Time off is the HR feature people touch most, so it is worth configuring carefully once.
Policies
Define leave types (vacation, sick, personal, unpaid) with accrual rules, carryover behavior, and who approves. Different policies can apply to different groups, which matters for multi-country teams.
Requesting and approving
Employees request from My Space; the request routes to their manager by the org chart. Approvers see remaining balance and team coverage before deciding, which prevents the two-people-out-same-week problem.
The calendar
A shared view of who is away when. Delivery planning and sprint capacity both read from it, so approved leave automatically shows up as reduced capacity rather than a surprise.
Balances
Balances update on accrual and on approved leave. Adjustments are logged, so a manual correction is always traceable.
Important: Configure approval routing before inviting the whole team. Requests submitted with no valid approver sit unanswered, and that is the fastest way to lose trust in a new system.