Here’s why your organization needs a time off management system

A survey conducted by Glassdoor revealed that paid time off (PTO) is one of the main reasons employees prefer to stay with a firm for more than five years. Having a flexible PTO policy improves your employees’ relationship with your organization and increases employee retention. In spite of the increasing demand for vacation time, many workers don’t take time off because they worry that too much work will accumulate or that they might lose their job. According to US labor laws, employers don’t have to provide PTO benefits to their employees, so some organizations offer little to no vacation time at all. A survey conducted by the US travel association revealed that about 768 million PTO days went unused and about 236 million PTO days were forfeited in America during 2018. This blog will dive into why every organization should offer paid time off, what a time off management system is, and how one can be beneficial to every organization in managing their paid time off effortlessly.

Why provide paid time off?

Taking time off from the everyday work schedule helps your employees relax and rejuvenate. Employees are likely to be more productive and motivated after they’ve returned to work. Not providing adequate vacation time can also have a serious financial impact on your organization. Employees who work continuously without taking a break experience burnout, and their productivity can take a hit. Unscheduled absenteeism also increases when employees are not provided PTO benefits. Research conducted by Unum states that employees consider paid time off as one of the greatest perks their organization provides. A substantial PTO policy indicates that your organization supports a healthy work-life balance. Your employees will feel more valued and empowered when they are offered paid time off. However, managing PTO manually, especially in a time when flexibility is taking over, can be challenging. This is where time off management truly shines.

What is a time off management system?

A time off management system is a software solution that organizations can use to automate and simplify how they track, manage, and approve time off requests from their employees. All you have to do is set up the time off management system according to your organization's time off policies and local labor laws, including defining time off policies, adding the applicable leave types, setting up approvals, defining entitlements, and adding holidays, and the system will work accordingly to ensure compliance.

Why a time off management software is necessary?

Tracking time off manually can be time-consuming and lead to errors. The time spent manually identifying and fixing these mistakes reduces the time spent on other tasks, including recruitment, retention, human resource planning, and learning and development. Furthermore, if PTO errors are occurring often without getting fixed, it can cause distrust among employees. A proper time off management system will improve employee retention and experience by automating manual processes and giving employees more power over their PTO schedules.

Key features of time off management system include:

• Access all employee time off requests in a single location

• Calculate paid time off, accruals, loss of pay, and entitlements effortlessly, and reduce unnecessary confusion

• Add different types of time off and define each type according to your organizational policy

• Schedule meetings and plans seamlessly with access to the entire employee time off schedule

• Identify sick leave and vacation time trends in your organization to understand your workforce better. For instance, if the number of sick days taken by your employees is high, it might be a good idea to organize wellness programs to help them stay healthy and productive.

How Zoho People can help?

Using Zoho People, our HR management software application, employees can request time off in just a few simple steps. When asking for time off, they can input the PTO type, reason, duration, and team ID. Reporting managers will be notified as soon as the time off request is in place, and they can easily approve these requests from anywhere. When the time off is approved, the whole team will be notified, and they can better prepare for that employee to be absent.

PTO is essential for your employees because it helps them to relax and take a break from their work. Having adequate time off also helps employees to be more productive. If managing time off is becoming a hassle for your organization, you can automate it with dedicated HRMS software. This prevents unnecessary confusion and saves a lot of time. Managing time off may seem like a small process, but doing it efficiently will help keep your workforce happy and your turnover low while your business expands.

Also read:Your complete guide to employee time off