What is a leave management system?

As working individuals, we may take time off for several reasons. Leave time helps us strike a balance between professional and personal responsibilities, and it can lower our work-related stress. Most organizations are required by law to provide a set amount of leave to their employees. For instance, the Factories Act mandates that organizations in India provide 12 days of earned leave to every employee who has worked for 240 days a year.

Every organization should establish a comprehensive leave policy that elaborates on the different types of leave that employees are entitled to, as well as how employees are expected to use each leave type. It's also essential to streamline the process of managing employee leave requests. This is where a leave management system truly shines.

We can better understand the benefits of a leave management system by taking a quick look at the challenges associated with managing employee leave requests. 

What leave-related challenges are HR teams facing?

• Tracking leave applications

When leave is managed manually, employees end up submitting their leave requests on paper or through emails. When the incoming requests start to build, it becomes overwhelming for the approvers, and they may even miss a few. This negatively impacts the employee experience. Manual leave management could also mean that leave records are not always documented properly, which leads to a higher chance of your organization facing compliance issues.

• Difficulties in enforcing leave policies

When there's no system to manage employee leave, employees are less aware of the amount of sick, casual, and earned leave they are entitled to. This will cause several issues, ranging from increased absenteeism and lack of transparency to lowered productivity and poor well-being.

• Inaccuracies in payroll calculation

Employee leave data is necessary for payroll calculation when it comes to paid and unpaid leave. Sometimes, employees may take more leave than their regular entitlement, leading to a loss of pay. Or, sometimes, they may be eligible to cash in their leave. When such aspects of leave are not tracked and documented properly, it results in payroll calculation errors. This negatively affects employee morale and their trust in your organization.

What is a leave management system?

A leave management system is a comprehensive HR tech tool that enables organizations to track their employee leave requests online. A leave management system can help your organization define employee leave requirements, approve leave requests, and manage holidays in a way that aligns with your organization's leave policies. If your organization has a global presence, you'll be able to add unique leave types and customize leave policies for each location. The leave management system also empowers your employees to check their leave balances, apply for leave, and access their upcoming holiday list with a few clicks.

This system centralizes all data pertaining to employee leave in a single online location, and it analyzes this data to provide useful reports. This also helps support accurate payroll calculation. As every step in the leave-tracking process is securely stored, you'll face no troubles while ensuring compliance with labor laws. Plus, most leave management systems come with a mobile application to help organizations manage leave approvals right from their smartphones or tablets.  

Wrapping up

A leave management system can turn the tedious task of managing employee leave into a simple, easy, and effective process. We hope this blog post gave you an insight into the different challenges associated with leave management and the basics of a leave management system!

Zoho People, our HRMS, comes with an intuitive leave management system that can automate a variety of leave-related tasks, including collecting leave requests from employees, managing approvals, letting employees check their leave balances, sharing holiday calendars, and a lot more! Learn more about Zoho People's leave management system.