Managing Employee Time-Off Efficiently
Among the most fundamental employee issues that human resources has to manage well is paid time off. Most large companies with several thousand employees, follow the conventional paid time off format which includes vacation and sick time, however smaller companies may sometimes follow different formats. Keeping track of time off, if not done well, can be an expensive proposition for a company. In spite of this, a number of companies still track time off the old fashioned way- manually. Besides being complicated and time consuming, it is also inefficient. While there are a number of time management software solutions out there, it is best to choose one that offers all aspects of time tracking and compliance.
Most labor laws favor leave policies that meet state-specific compliance regulations so it is important for companies to choose a time tracking system that has this capability. Well managed time off can lead to greater efficiencies, less unscheduled absenteeism, more value about flexibility of time by employees and greater employee work-life balance. The paid time off approach is one of the human resources strategies that have seen success in recent times. There have even been suggestions around creating additional value around it so that employees can use it for their 401k.
Some other categories of paid time off include bereavement time, jury duty and military leave. Many organizations believe that publicizing this unique benefit helps employees to appreciate the company more. As far as choosing the right time off software, the higher end ones allow employees to get a single view of usage and balance and allow managers to conveniently approve or disapprove time off requests with a single click.
Accurate time off data is crucial for effective payroll processes and, if data collection is conducted manually, it often results in overpayment or underpayment to employees. This is not a good situation for professionally-run companies and could result in potential lawsuits. This is also true for companies who use archaic time management methods such as punch cards, paper timesheets or spreadsheets. Current statistics indicate that many mid-sized companies rely on this method of collecting time off data for their employees. Not surprisingly, one of the unpleasant results of this method is ‘time theft’.
A challenge that some companies face when it comes to effectively and accurately administering leave requests is volume. Each employee makes a variety of leave requests annually and ensuring that they’re all accounted for correctly often becomes very difficult. There are a number of variables that are involved such as employee category, job type, usage of time off till date, etc. These add to the approval/non-approval process and can slow things down. Staying on top of the process becomes difficult.
Effective workforce management is what differentiates a good organization from an average one and automating simple tasks can lead a company to success.
