Overtime Authorisation
Overtime authorisation form for employees to request extra hours and managers to approve before work begins.
A ready-to-use human resources form for HR, people ops and hiring managers: 10 questions, 1 page, 2 conditional rules.
- Questions
- 10
- Pages
- 1
- Layouts
- classic · card
- Conditional rules
- 2
- Typical time
- 3 min
Searches this template answers
Live preview and test console
This is the real form. Answer it to test the 1 conditional rule — nothing is sent or stored.
1 question is hidden by conditional logic right now — change an answer above to reveal it.
What happens after submit: nothing is stored in this preview. On your own copy, every response triggers an instant email notification and lands in your response dashboard, ready to export or forward.
Happy with it? Take a copy into your workspace — every question, rule and setting comes with it.
Who this template is for
Overtime Authorisation is built for HR, people ops and hiring managers who need to run hiring and internal people processes on one auditable record.
- HR, people ops and hiring managers working in human resources.
- Teams who need to run hiring and internal people processes on one auditable record without writing code or paying for a custom build.
- Anyone replacing CVs, requests and approvals scattered across inboxes with one structured record per enquiry.
- Respondents are candidates and employees — the form asks them 10 questions across 1 screen.
- Mobile-heavy audiences, thanks to the one-question-per-screen card layout.
Why this form is useful
It removes the cost of CVs, requests and approvals scattered across inboxes and turns each submission into a record your team can act on immediately.
- 7 questions are required, so submissions arrive complete instead of needing a follow-up email.
- It records a signature you can keep as proof of agreement.
- It pins the request to a specific date.
- It captures a numeric value you can filter and sort on.
- Conditional logic hides 2 questions until they are relevant — shorter forms convert better than long ones.
- Every response is stored, searchable and exportable, so nothing depends on one person's inbox.
How to use this template
From copy to live form is a few minutes of work, and every step is reversible.
- 1Press “Use this template” — a fresh copy of Overtime Authorisation lands in your workspace, ready to edit.
- 2Rename or delete any question, and change what is required. Nothing here is fixed.
- 3Open Notifications and add the email addresses that should be alerted on each submission; add an auto-reply to the respondent if the form collects an email address.
- 4Publish it, then either share the link directly or paste the embed snippet into your site — the embedded form resizes to fit and loads no marketing or advertising trackers.
- 5Watch responses land in Submissions, where you can filter, label and export them to CSV or PDF.
Logic and conditions blueprint
Exactly how this form behaves as it is answered — 2 conditional rules ship with it.
- Features conditional validation: if “Is this overtime planned in advance or already worked?” is Already worked (retroactive), “Reason for overtime” becomes mandatory before the form can be sent.
- Features advanced show logic: if “Manager decision” is Denied, the form dynamically exposes “Reason for denial”. Otherwise that question never appears.
- All 2 rules are editable in the Logic tab, and the built-in checker warns about rules that contradict each other.
About this template
Overtime that isn't approved before it's worked tends to cause disputes at payroll time, and this form exists to get sign-off in advance rather than after the fact. An employee states the date, the extra hours requested and the reason — a project deadline, covering a colleague's absence, seasonal demand — and their manager records approval or denial along with any conditions, like a cap on total hours for the week. A field asks whether the overtime is planned or already worked, since organisations sometimes need a retroactive authorisation for genuinely unavoidable extra hours, but that path should be the exception rather than the default use of the form. The reason field becomes required for retroactive requests, since after-the-fact overtime needs more justification than pre-approved work. This form focuses narrowly on the authorisation decision — it doesn't calculate pay rates or totals, since that's a payroll function — but the approved hours it records should feed directly into whatever timesheet or payroll process closes out the pay period.
What this form asks
Every question is editable — rename it, make it optional, or delete it entirely.
Overtime request
- Employee namerequired
- Department
- Date of overtimerequired
- Additional hours requestedrequired
- Is this overtime planned in advance or already worked?required
- Reason for overtimerequired
- Manager decisionrequired
- Reason for denial
- Conditions or hour cap
- Manager signaturerequired
10 questions in total.
How the form changes as it's filled in
This template ships with 2 conditional rules, grouped into 2 behaviours driven by 2 questions. Everything below is already set up — edit or delete any rule once the template is in your workspace.
Driven by “Is this overtime planned in advance or already worked?”
- Makes answers required
If “Is this overtime planned in advance or already worked?” is Already worked (retroactive), “Reason for overtime” becomes required before the form can be submitted.
