Why Leave Management has become an important task for HR.

Annual leave, sick leave or any kind of leave can be a very concerning word for any HR, especially when their business is busy and they need their employees on their toe. Just as an annual leave might be a privilege for any employee, sometimes it can become a nightmare for the employer, processing the leave amidst all the chaos at work, can be a very tough ask.

Approving the holidays or leaves demand structures and recording infection administrative work can be an unpleasant errand for the individual who manages them. Applying or approving leaves is not as easy as it sounds, it requires several form of approvals from all the managerial levels before they can be approved. It might be a process that is inefficient and time-consuming, but still, a stunning 40% of organisations and departments have stuck to the trustworthy spread sheet and paper trail out of tradition and habit as their main tracking mechanism.

Things were very different when life was normal, we all, employees and employers somehow adjusted to the errands of managing our duties, but come these extra-ordinary times such as a pandemic, everything aspect of the workplace has taken a turn. According to Office for National Statistics, the coronavirus has accounted for 14% of all sickness occurrence at the work place, which means all the HR departments had their hands full of work, applying leaves for their employees in a timely manner, that is why Leave Management is such an important tool to have in ones arsenal to make both parties’ life easier and straight forward.

A high number of people in employment were on furlough during 2020; this means they were temporarily away from employment that they expected to return to. The total number of days lost because of sickness or injury and the number of days lost per worker both saw a significant fall in 2020. The data that feed into the total number of days lost and days lost per worker include furloughed workers; therefore, some of this fall will be because fewer people are in work to be taking days off because of sickness or injury. Since lockdown, there has been a push of encouragement by many organisations to ensure their staffs are still taking annual leave during these turbulent times. For many this is less than ideal: many employees still have hope of a sunny getaway in the later half of the year once the pandemic restrictions loosen.

It is becoming clear that many employee will save their leave for the end of the calendar year which could lead to friction. Businesses are looking for new ways to manage annual leave to prevent a situation where all staff is away at the same time of the calendar year. The Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 amends the Working Time Regulations 1998 to create a further exemption relating specifically to COVID-19. Where it is not reasonably practicable for a worker to take some, or all, of the holiday to which they are entitled due to the coronavirus, they have a right to carry over the 4 weeks under regulation 13 into the next 2 leave years.
This statement was given by the UK government for regulation employee leaves, as simple it may sound; it has a lot of complications. With all the duties a HR has to follow, following these guidelines is nothing less than a headache for the HR.

Carrying out new computerized arrangements encompassing yearly leave will assist us with getting ready for the 'new standard' – a reality where we have gotten back to work, and where the lockdown has facilitated. Despite where we are working, we ought to have the option to follow who has been debilitated, who is wiped out, who has not had break, and who is owed break. Every one of these components will influence a business' capacity to work adequately post-Coronavirus crisis.

Saying all these, just processing the leaves is not the only duties a HR officer has. They have to look all over their workplace, for problems and provide solutions. From recruiting employees to firing them and everything in between has to be controlled by the HR, thus approving a holiday should not be such a headache for any HR and they should look for ways to reduce the headache.

HR officers now are adapting to computerised leave management, which enables them to overlook and see which employees are on leave and which ones need or applied for a holiday, changing the game just to a few clicks rather than thousands of paperwork’s roaming from office to office, consuming time and energy and eventually delaying results.

If the leave management becomes an easier job for the HR, it would be greatly beneficial for the employees and the employers, with all the HR platforms and software’s in the market now, surely all the HR has their eyes on making their life’s bit easier. Leave Management Software’s such as Leave Monitor provide such an easier platform for any employee to manage. Very easy and simple to use actually can be very efficient in helping HR’s or employers job a little easier with Leave Management.