Multi-Level Approvals

Remote’s Multi-Level Approvals feature lets you define custom approval workflows for key events—like contract changes or expense submissions. You can add logic to control when approvals are required and assign specific individuals to review and approve requests in a specific sequence.

This helps your company stay compliant, reduce manual work, and ensure critical changes are reviewed by the right people.

How to Set It Up

1. Go to the Approvals section in your Remote dashboard.
2. Click Add Approval Flow.
3. Select the event you want to create an approval for (e.g. contract change, expense).
4. Add groups to organize logic by country, department, or category.
5. Within each group, define one or more rules. Each rule includes:
   1. Conditions that determine when it applies
   2. One or more approvers
6. Use drag-and-drop to reorder rules within each group.
7. Publish the workflow.
   
   

Once published, any matching request will trigger the approval flow. Employees can track approval progress from their dashboard, and approvers will be notified via in-platform notifications.

What events can trigger an approval?

You can currently create approval workflows for:

• Expense submissions
• Contract changes (e.g. job title, salary, job profile, grade)

Coming soon:

• Time-off requests
• Job requisitions
• Payroll Submissions

Can I create multiple approval workflows for the same event?

No. Each event (e.g. contract change, expense) can only have one approval workflow.

Within that workflow, you can create approval groups to organize different categories of approvals. For example, in an expense approval workflow you might set up:

• Group 1: Co-working & Office
• Group 2: Travel Expenses
• Group 3: Education

Each approval workflow can contain as many groups and approval rules as needed. This keeps logic flexible while ensuring all approvals for a given event are managed in one place.

What conditions can I use in a rule?

Conditions determine when a rule should be triggered. All conditions must be true for the rule to apply. “OR” logic is not currently supported.

You can define conditions using fields from the following categories:

• Context: Country, Department, Legal Entity
• Expenses: Amount, Expense Category
• Contract Details: Grade Profile, Grade, Job Profile, Job Category, Type of Hire

Groups: Organizing Rules by Category

Approval groups help you organize approval logic into meaningful sections—like Travel, Equipment, or Education.

• Groups are containers inside a workflow
• Each group contains one or more rules
• Use them to keep logic clean and scalable

Example:

• Group: Education Expenses
• Group: Travel & Accommodation

Rules: The Building Blocks of Approval Logic

Approval rules are the core logic units in a workflow. Each rule contains:

• A set of conditions
• One or more approvers

You can add as many rules as needed within a group.

Example Rule:

• Condition: Amount < $50
• Approver: Auto-approved

Group & Rule Ordering: Why It Matters

Approval rules are evaluated top to bottom, across groups and within them. The first matching rule applies. If no rule matches, the request is not sent for approval.

Example:

• Rule 1: Amount < $50 → Auto-approved
• Rule 2: Amount < $100 → Manager approval

A $45 request matches both, but only Rule 1 applies. Reversing the order would send the same request to the manager.

• Groups & Rules can be reordered via drag-and-drop

How do I add multiple approval rules?

You can add multiple rules within a single workflow to create multi-step approvals.

Example: Expense Approval Flow

• Rule 1: If Amount < $50 and Country = Brazil → Auto-approve
• Rule 2: If Amount > $50 and Country = Brazil → Send to Manager
• Rule 3: If Amount > $100 and Country = Brazil → Send to Manager and Manager’s Manager

This approach lets you manage all expense scenarios in one flexible workflow—no need to create separate flows.

Who can I assign as an approver?

Currently supported:

• A specific user by name or email
• A relationship-based approver (e.g. manager, manager’s manager)
• A role-based approver (e.g. HR Manager, Finance)
• Auto-approve or auto-reject

For more detail, see the dedicated help article on Role-Based Approvers.

Approver Notifications

All assigned approvers are notified in-platform.

Currently: in-platform notifications, Email and Slack (channel or DM).

Coming soon: Microsoft Teams.