and choose Terminated as your Employment Status, you will also see a field named Final Pay Date.

As a Payroll integration user, you will see a new field named Employee Tax Type when you add information to the Employment Status table for an employee who syncs with BambooHR Payroll. Options for this field include W2, S Corp - 2% Shareholder, 1099, Expatriate, and H- 1B Visa.

Job Information
Promotion

You cannot delete default templates, but you can disable them as other custom approval workflows. However, if you want to restore a template to the original settings (name, description, fields, requesters, and approvers), click Restore Default Approval, which appears after any changes you have made to the form. Any existing requests at the time you restore the default approval will remain active with the old settings.

The increase/decrease percentage will only display if the pay type is staying the same.

Edit Approval Form

You can edit a template approval form (name, description, and add fields) by clicking Edit Approval Form. Any edits you make to the approval form will only apply to new requests, not pre-existing requests.

Do you know you can create advanced approval paths to help you make sure the right people are approving changes for each department, division, or location?

Add additional fields

You can add fields to a default approval template, but they come with pre-set fields that you would not be able to edit or remove. You will not be able to add pre-set fields to other workflows (i.e., options in the form builder will not list pre-set fields).

You can also add additional fields to default approval templates by clicking + Add additional fields to the form when editing a form.

Note: If an approval template includes required fields that you are currently not using within your account (i.e., division, etc.), you will not be able to submit the form until a value is available in that field. You must fill out all required fields to submit the request for approval.

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