Managing annual leave: 6 ways absence management software makes it easy in summary:
- Sophisticated absence management software can remove many of the manual and outdated processes that can make annual leave management difficult.
- It does this through centralising employee annual leave tracking, and automating time consuming calculations, such as annual leave accruals.
- In addition, self-service functionality removes administrative burden from HR teams, whilst real-time reporting and analytics make workforce planning much more efficient.
Let’s face it: annual leave management isn’t the most engaging of tasks for people professionals, is it? Especially in larger organisations with disjointed and decentralised approaches to managing absence requests.
From tracking accruals to managing annual leave requests and ensuring compliance with company policies and regulations… these sorts of manual processes can be time-consuming, laborious and prone to errors. And honestly, who wants to be spending large chunks of their time doing all that?
It’s not just a drain on time and resource that’s problematic, either.
Our recent report ‘It’s All HR’s Fault’ discovered that manual or outdated processes were the biggest barriers to success for HR teams. When burdened by manual or outdated processes – such as annual leave management, HR professionals confirmed it became increasingly difficult to focus on value-adding and strategic activities: ultimately, contributing to HR’s long-standing negative reputation of being just another administrative cost centre.
Luckily, HR systems that include integrated absence management software is removing much of that administrative burden for HR teams.
Making it all easy with absence management software
Absence management software makes annual leave management within a business significantly easier, more accurate and not to mention more efficient – freeing people professionals to focus on more value added activities. Here’s how….
1. Centralised annual leave tracking
One of the core benefits of absence management software is its ability to centralise the tracking of annual leave balances for all employees. So, no more relying on spreadsheets or manual records – everything you need to track annual leave requests is all in one place. It’s certainly more efficient, but also makes for better long term workforce planning.
HR professionals and line managers can use the software to maintain a centralised database of employee leave balances, accessible from anywhere with a good internet connection. This eliminates the need for manual data entry and reduces the risk of errors: ensuring that leave balances are accurate and up-to-date at all times for everyone.
2. Automated annual leave accruals
Still working our leave accruals using Excel macros or – even worse – a calculator? Why not let your HR software do the hard work for you? HR systems with integrated absence management software can automate the accrual of annual leave, eliminating the need for manual calculations and ensuring consistency across the organisation.
Take Cezanne’s absence management software, for instance. It can handle even the trickiest calculations, so you don’t need to! All you do us define your rules and the software does the rest, updating employees’ entitlements based on working hours, company rules and local calendars. Easy peasy!
All that ensures that employees accrue leave entitlements accurately and fairly, without the risk of human error.
3. Self-service annual leave requests
Another key feature of good absence management software is the ability to facilitate self-service leave requests for employees. So, instead of submitting old fashioned paper forms or deluging HR teams or managers with emails, employees can use the software instead to submit leave requests electronically, directly from their computers or preferred mobile devices.
That not only saves time for both employees and HR professionals, but also provides greater convenience and flexibility for employees to manage their leave entitlements. Power to the people!
4. Real-time visibility
Good absence management software provides HR professionals and line managers with real-time visibility into employee annual leave balances and requests. In turn, this allows them to make informed, data-driven decisions and plan resources accordingly.
Managers can easily view their team’s leave schedules and approve or deny requests with just a few clicks of a button, ensuring that staffing levels are maintained and business operations are not disrupted. Additionally, employees can track their own leave balances and monitor the status of their requests, reducing the need for follow-up inquiries with HR.
5. Compliance, reporting and analytics
Absence management software can help maintain company policies and regulations, such as maximum leave accruals or blackout periods for certain types of leave. This is perfect for businesses who perhaps need all hands on deck at certain times of year, or have maybe struggled in the past with different annual leave processes in different locations.
Additionally, the software can generate detailed reports on leave usage, accruals, and balances, which can be used for auditing purposes or to inform strategic decision-making. When you easily generate reports on remaining holiday entitlements or Bradford Factor, you’re better able to identify patterns that can guide your future workforce planning.
6. Integration with HR systems
Lastly, many absence management software solutions – including Cezanne’s – integrate seamlessly with other HR systems, such as payroll, time tracking and even performance management. This allows for seamless data sharing between systems, eliminating the need for manual data entry and ensuring data consistency across an organisation.
John Hixon
Chief Operating Officer
With over twenty years’ experience under his belt in the HCM Tech industry, Cezanne HR’s Chief Operating Officer John Hixon has been a driving force behind the company’s meteoric rise. From ambitious start-up to one of the leading SaaS HR brands, over the past ten years, John has been instrumental in developing an HRIS platform that brings people and businesses together.
