Absence and Leave Management Software: Definition

With technological progress, it is now possible to equip yourself with several tools to make life easier in a company. Leave and absence management software is a computer program that you can acquire to automate the planning of absence periods and leave of your company’s staff members. This is a highly functional tool that will help to:

• Properly plan employee absence requests (you will be able to consult, modify, validate or refuse them);
• Monitor in real time the balances of seniority, reduction of working time, recovery, etc.
• Manage paid leave, export data to payroll, etc.

With such online software, you will be able to better manage your company’s staff.

How does the software work?

The leave and absence management software works in SaaS mode. Indeed, it is not necessary to install it on the company’s computer equipment. It is a tool that each member of the company can access from the web browser of their computer or through a mobile application on their smartphone or tablet.

Therefore, everyone has a custom interface on which they can perform the actions. Through the software, employees will be able to fill out leave and absence request forms so that managers can analyze their requests.

They check whether the employee’s request is appropriate or not. As for the managers of the Human Resources department, they are responsible for customizing the software and managing the payroll.

Why use such software?

Absence and leave management is essential in companies. Thus, HR software has been designed to facilitate employee management. With leave and absence management software, it will be easier for you to formalize the process.

It helps managers make fewer mistakes when processing requests and provides statistics. The use of this software saves managers a lot of time and productivity. It automatically provides the remaining leave balance for each employee. It provides complete visibility into the company’s services. In addition, this software is also effective for the management of leave and absences in international companies.

Criteria for selecting leave management software

In order to find a leave and absence management software that meets your needs, it is necessary to rely on ergonomics, which must be intuitive and simple in order to facilitate use by all employees.

It is also necessary to check for the existence of a smartphone version, because employees are very mobile these days. In addition, it will be necessary to ensure interoperability with the company’s internal HRIS and finally to evaluate the overall cost of the solution.

What options does absence and leave management software have?

HR self-service for every employee

HR self-service allows each employee to access their leave balance in real time. This feature of the software comes in the form of an interactive calendar where employees can view their leave and that of their colleagues. On the table, leave is classified by type (splitting, CP, RTT, etc.).

It is then possible to consult the status of each leave, i.e.: to be validated or validated. It is therefore according to this information that everyone can plan their absences and holidays at their own level. To do this, the employee selects the departure and return dates. They then fill out a form provided that contains the type of leave, name and duration. He may be able to add a comment before submitting it to his superior.

The latter will automatically receive an email containing the request of his subordinate, the balance of leave of the latter and the schedule of the entire team at the time the request was made. If it validates the request, the leave counter is updated automatically. An online dashboard centralizes all data related to employee absences. It contains:

• the balance by type of leave: you can see the leave acquired, those that have been taken, validated or submitted for validation;
• applications that are in progress;
• absence histories.

Pending applications can finally be cancelled after analysis.

An HR portal for managers

The software allows HR managers to have a particular interface that allows them to manage the requests of their subordinates. This interface contains requests classified according to leave type, duration and comments.

The HR manager also has an alternative calendar that allows him to read the schedule of a department that interests him or that of the entire company at the time the request was made. Once the subordinate’s request has been studied, he or she can validate or reject it with one click. A notification will then be automatically sent to the applicant.

If it is the HR manager who wishes to have a leave, he or she can also submit his or her request on the software to validate it or submit it to his or her superior.

An administrator portal that allows you to manage the payroll

Above the HR managers is the HR director who also has a personalized interface. Through the latter, he can learn about the reports and performance indicators (KPIs) essential to ensure effective personnel management.

On the administrator portal, it is possible to view the durations, reasons and frequency of leave. The software also provides the absenteeism rate as well as the breakdown of absences according to the applicant’s department, the type and nature of the absence, etc.

As an administrator, the HR director can make changes to the software in order to adapt it to the company’s image and policy on leave and absences. He is therefore not obliged to keep the default settings.

In particular, he has the power to modify, add or delete certain types of leave. It can complete the periods on the teams’ schedules by adding, for example, school holidays, weeks with no time off, etc. It can also define an approval workflow for certain requests or for certain requester profiles.

All of the above features can be set up as desired. They allow you to manage all absences as well as all agreements. In addition, the software can be easily integrated with the company’s internal Human Resources Information System (HRIS). As a result, absences are automatically taken into account in the payroll software, for example.

It is also possible to automate the counting of meal vouchers and to place orders in one click. However, if the internal tools used and the software are not interoperable, it is always possible to export the data even if it means analyzing it separately with each tool.

Who is the leave and absence management software for?

All companies, SMEs, VSEs, public administrations, international groups, etc., can use the leave and absence management software. Internally, the software is intended for employees, HR managers and also HR directors who are responsible for managing the payroll.

What are the disadvantages of leave and absence management software?

Like all technological tools, this type of software has some drawbacks that should be highlighted. Indeed, using applications for smartphones and tablets requires a quality and, above all, constant internet connection. Also, in the absence of perfect interoperability between the software and the HRIS, management can be handicapped. To do this, the company will be forced to use the tool of the HRIS editor even if it is not very appropriate for the company.

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