Time Off Management Software - Why You Need It And How Will It Improve Your Organization

What is Time-Off Management?

Time off management, also known as leave management, refers to many actions and processes about the administration of employee time off within an organization. The goal is to manage this time off in a fair, accurate, and precise way. Tasks include requesting time off, setting up the approval flow, sending notifications to payroll, synchronizing with attendance calendars, updating employee data, spotting trends of attendance and absenteeism. 

Handling employee time off requests falls in the hands of supervisors, HR staff, and workforce management staff, so there is not just one person in charge. It’s a team’s effort.

Why is Time-Off Management software essential?

First, let’s clarify: time-off management is crucial for keeping your employees happy and productive. It is well known that nowadays, employees value time off just as much as the salary in a work negotiation, plus a well-rested employee is a more productive one. Therefore, you should obviously make it your priority to handle time off in the best way possible.

Using software for this, is in our view, the key to success.

A time-off management system will allow you to apply leave policies effectively and reduce time and costs associated with workforce productivity. Additionally, the BPW Foundation estimates that by 2025, 75 percent of the global workforce will be millennials. Ignoring the work behaviors of the next generation of workers - Gen Y, can’t be ignored any longer.

You and your employees will enjoy every aspect of leave management - from planning to tracking and managing using simple cloud-based human resource software. An automated solution will allow your employees to handle their time off on their own, without using spreadsheets, and without sending hundreds of emails requesting days off or inquiring about their balance.

You are looking at many benefits if you start using a time-off manager:

• Eliminate paper all together
• Monitor vacation days for each employee
• Prevent payroll errors
• Automate repetitive processes and cut costs
• Delegate leave approvals to team managers/supervisors by creating simple approval flows
• Apply your time-off policy easily
• Enhance employee morale and productivity
• Eliminate the challenges in dealing with annual leave and sick days

Remarkable features of a time-off management software

Depending on every company and the industry it’s in, there are a lot of features to be taken into consideration when looking for leave management software. Here are the most important and those who should be at the top of your wishes. LeaveBoard offers them all.

• A leave tracker - to track employee leave patterns, to oversee the amount of paid leave, sick leave, and other types of time off within your organization. You can even set official public holidays and benefit from a view of all centralized leave records. Using a time-off tracking software will lead to fewer errors and increased compliance.
• A leave planner - great for transparency since employees have access to it. They can see who planned the time-off ahead so as not to schedule it at the same time. It also offers automatic leave balance calculation.
• A vacation calendar - always have an overview of all working days, holidays, and planned leaves through the vacation calendar.
• The employee portal is an online dashboard specially designed for employees to feel appreciated and in control of their information. They can start a time-off request form from their accounts, check the leave balance, update their employee data, and more.
• Cloud-based HR solution - access the system from your tablet, smartphone, laptop, or desktop computer. No hardware installation is needed. It’s an online web app.
• All employee and company-related data are visible in real-time, so you are always on top of any possible issues.
• Powerful integrations - your employees surely use many other apps, so your time-off management software must integrate with them.
• LeaveBoard integrates with a great list of apps and syncs with popular calendars: Google, Microsoft Office 365, Slack.
• Complex absence reporting - an overview of the taken and remaining time-off is always available. Leave reporting is crucial for payroll, for keeping everything accurate. Access monthly and yearly reports for every employee, team, and office.

Tips and tricks on how to choose the perfect automated solution for you and your company

Consider your company’s needs - you need to identify what is the principal issue with time-off. Maybe your employees are not accurate and responsible enough, or the managers do not respond in time to the time-off requests. Take time and single out the reasons your organization could use software for tracking and managing time-off. The same time-off app may not be useful for every company.

• Look for a user-friendly experience - implementing a system is a change for your employees, so add a positive spin and make sure the software you choose is easy to use and has a friendly designer.
• Security - keeping your employee and company data safe is a must. An automated system should offer the best security, and in this matter, cloud-based is the best version you can choose. Preventing leaks and data loss should be crucial.
• Considerable set of integrations - the optimal automation system should integrate with the tools and systems that you use currently, like email, marketing automation, communication platforms, project management tools, and others. This way, you can uphold the infrastructure that you’ve already invested in.
• Customer support - make sure that the company offering the time-off management software provides stellar customer support. They should be at your disposal at all times.