As a company grows, a single approver is no longer enough. A leave request might need the reporting manager *and* HR; a large loan might need the manager, finance, and the director. Payroll Bharat lets you build multi-level approval chains — up to 5 levels — so every request flows to the right people in the right order.
What you can gate behind approvals
- Leave requests
- Loans and salary advances
- Reimbursement claims
- Overtime and comp-off
Setting up a policy
- 1Go to Approvals → Policies and click New Policy.
- 2Pick the request type (e.g. Leave) and the scope — company-wide, a specific department, or a designation.
- 3Add levels in order. Each level can be a specific person, the employee’s reporting manager, or a role (HR, Finance).
- 4Choose whether all approvers at a level must approve, or any one is enough.
- 5Save. New requests matching the scope now follow this chain automatically.
How approvals flow
When an employee raises a request, it goes to Level 1 first. Only after Level 1 approves does it move to Level 2, and so on. If any level rejects, the request stops there and the employee is notified with the reason.
Practical examples
Simple leave chain
Level 1: Reporting Manager → Level 2: HR. Most day-to-day leaves clear in two steps.
High-value loan chain
Level 1: Reporting Manager → Level 2: Finance → Level 3: Director. Use the scope filter so this only triggers for loans above a threshold, keeping small advances quick.
Tips for a clean setup
- Keep chains as short as possible — every extra level slows people down.
- Prefer role-based approvers (HR, Finance) over named people, so the chain survives when someone leaves.
- Use department scope to give different teams different rules without duplicating policies.
Well-designed approval chains give you control without becoming a bottleneck. Start simple, watch where requests pile up, and add levels only where you truly need oversight.