How Automated Leave Tracking Simplifies HR Operations

Leave tracking is one of the most critical aspects of employee management as it enables employees to take time off from their work. Hence, HR teams are trying to find the ideal solution to automate employee leave management and ensure seamless leave approvals.

A recent study by 9cv9, a job-seekers website, found that companies that automated the process of leave management saw a 30% reduction in administrative costs related to leave management, when compared to organizations without such software.

So, let us understand how an automated leave tracking system simplifies HR operations and ensures streamlined leave management of employees:

Accurate Leave Calculations

Accurate leave tracking has multiple benefits for organizations, including payroll processing, employee engagement, compliance, and more. Hence, employee leaves should be tracked accurately and shared with the employees to ensure transparency in the leave management process.

However, when the leave data is tracked manually using spreadsheets or physical ledgers, there is always the possibility of human errors. Crediting and debit accurate leave amounts, carrying forward the leaves to the next salary cycle and financial year, etc. is a meticulous task, and takes up a huge amount of HR’s productive hours.

On the other hand, with the help of a leave management software, leave credits and debits are automated. Similarly, the software keeps track of every leave taken by the employees, resulting in worry-free payroll processing.

Additionally, with real-time analytics, HR teams can manage their workforce effectively, while the enhanced data visibility ensures transparency to the employees, resulting in increased engagement.

Time and Cost Savings

While manual leave management might seem cost-effective, it comes with its own hidden costs. There are various issues with manual leave management which cost money, such as inefficient calculations, payroll mistakes, non-compliance fines, etc. Such inefficient methods also lead to loss of productive hours. Additionally, if there are any manual errors in the leave data, it can lead to major delays in payroll processing and disbursals, which also affects employee morale.

On the other hand, by deploying a robust leave management system like Pocket HRMS, companies can save time and cost with simplified leave calculations, automated leave tracking, and error avoidance. Hence, implementing such a system proves to be effective in the long run, both in terms of time and money. Moreover, it also improves your employees’ trust in your company, helping you have loyal staff members.

Also Read: How Leave Management System Improves Employee Productivity?

Reduced Administrative Burden

Handling employee leaves is an administrative burden for the HR teams as they are required to undertake various tasks such as approving leaves, monitoring leave balances, ensure accurate leave accruals, as well as answering employee queries related to their leaves. Such tasks take a major chunk of HR time, which leaves them exhausted, as they are also required to carry out other tasks related to overall employee management.

Conversely, an automated leave management system enables automated handling of employee leave requests, while tracking leaves accurately. It can also display leave balances, leave types, and dates when leave was taken by an employee, which helps avoid repetitive employee queries related to them, reducing the overall time spent on answering them. Additionally, it also helps the reallocate the time spent answering employee queries into other strategic activities like developing innovative employee engagement strategies.

Automated Leave Credits and Debits

While legacy methods involve HR teams in the leave approval process, automated systems can bypass them as employees can simply register their leave requests on the system, while their manager approves or rejects them. As a result, these systems bypass the email chains present in organizations for leave approvals, streamlining the entire process of leave approvals. It also helps them avoid having to constantly check their emails for approvals, as these systems provide handy mobile apps for easier accessibility.

Additionally, modern leave management systems also provide the HR teams with real-time workforce visibility, enabling them to ensure adequate workforce presence to avoid any dip in productivity and headcount. Even in cases where employee headcount is critical to business operations, HR teams can monitor their workforce using their leave management systems and connect with staff who have taken unauthorized leaves to understand why they are not present, making the system efficient and effective.

Improved Data Security

Since employee salaries are calculated by considering their leaves, it becomes a part of the confidential payroll data for the employees. However, it is impossible to ensure data security with spreadsheets and manual ledgers, as these documents can be damaged or manipulated, raising concerns about the integrity of the information contained within them. Even if we consider password-protected spreadsheets, they limited security features, making the leave and payroll data vulnerable to attack by malevolent parties.

Alternatively, automated leave tracking software encrypts the employees’ leave and related data ensuring that it remains accessible only to authorized employees. Additionally, with the help of user access controls, the system displays data based on the user’s role, ensuring data integrity. Moreover, this data is stored observing the norms of the statutory requirements, enabling automated compliance. All these factors ensure that there is no discrepancy in the data, while empowering the users with secure audit trail options in case of any fraudulent behaviour.

Increased Transparency

With legacy methods of leave management, employees need to contact their HR to understand various aspects of their leave data such as remaining balances, various leave types available, unpaid leave count, etc. Hence, they were dependent on HR teams to understand their leave details, which was a tedious task, while also leading to delays in getting the required information. Such delays also diminish employee engagement as they feel that their requests are not being handled on time.

A dedicated leave management software solves all the aforesaid issues as it provides the employees with an intuitive employee self service portal to check their leave balance, track their leave usage, as well as request leaves whenever required. Additionally, it also helps the managers approving their leaves, as they can get an overview of their employee leaves, enabling increased transparency. Such quick approvals also help the employee realize their importance for the organization, and help them understand their value within the company.

Automated Compliance Handling

There are various compliance risks associated with manual handling of employee leaves in an organization. When leave management is undertaken manually, HRs need to manually ensure that leaves credits are compliant with the local and national statutory rules and regulations. Since these laws can change anytime, they also need to stay updated on these changes too.

However, these challenges can be avoided with the implementation of a robust leave management system. Since these systems are developed considering the regional, national, and even international employee and labour laws, they relieves the HR teams from having to refer to the law every time they need to make any changes to their leave management settings. Additionally, as these systems stay updated on the cloud, HRs need not keep track of every change.

Simplified Workforce Management

Without access to real-time workforce data, HR and Workforce Management (WFM) teams cannot predict workforce requirements, nor can they ensure adequate workforce for any shift within the organization. As a result, they would not be prepared to handle staff shortages, making the employees susceptible to stress and burnout.

However, with a dedicated system in place to manage leaves, HR and WFM teams can gather real-time overview of their workforce present within the organization at any given time. They can also gather insights about upcoming leaves and ensure that adequate workforce is available to undertake the tasks required on any particular workday.

Enhanced Employee Engagement

With manual leave management, human errors are common in organizations. Issues like inaccurate leave monitoring, delayed approvals, confusion about regulations, etc. are common with manual leave management. However, as it affects the employees severely, such as inaccurate payouts, it leads to frustration and dissatisfaction among them.

On the other hand, with automated leave tracking systems in place, leave errors can be completely avoided as the system takes care of leave credits and debits, while ensuring compliance with the statutory norms. Combined with ability to view their leave details, employees can have a good understanding of their leaves, enabling improved satisfaction, leading to increased engagement.

Conclusion

Automated leave tracking enables you to streamline all aspects of employee leave management, enabling you to focus on other strategic tasks, while providing your employees with enhanced transparency. Hence, modern businesses are deploying ultra-modern systems like Pocket HRMS to automate the process of managing their employee leaves.

Implementing a leave management system not only simplifies HR operations, but also ensures data security and integrity, as well as compliance with the local and national regulations. Since these systems can be easily integrated with other commonly used HR software like payroll management system, accounting software, attendance management system, and others, you can have a seamless workflow, which further improves your efficiency.