What is a Leave Management System & How Does it Improve Business Function?

With work becoming more and more hectic as a result of urbanization and demand for competency, off days and vacations have never been more critical. An optimum balance must be found for any sane human being to function at his or her best for a maximum period. Having a good balance between work and vacay is crucial to keep employees on board over an extended course of time without compromising on the overall work quality.

This is now effectively managed by specialized software and work systems known as leave management systems. This system has now integrated itself into the core of almost every renowned workspace, within the HR wing, to be precise. Here is all you need to know about today's hot topic in the employment sector.

What is leave management?

Before jumping into leave management systems, let's first answer the question: what is leave management?

As the word itself implies, leave management is simply the effective control and management of employee leave requests and time-offs, which can happen for different reasons over varying periods. 

The purpose of such organizing measures is to help the employees make use of their leisure time as well as save the firm from any unplanned shorthandedness. 

Importance of leave management

Leave management bears quite a significant position in almost every business as it is an irreplaceable section of the HR department. The most important reasons for this high praise are as follows.

1. Enforcement of policies about leave could be difficult and unnecessarily problematic if there are no records to assist or provide support for the decisions which are to be made.
2. Analysts and control teams make use of the collected data to troubleshoot or come up with new additions which might add to the functionality.
3. With a closely noted track record, you will now be protected securely from any potential revenue leaks.
4. These systems keep a good record of paid leaves which are required to be submitted to the state registers for compliance purposes.
5. By helping the employees organize their leave in such a way that it does not affect the smooth functioning of the firm, the business or company saves a good amount of time which is either spent on cross-checking or mitigating the effects of the leave taken.

Leave policy

Since the management of absenteeism and leaves has such a great impact on the workers as well as the organization they work for, there have been several policies incorporated over time. These policies play a major role in improving the work-life balance as well, irrespective of the work they do or who they work for. It also helps the employees claim their designated leave days and not waste time meant for relaxing.

These policies specify the terms that they have to stand by, along with the criteria for different types of leave. The major types of leave which are in practice currently include the following.

1. Privilege leave: Also called earned leave, this is an extended leave that is provided to the worker on a daily wage basis.
2. Sick leave: This is availed by the worker in case of illness. The number of days that an employee can call in sick is predetermined by the State and Establishment Act.
3. Casual leave:  This is availed by the worker for personal reasons and at any stretches required. However, the total number of days is pre-set by the organizations in most cases.
4. Maternity and paternity leave: Maternity leave is mandated by the Indian government and is a clearly defined quantum period of 26 weeks. This leave applies to all female employees spread out across all the available sectors. The paternity leave, on the other hand, is not required for statutory compliance and is as short as 2 days to 2 weeks.

What is a leave management system?

This is a system that helps keep track and record the employee's requests for exemptions and leave. The main goal of such system tools is to keep an accurate record of such working days and to take care of employee leave management details without leaving any room for further confusion. 

Challenges of employee leave management

To function effectively, you will require a leave management system that best suits your needs and not simply the best one in the market. Failing to choose a properly suited system will have a grave effect on the overall functionality and become a major setback in the course of your work portfolio. A few of the common challenges that you might be facing include:‍

1. Tracking your leaves

Incompetent methods of tracking leave can result in more serious issues like staffing shortages, workload build-ups, and losses. Hence, proper leave tracking is a fundamental requirement for any leave management.

2. Processing errors

Without an accurate record of paid and unpaid leaves, calculating a fair payroll becomes impossible for any worker in any sector. With integrated leave management systems, you can keep track of both the concerned factors accurately and efficiently.

3. Communication

The terms and conditions of the leave management policy might not b explained clearly in the efforts in place, allowing a window for any discrepancy in the future. By providing any info on their forums, these systems eliminate the possibility of any confusion or frustration.

Why you need this system

Instead of the conventional methods, which use your common offline forms, excel sheets, or emails to make a note of leaves and requests pointing towards it. This could be a bothersome experience, as it is very much likely to miss out on these entries resulting in a tight fix thanks to the employee crunch and employee offboarding experiences. Working in an understaffed state could be harmful to your company and its reputation as well, bearing effects that you might not be prepared for.

Some upgraded systems come with attached options which allow you to enter details like shift timings, holidays, payroll, and more. It also helps keep yourself in line with the leave management policy and other issues of the firm you work in.

Key features:

1. A good leave management system updates your software on its own. With this auto-update feature, you can save a good amount of time and cut down on manual work.
2. It allows for seamless integration and helps with preparing cross-functional reports that compile details from different platforms effortlessly.
3. Leave policies are specifically tailored to fit every department or work sector.
4. Highly compatible forums which can be accessed through multiple devices.
5. Better analytics and report making.
   

How to set up teams for success with employee leave

Leave management in HR is something a bit more serious than the simple plans you make before taking a leave. In this case, leave management systems serve as a navigation system that guides HR in the process of managing and tracking employee absence. This calls for more serious and organized options than your simple Excel sheet, something similar to project documentation.

Here is where the leave management systems come in. With such effectively functioning units, the employees simply leave a request via mail, which is checked and processed by the HR manager.

The manager is designated with the duty of checking the previous history of leaves from the employee’s side and that of the other members of the team as well.

The leave management systems are more automated than your classic spreadsheets and excel sheets, allowing for easier handling and lesser time consumption. With automation tools like Scribe being made available for use, setting up an effectively functioning leave management system has now been simplified by several folds.

Scribe is process documentation tool that writes your SOPs for you, making it easier than ever to turn complex workflows into visual job aids.

Just turn on the extension and run through any process. Scribe will create your guide, complete with text and annotated screenshots.

Scribe serves as a concrete base to build your information on and construct your leave management system. These details gathered instantaneously are the best way to maintain accuracy without leaving any space for confusion or manipulation.

{{banner-default="/banner-ads"}}

Following this data collection and incorporation, most of the leading leave management software provides additional services which aid your function. The most common ones include:

1. Configurable lists and fields allow users to customize their platforms as per their wish.
2. Integrated payroll management that pays your employees punctually and accurately.
3. Dashboards and hubs allow your workers to keep track of and check their payroll.
4. Timesheet and attendance management to track productivity.
5. Analytics, which allows you to fix up any issues from your side and study the state of your workforce.

Conclusion

Keeping such an organized note of the leave requests avoids any future conflict regarding partial treatment and leave acceptance. Apart from that, it also helps ensure that a good amount of workers are always available at the wing to help maintain the function of the company without any hurdles. During any step of this process, it is important to keep in mind that the rules and functioning might vary with every company according to their policies and ethics.