Driven by “Manager decision”
- Reveals questions
If “Manager decision” is Denied, the form reveals “Reason for denial”.
Set it up step by step
- 1
Get approval before the extra hours are worked
Use the planned-vs-retroactive question to make advance approval the default path, keeping after-the-fact requests as the clear exception.
- 2
Record a reason for denials too
A denied request with no explanation tends to resurface as a dispute later — the logic rule requires a reason whenever the decision is "Denied."
- 3
Set a weekly hour cap where relevant
Use the conditions field to note any limit tied to labour regulations or budget, not just a blanket yes.
- 4
Feed approved hours straight into payroll
Treat this as the authorisation record that the timesheet or payroll system references, not a parallel record that needs manual reconciling.
Mistakes to avoid
- Approving overtime after it's already been worked as a matter of routine rather than an exception.
- Leaving denials unexplained, which creates friction and repeat requests.
- Not linking the approved hours to the timesheet, so payroll ends up guessing at what was actually authorised.
What it pairs with
Most teams don't run this form on its own. These are the forms and systems it sits next to.
What to do with the responses
Forward approved requests to payroll ahead of the pay-period cutoff and reflect the extra hours in the relevant Employee Timesheet Form entry.
Works in both layouts
Forms that overlap this one
These pages cover the same subject ground as the overtime authorisation, matched on the words people actually search for.
Time Off Request Form
administratorapprovalemployeeemploymenthiring
Employee Timesheet Form
administratorapprovalemployeeemploymenthiring
Timesheet Form
administratorapprovalemployeeemploymenthiring
Remote Work Request
administratoremployeeemploymenthiringhr
Shift Swap Request Form
approvalbeforeemployeeemploymenthiring
Background Check Authorization Form
authorizationemployeeemploymenthiringhr
Privacy & compliance
This form holds employee or applicant data. Route it to a named HR mailbox rather than a shared inbox, and keep the audit trail on so you can show who viewed each response.
Frequently asked questions
Can this be submitted after the overtime has already happened?
Yes, using the retroactive option, but it should be the exception — the form requires a fuller reason for retroactive requests since they carry more approval risk.
How does this connect to the Employee Timesheet Form?
This form is the authorisation; the timesheet is the record of hours actually worked. Approved overtime hours should be reflected on the timesheet for the relevant pay period.
What if overtime results from covering someone else's shift?
If it started as a shift swap, log the trade on the Shift Swap Request Form first, then use this form only for any hours that genuinely exceed a normal shift.
Does this replace a time-off request?
No — they're opposite requests. Use the Time Off Request Form for reducing scheduled hours and this one for adding extra hours beyond the normal schedule.
Is the Overtime Authorisation template free to use?
Yes. You can preview and test Overtime Authorisation on this page without an account, and take a copy into your own HelloForms workspace on the free plan. There is nothing to install and no card required to publish it.
What does the Overtime Authorisation template ask for?
It asks 10 questions across 1 page, 7 of which are required. Every question is listed in full further down this page, and each one can be renamed, reordered, made optional or deleted after you copy the template.
Can I edit the Overtime Authorisation form after copying it?
Yes — the copy is entirely yours. Change wording, add or remove questions, switch between the classic and card layouts, restyle it to match your brand, and set who gets notified on each submission.
How does the conditional logic in this human resources form work?
2 conditional rules ship with the template: Features conditional validation: if “Is this overtime planned in advance or already worked?” is Already worked (retroactive), “Reason for overtime” becomes mandatory before the form can be sent. Features advanced show logic: if “Manager decision” is Denied, the form dynamically exposes “Reason for denial”. Otherwise that question never appears. All 2 rules are editable in the Logic tab, and the built-in checker warns about rules that contradict each other. All rules are editable in the Logic tab.
Where do responses to the Overtime Authorisation form go?
Submissions land in your workspace under Submissions, where you can search, filter, label and export them to CSV or PDF. You can also email a notification to your team on every submission and send the respondent an auto-reply.
Can I embed the Overtime Authorisation form on my own website?
Yes. Publish the form and paste the embed snippet into any page or share the direct link. The embedded form resizes to fit its container and loads no advertising or marketing trackers inside the iframe.
Is the signature on this form legally usable?
The template captures a drawn signature and stores it with the submission, along with the timestamp, so you keep evidence of who agreed and when. Whether that is sufficient depends on your jurisdiction and the agreement itself.
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