An absence tracking software is an amazing tool for businesses of all sizes, everywhere around the world. This tool helps you get an accurate and all-time view of your team’s days off, availability, and vacation plans.
Plus, with more teams switching to hybrid work, you can easily lose track of who is on vacation and who is taking a few sick days. Since people don’t have to come to the office anymore, the standard ways of tracking work hours and presence are quickly turning obsolete.
Moreover, absence tracking tools also help managers identify problematic behavioral patterns that are usually present with employees who are either close to burnout or are going through a difficult phase in their personal life.
And, if you are thinking about making the switch to today’s tech-oriented business environment (congrats!), here are 4 of the major features that will help you find the right absence tracker for your needs.
1. Absence Tracking And Leave Management
This type of tool needs to be flexible and easy to use by both HR managers, team managers, and employees. For this, it needs to support various types of custom leave, sick days, and more.
For instance, a great absence tracker allows employees to submit their leave requests using their phones (via an app). Plus, some systems even allow employees who have an emergency or have to take a sick day to notify their colleagues about their availability.
This way, the rest of the team will be up-to-date and everyone will be able to adjust to the new situation.
2. Automatic PTO Accrual
There are absence trackers that also keep track of PTO accrual, which is the paid time off (PTO) employees earn based on their time with the company, performance, and other factors.
Now, since PTO also includes vacations, sick days, personal leave, and so on, HR has to constantly keep the balance and calculate the PTO that’s left after an employee’s absence.
If you use tracking software that does these calculations automatically, you will free your HR people’s time and help them shed off a routine task that’s usually dreaded.
3. Automation And Integration With Third-Party Apps
Automation can help your organization reduce the time spent with leave approvals, PTO calculations, and other administrative tasks that are both time-consuming and routine. Plus, it makes the process of absence management more transparent, easier to navigate, and a lot more pleasant for all parties involved.
With automation, an employee can put in a leave request via an app and the system will forward it directly to the responsible manager who can approve or deny the request with one click. The employee will be notified immediately via email (or app) and that’s it.
Everything can be solved in ten minutes (factoring in the time it takes the manager to see the notification and act on it).
4. Powerful Reports And Charts
Lastly, a reliable system can keep accurate track of each employee’s absences and compile comprehensive reports that help managers identify any issues ahead of time. Plus, in time, the system’s database can be used to make all sorts of predictions and understand employees’ behavior.
Wrap Up
In a nutshell, absence tracking software should be part of any manager’s toolkit as it’s a step forward toward effective team management. It helps cut down time spent with routine tasks and it makes the entire process of leave management more transparent.
It also reduces human error incidents and can improve productivity as everyone will be up to date with everyone’s availability.
Plus, as your team grows and diversifies, this tool will provide the data you need to identify patterns and understand how hybrid and remote work fares in your business model.