Absence Notes Field: What Belongs Here?

The notes field in absence management is meant for short, organizational hints. This article explains what to enter — and what to deliberately leave out.

blinkpilot is not a medical record system

When a team member is sick, scheduling only needs two things: which person and which time period. Anything beyond that does not belong in the software.

What does not belong in the notes field

Please leave out anything that allows conclusions about health status. This includes:

• Diagnoses or ICD codes
• Symptoms (e.g. "bad cold", "back pain")
• Medications, treatments, hospital names
• References to medical documents of any kind

Why the restraint?

Health data is classified as a special category of personal data under Article 9 GDPR, with particularly high protection requirements. The less of it sits in the software, the lower the risk for your employees — and the simpler your company's data-processing obligations.

What belongs

Keep the notes field short and organizational. Good examples:

• "Hand over jobs to Max"
• "Lisa is covering"
• "Device keys in the office"

Tip

For sick leave, the absence type Sick Leave plus the time period is usually enough — nothing more is needed for scheduling.