I'm not super clear on what you have a problem with. Is the issue that you're shortstaffed or are you wanting better tools for their manager--what kind of answer are you looking for?
Often the unspoken question/answer has to do with process. You mention task templates, and I assume you're talking about projects. Your question mentions the people who would be picking up this work, and this mindset puts the burden on the assignee position but... at a guess, wouldn't anyone on the project want to know (have a way to remember) that someone on the project team is absent?
So options that you could consider would be to (1) focus on giving your remaining users access to better reports and (2) develop ways to more easily recognize absent users in the system.
(1) Workfront recently published a blueprint for offboarding departed users -- you could use some of these reports as a model for showing the backup users what they should be focusing on. You could even create similar reports searching for anyone who has left -- so someone/you can have some oversight over how it's going.
https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/workfront-discussions/blueprint-released-offboarding-departing-user-dashboard/m-p/604145#M1395
Please note that reporting and permissions go hand in hand -- best practice is to make sure that whole teams or departments are able to see a project -- not just the assigned user who is on PTO. If they can't see the project, they will not be able to see the task or issue on any of your reports.
(2) As for recognizing absent users, unfortunately nothing is more visible than their name. For example, should you choose to use the Delegation functionality, the task still appears as though it is assigned to the absent user, and you have to drill pretty deep and very manually in order to find out who it was delegated to. The Workfront PTO functionality also is pretty limited (you can see the airplane in Workload balancer or if you try to assign a PTO user on a task after they have noted a PTO -- but nothing for previously assigned tasks)
These visibility issues are why I've suggested to our users that they put their OOO right into their name if they are going to be gone for a while, e.g. change name to "John Smith, OOO 8/24-9/24". We also rename our deactivated users so you can tell they are deactivated. Now, when you look at a templated task or any sort of automated assignment (such as request queue) anyone can immediately tell that a user is OOO or deactivated. Similarly, on existing work, everyone can tell someone is OOO or deactivated and can react accordingly (and hopefully helpfully).
Needless to say, most admins already have a plan for updating the system to minimize the impact of absent users, so working with your admin to implement these type of changes is key.
Hope this helps.
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