Cala HQ

Under review

Time off and leave tracking for global teams

Lets remote and global teams request, approve, and track vacation and sick leave in one shared calendar instead of spreadsheets or bloated HR software, so managers always know who is off.

Built by Kristaps Lazda · Freemium

Coming soon on Launch Llama Tools

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Kristaps Lazda (Joined Nov 2026)

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Lets remote and global teams request, approve, and track vacation and sick leave in one shared calendar instead of spreadsheets or bloated HR software, so managers always know who is off.

About

Managers set one leave policy for the whole company, choosing fixed, accrued, or unlimited leave with allowances, carry-over limits, and maximum balance caps. Each employee automatically sees their own country's public holidays while the policy stays the same across locations. Mid-year joiners get pro-rated accruals based on their exact start date, and a Monday email digest shows who is away that week. Teams can be organized with a leave manager assigned to each, and requests can be routed to specific managers by department.

Key Features

Approve or decline time-off requests with one click from a single place
Set fixed, accrued, or unlimited leave policies with carry-over rules
Pro-rate leave automatically for mid-year joiners based on start date
Show country-specific public holiday calendars to each employee
Send Monday digests and automated reminders before vacations begin
Require minimum notice periods and keep an audit log of every change

Use Cases

Checking who is off today before scheduling a meeting or launch across time zones
Replacing spreadsheet-based vacation tracking with one request and approval workflow
Setting carry-over limits and expiration grace periods for leave balances at year end

From the founder

Who it's for

“Cala HQ is for small and distributed teams that want to manage time off without spreadsheets. Employees can request leave, managers can approve it, and everyone can see who is away across countries and time zones.”

Why I built it

“I built Cala HQ to give growing teams a clear, reliable way to handle leave. Requests, balances, policies, and public holidays belong in one place, so managers spend less time chasing updates and employees know where they stand.”

— Kristaps Lazda, founder of Cala HQ

Who it is for

Remote and global teams spanning multiple countries and time zones
Owner-led small businesses that do not have an HR department
Operations teams that handle leave approvals across several departments

Pricing

Free up to 5 users; $19/month up to 10; $39/month up to 25; $69/month up to 50

FAQ

How long does it take to set up?

Less than 5 minutes. You can invite your team via a simple link, and the setup wizard handles the rest. No HR degree or implementation calls required.

How does it handle international teams and holidays?

Cala automatically applies the correct public holidays based on where each team member is located. You can also set custom allowances for different countries within the same workspace.

Is the free plan actually free?

Yes. If your team is 5 people or fewer, you can use all of Cala's core features completely free, forever. No credit card required to sign up.

Can I create custom leave policies?

Absolutely. You can set up unlimited custom policies, from standard annual leave and sick days to parental leave, unpaid time off, and sabbaticals. You control the rules, accruals, and rollovers.

Where do managers approve time-off requests?

Managers review requests in Cala HQ. Email notifications can alert them to new requests; they sign in to approve or decline.

Is my team's data secure?

Yes. All traffic is secured via SSL, and your data is hosted on secure cloud infrastructure. Cala follows GDPR principles and stores only the information required to run your calendar.