Managing holiday tracking should be centralized and simple to process


Holiday-Tracking

Managing staff holiday should be simple for the staff/approver and free from any unnecessary complexity. Staff should be able to apply holiday from where ever they want and whenever they want. On the other hand, the approver should be able to process it at the same time. The whole process from applying the holiday leave and getting a decision should not take more than a minute.

 

It is time consuming and chances of error are high when the process is managed manually or through excel. In manual process, the staff needs to see the manager physically when they are at work or call them to check about their holiday. But it might not always be possible to find the manager every time. And the process consumes a lot of time for the staff and the manager. This cost staff working hours and money that can be easily avoided by implementing an online staff holiday tracking system. It should be a simple process a proper staff holiday tracking system is used. A good holiday tracker can allow staff to apply holiday through a platform that is accessible by the staff at anytime from anywhere.

 

There are many holiday tracker but not all of them are easy to use or efficient enough to reduce amount of time to process a holiday request. Unnecessary complexity can create more confusion and waste more time if not handled correctly. First thing that a staff holiday tracking system should have is the easy access of the platform from anywhere anytime. Staff takes leave for many reasons and holidays is one of the main reasons. The staff plans for their next holiday few times a year and it could be with the friends/family while they are at home or at work. According to a survey of 2,000 British adults commissioned by finder.com and conducted by research provider OnePoll in June 2018, it was found that over half (58%) of Brits plan their next holiday during work hours. The average employee spends 29 minutes planning getaways every week, which amounts to more than three working days a year of holiday shopping. According to another survey Adults spends around six hours browsing the web for ideas before asking their children, friends and family for input on where to go on holiday. So, it is important that the staff can have access to their staff leave tracking platform from anywhere to get a decision about their holiday as soon as possible. Once staff have their holiday booked and received the confirmation, they can put their focus back to work.

 

Secondly Staff should have an easy to understand interface where they can see their entitlement and apply for holiday in a simple manner. A complex system or process can lead the employees to spend more time to understand the process and get approval for the leave. And that can add the additional cost to the employer. The staff holiday tracking system should be simple enough to allow staff to log in, apply for their leave quickly.

Holiday-Tracking

Finally, the staff holiday tracker should alert the approver immediately and give enough information to take a decision about the holiday request. An ideal system should send a notification to the manager or the approver immediately about the holiday request. The manager or approver should be able to access the platform from anywhere and see the request as soon as the request is submitted and take a decision based on the information in the system. It is important that the system displays relevant information like staff entitlement, eligibility, who else will be working during the period to help the approver to make the decision. Once the decision has been made, a notification should go to the staff about the decision.

 

Using a centralized web-based system and keeping the process simple can benefit organisations many ways. Other than saving the environment by not using a lot of papers, organisation can save money, reduce error in holiday booking, give clear visibility of the staff availability at any point of time. That is one of the reason why leave management has become important task for HR.

Moby A

Moby A is the co founder of the Leave Monitor platform.