A smarter way to pick your next leave approval platform

If Workday feels too heavy, too rigid, or too expensive for small and mid-sized HR teams, you’re not alone. Many HR managers look for a more flexible, no-code alternative that still supports multi-stage approvals, automated notifications, and clean dashboards, without depending on IT.

This guide helps you evaluate Workday alternatives and shows why teams often select a platform like Formaloo for customizable leave request workflows, self-service portals, and automation designed for HR teams.
📘 Learn more: What is Formaloo?

Why this helps

• Reduce costs while still keeping structured, auditable leave workflows.
• Build your own approval stages (employee → manager → HR) without developer support.
• Give employees a simple portal to request and track time-off.
• Automate notifications, reminders, and status changes using built-in logic.
  📘 Learn more: Build personalized and time-saving flows with logic & automation

Step 1 – Define what your HR team actually needs

Before comparing Workday alternatives, identify the non-negotiables for your leave process, such as:

• Multi-level approvals (e.g., manager → HR)
• Role-based access for employees, managers, HR
• Live dashboards for pending, approved, and rejected requests
• Notifications by email or Slack
• Automation rules (auto-deny, auto-approve, redirect logic, etc.)
  📘 Learn more: How to integrate Slack on Formaloo

Step 2 – Check whether the alternative supports multi-stage approvals

Most HR teams leave Workday because they want more flexible workflow design. When evaluating alternatives, make sure you can:

• Add approval stages
• Trigger actions on submission or update (e.g., “assign to HR once approved by manager”)
• Notify each approver automatically
• Update request status fields without manual work

In platforms like Formaloo, this is done using On Submit and On Update logic.
📘 Learn more: What is On Submit logic and how it works

💡 Tip: Use conditional rules to move requests between statuses like Pending, Manager approved, HR approved, or Rejected dynamically.

Step 3 – Confirm it has a self-service employee portal

A true Workday alternative must let employees:

• Log in securely
• Submit leave requests
• View their past submissions
• Update or cancel requests
• Track approval status in real-time

In Formaloo, this is done by creating a secure HR portal where each employee sees only their own records.
📘 Learn more: How to create a portal & manage users’ access

💡 Tip: Add extra profile fields (job title, department, manager) to automate routing.
📘 Learn more: How to add and edit fields in the user base form of your portal

Step 4 – Make sure you can build dashboards for HR insights

Workday’s analytics are powerful, but heavy. A good alternative should let you create:

• Pending requests tables
• Approval cycle time dashboards
• Leave category charts (sick, PTO, maternity/paternity, etc.)
• Department-level dashboards

In Formaloo, you can add tables, kanban boards, and charts inside your HR portal.
📘 Learn more: Customize your form/app layout & design (charts, tables, boards)

Step 5 – Confirm support for automated notifications

You’ll want your Workday alternative to send:

• “New leave request” alerts to managers
• “Your request was approved/rejected” emails to employees
• Slack alerts for urgent requests
• Optional PDF summaries attached to emails

All of this must be doable without coding.
📘 Learn more: How to send & receive email notifications

💡 Tip: Use redirect rules to route approved requests to a success page with policy reminders.

Step 6 – Prioritize no-code customization (fields, logic, design)

Your HR team shouldn’t depend on IT to:

• Add new request types
• Update approval flows
• Rebrand the portal
• Add new fields or automations

Formaloo allows full customization in seconds.
📘 Learn more: Form editor & field types

Step 7 – Evaluate pricing transparency & scalability

Workday is priced for enterprises. A strong alternative should provide:

• Fair pricing for small teams
• Growth-friendly limits for submissions and records
• Optional self-hosting or enterprise add-ons

Formaloo offers free, Pro, Team, and Enterprise plans depending on your scale.
📘 Learn more: Formaloo pricing overview

Why Formaloo is a great choice

Formaloo gives HR teams the flexibility Workday lacks, without the cost or complexity. It combines powerful approvals, user portals, and automation in a fully no-code platform designed for everyday HR teams.

• Build approval flows without IT
  Create multi-stage workflows (employee → manager → HR) using simple automation rules.
  📘 Learn more: On Submit logic
• Employee & manager portals
  Role-based dashboards let each user view their own requests or approvals.
  📘 Learn more: Create a portal & manage users
• Memory Forms speed up repeat requests
  Employees never re-enter basic info, forms remember their past answers and auto-populate.
  📘 Learn more: What are Memory Forms?
• Instant dashboards for HR visibility
  Use tables, kanban boards, and charts to track pending, approved, and rejected requests.
  📘 Learn more: Customize app layout & dashboards
• Simple, scalable pricing
  Perfect for small to mid-sized HR teams wanting enterprise features without enterprise cost.
  📘 Learn more: Formaloo pricing

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FAQ

1. Can employees log in and view their own leave history?

Yes, with portal mode and role-based access.
🔒 Learn more: How to create a portal & manage users’ access

2. Can managers and HR see different dashboards?

Yes, use permissions and page-level visibility to show different tables or charts to different roles.
🛠️ Learn more: Customize tables, kanban, charts

3. Can HR attach policy PDFs or summaries to approval emails?

Yes, using custom email notifications and PDF attachments.
📄 Learn more: Send & receive email notifications

4. Can employees avoid re-entering their details every time they request leave?

Yes. With Formaloo’s Memory Forms, employee information such as department, manager, or employee ID is remembered and auto-filled on future leave requests, making repeat submissions much faster.
🧠 Learn more: How to create a Memory Form that auto-fills user details

Choose flexibility, not complexity

The best Workday leave approval alternative is one that gives your HR team full control, without the cost or rigidity of enterprise systems. With customizable forms, portals, dashboards, and automation, platforms like Formaloo let you build a complete leave management system that fits your workflow, not the other way around.

🎉 Learn more: Explore more HR workflow templates

Last updated December 2025