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Employee Leave Management Tips for Employers

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Employee leave management is an important function of any business’ HR department. The human resources function basically involves the management, organization, planning and recruiting of employees. It also handles the leave management function, for example, when employees request time off from work.

Such requests for time off could be a result of any one of many reasons. It could be a request for sick leave on health grounds, it could be maternity leave for women or it could be a request for annual vacation. It could also be an emergency time off request on compassionate grounds because an immediate family member has died or suffered a serious injury. 

The goal of leave management is to juggle these requests in such a way that organizational goals are not compromised while at the same time employee satisfaction is safeguarded and guaranteed. You can check this leave management system app if you are looking for an effective leave management solution for your business.

Let’s consider some other useful tips that HR departments might do well to consider in executing this most important but sensitive function. 

What are the Goals?

For any process to be well managed and executed it must have clear goals to start with. An employee leave management program must of necessity have the following as its goals:

  • Protection of employee interests – the welfare of the employee must be safeguarded and his/her satisfaction and happiness guaranteed.
  • An organization’s policy must be applied consistently and fairly and not leave any room for later charges of unfair practices. 
  • Organizational objectives must not be adversely affected. 
  • There must be full compliance with the country’s labor laws. 

Know your Labor Laws

Any HR practitioner must be fully conversant with the country’s labor laws. Let’s stress the point that the policies must be applied consistently otherwise some unfortunate and costly consequences can result from seemingly trivial issues.

Make Leave Policies Known to Employees

Leave policies are laid down for employees so it’s imperative that the employees understand them fully.

Not all employees have college degrees so these must be communicated to them in a way they understand. 

  • The procedure to be followed when an employee wishes to request time off. 
  • Explain all the different types of leave employees are entitled to and the circumstances in which they might be applied. These different types of leave include maternity leave, sick leave and compassionate leave. The use of employee manuals is a good idea.

Record all Correspondence and Communication

Everything that is said or communicated should be recorded so that there is a permanent record of it for later reference should the need arise. This should be done for all forms and types of communication including that done via email, via phone or those done in closed-door face-to-face meetings.

Such thorough documentation is important to ensure compliance and in case there arises at a later date some legal lawsuits. Such documentation whether kept in a computer or in any other retrieval system should be kept secure with access restricted to authorized persons only. Also, check this leave management system app. It is easy to use and the perfect leave management solution for any organization. 

Stick to Policy

The HR department should inform senior management of any policies they draft and make sure that they stick to them.

Prepare for When Employee Returns

When employees go on an extended leave of absence they are eventually going to return and this event has to be prepared for. An employee returning from a long period of sick leave might need new special medical equipment that he/she didn’t need before or special aids might need to be fitted in toilets for example.

A set policy has to be in place to facilitate communication with employees when they return from such long periods of absence. Such measures will ensure a smooth transition when the employee returns.

In this age of rapidly changing technology, new systems might have been adopted during the employee’s absence. It would therefore be necessary to prepare for retraining of the returning employee.