The past few years have seen a dramatic shift in the workforce as the Great Resignation drives employee turnover to record highs. Over 47 million Americans quit their jobs in 2021 alone. This mass exodus has made employee retention a pressing priority.
Organizations are realizing they need to transform the employee experience through workplace flexibility and improved work-life balance. An efficient leave management process is a key component. However, organizations relying on manual methods face challenges meeting the demands of today‘s workforce.
Automating leave management provides a cutting-edge solution to enhance the experience and boost retention. This article will explore what leave management entails, common pain points with manual approaches, and compelling benefits of automation in 2024.
What is Leave Management?
Leave management refers to the processes for administering and tracking employee time off and absences. This includes:
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Leave types: vacation, sick time, parental leave, bereavement leave, jury duty, military leave, unpaid leave
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Request workflow steps: employee submission, manager review, eligibility checks, status notifications, final approval
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Related systems: HRIS, ERP, payroll, time and attendance
When done manually using spreadsheets, email, paper forms, and disjointed systems, leave management becomes complex and fragmented. Employees lack visibility into their entitlements and request statuses. Managers juggle cumbersome administrative tasks. HR teams struggle to maintain consistent processes and accurate records.
Automation introduces consistency, transparency, and efficiency to overcome these challenges.
Pain Points of Manual Leave Management
Reliance on manual approaches causes a myriad of issues:
Poor policy communication
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36% of employees do not fully understand their paid time-off policies according to one survey.
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This contributes to unauthorized absences which average 3 days per employee per year, costing organizations over 2% of payroll according to research by Gartner.
Payroll errors
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25% of employees report experiencing a payroll error in the last year according to The Workforce Institute.
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29% would leave their job after just 2-3 errors. Payroll mistakes erode trust.
Inefficient manual tracking
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37% of managers spend 1-4 hours per week just approving leave requests – time better spent on strategic priorities.
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80% of HR teams rely on manual spreadsheets and email to track leave, causing lack of visibility into schedules and delays in request processing.
The Top 4 Benefits of Leave Management Automation
Automating leave management mitigates these challenges:
1. Improved Transparency
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Leave automation systems act as central repositories for all leave policies, requests, approvals, schedules, and reports.
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This gives managers enhanced visibility into team schedules and employees full understanding of their entitlements.
2. Boosted Productivity
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Automated workflows eliminate manual administrative tasks for managers like entering requests, email approvals, status updates.
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This enables managers to save 8-10 hours monthly to focus on core responsibilities according to HR Technologist.
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It also minimizes HR workload by an estimated 20%.
3. Reduced Payroll Errors
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Integrations with payroll systems enforce policy rules and validate leave entitlements to minimize inaccuracies.
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Automated entitlement notices and sync with payroll cuts payroll error rates by 32% according to Advanced.
4. Improved Employee Experience
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Employees can submit leave requests online anytime and receive instant status notifications.
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This speeds approvals from 4.9 days to 1.3 days and boosts employee satisfaction according to Reason Labs.
With these benefits, leave automation has become a top HR priority for 2024.
Implementing Leave Management Automation
Transitioning from manual processes requires planning and change management. Here are best practices:
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Map out current workflows and identify pain points. Get stakeholder input.
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Select a leave management system that is user-friendly and integrates with your tech stack.
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Clean up leave data and standardize policies in the system.
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Train employees and managers on the new self-service portal and processes.
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Start with one leave type like vacation time to test the system.
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Expand features incrementally and continue enhancing the solution.
While it takes time to implement, leave automation results in smoother leave administration and elevated employee experience. For companies aiming to retain talent, leave automation is a wise investment as we head into 2023.