The Expedia 2023 report suggests that there’s work to be done for annual leave management and regulation, which is where an annual leave planner comes in to play. The report found that Asia Pacific’s ratio between vacation days used to vacation days allotted in 2022 is:

• Hong Kong: 25.5 days vs 21.5 days
• Australia: 18 days vs 21.5 days
• Singapore: 14.5 days vs 17 days

Based on these insights, Singapore has one of the lowest rates when it comes to applying for leave, whereas Hong Kong has the highest rate, taking four extra leave days on average. This guide will introduce you to the concept of an annual leave planner, and we’ll also provide you with a free downloadable template to get you started.

What is an annual leave planner?

A staff annual leave planner or staff holiday planner is a tool that many companies use to manage annual leave entitlement. In essence, it provides a rundown of the approved time off and employee absences, and also enables HR teams to efficiently manage manpower.

This management tool may be a HR software or a manual one (like Excel spreadsheets). It all depends on the size and nature of your business.

What are the benefits of using an annual leave planner?

Understanding the value of a staff annual leave planner will help you evaluate the efficacy of implementing this tool and see its effects on your daily processes. Here are the main benefits of using one:

Increase efficiency

With a staff annual leave planner, you can have a more efficient employee leave management. Streamlined leave management systems empower employees to manage their own time off, reducing administrative burden.

Additionally, a leave planner that tracks all employees’ time offs from one department allows team members to know who’s leaving when, making it easier to coordinate handover tasks, increasing efficiency. This is especially needed during festive seasons when many employees may apply for annual leave.

Read next: HR’s Out of Office Checklist

Reduce absenteeism

If your company has high levels of absenteeism, a leave management tool like a staff annual leave planner can serve as a central database, offering you data-driven evaluations. The absentee rate classifies time offs according to their types and tells you how many days each employee is absent.

By analyzing employees’ time offs according to leave types, you can identify absence patterns and employees who have this problem. For example, the annual leave planner can reveal which employees call in sick often, and you can use the planner to demonstrate their remaining paid sick leaves for them.

Foster a culture of fairness

A staff annual leave planner promotes fairness in the workplace. It ensures consistency in the implementation of leave policies for all employees. This is especially important in big corporations with various departments where it can be difficult to ensure that all managers are fair otherwise.

Boost employee morale and engagement

How can an annual leave planner boost your employee morale and engagement levels? The staff annual leave planner informs employees about their remaining PTOs. This way, they can use them reasonably and return refreshed, energized, and motivated to work.

Another perk of having a solid tracking tool is the communication and valuable analytics, which can help you assess employee engagement levels. To illustrate, you can note when employees aren’t using their time off and are at a risk of burnout. In turn, this promotes an engaging company culture.

What are the types of staff annual leave planner?

You should choose one of the two main types of leave planners according to your company’s type, size, and budget as follows:

Manual spreadsheets

One of the easiest ways to start is using an Excel spreadsheet as your staff annual leave planner. You can build it from scratch or use a free downloadable template like ours and build upon it!

Once that’s done, you can use it to store and organize your data. You’ll need to enter your employees’ leave data and categorize their holidays based on leave types manually. With each employee time off request, you’ll need to approve, file requests, and update the data.

Naturally, manual spreadsheets are prone to errors and are time-consuming. A single incorrect formula can create a pattern of mistakes in annual leave records. Also, they increase the chances of a missed leave request, as your employees may use email or verbally submit their requests (instead of entering them directly into the system).

Another point is that spreadsheets are for data storage. They don’t highlight important and deeper issues (like absenteeism), so you’ll need to manually run reports for that. You also have to manually cross-check various spreadsheets for workforce planning purposes while employees are absent.

Leave management software

An HR software that acts as a staff annual leave planner takes the stress out of the equation. Leave management systems can be cloud-based and easy to access with mobile apps and push notifications. 

You can set quotas for each day and see how many hours are booked. The system automates the approval, filing, and tracking process, adding the annual leaves to your leave planner within seconds for you and everyone to see. Also, some HR software allows you to lock certain days with high workloads or multiple leaves in order to ensure operational efficiency.

With a staff annual leave planner software, you can notice attendance and absence trends, act proactively, and adjust policies and procedures to improve welfare and avoid performance drops. You can also have an error-free tracking system.

Factors to Consider When Choosing Your Annual Leave Planner

Ask yourself the following questions when choosing the staff annual leave planner system in order to ensure it accommodates your business needs.

1. How big is your company?

Manual spreadsheets (like our free downloadable template) make sense for small and medium-sized enterprises. After all, tracking net leave balances for a relatively small staff won’t be much of a hassle.

Otherwise, a staff annual leave planner software system is more equipped for large businesses. It automatically tracks leaves for employees and eliminates the chances of error. If you subscribe to one, make sure the software is built to support teams of your company’s size, and is able to expand as you go.

2. Do you have any budget constraints?

Creating a staff annual leave planner using a free spreadsheet template like ours is always an option if you have a small budget. 

However, if you have a bigger budget, we recommend you look at staff annual leave software subscriptions. They may cost as little as $3 per employee and as much as $5 per employee and more each month. With some vendors, you’ll need to request a quote to get informed about their pricing.

3. Are your leave policies complex?

If your leave policies are complex, a manual spreadsheet might mean that you need to spend a lot of time approving and filing leave requests while sifting through your leave policies to ensure everything is in check.

Instead, an annual leave planner software can automate these processes. It can process and file these leave requests while adhering to mandated regulations and company policies. Software providers may also offer regulatory compliance to ensure your policies align with labor laws.

4. Do you require a high level of customization?

If your organization offers leaves that are not the typical ones (such as PTO and off in lieu), you may want to find an annual leave planner that allows for customization.

So, if you’re working with a ready-made planner template, you might have to make a lot of changes to it before it can be used beneficially. Therefore, it would be wise to invest in a staff annual leave planner software with customizable features to suit your unique needs.

5. How will you communicate it to your employees?

How will you communicate leave policies and leave balances to your employees? Are you going to use a spreadsheet as a staff annual leave planner? If so, how will employees access their leave data? Otherwise, you might need a software system with an internal communication tool for remote teams.

6. Does it adhere to data security standards?

Security is a no-brainer when it comes to sensitive employee information. Consider whether the staff annual leave planner that you are implementing adheres to local data laws and your organization’s data security standards.

It’s crucial to choose a staff annual leave planner that keeps your employee data secure. This can include encryption technology, storing it on secure servers, and offering access controls to permit authorized access. 

Relevant reading: Employee Data Management: How HRIS Can Help Achieve Accuracy and Security

Implementing an Annual Leave Planner (with Template)

Now that we’ve established important considerations, here are some steps to guide you in choosing and implementing your preferred leave planner and maximizing its benefits.

1. Define your needs

How many employees do you need to track annual leave data for? Do you need customization options? Perhaps you want to add sabbaticals or training as a leave type. Maybe you want a maximum absence rule for your customer support team that’s lower than other departments. These considerations are important when it comes to establishing your annual leave planner.

2. Choose your planner

After understanding your needs, the next step is to choose a planner that ticks all your boxes and is easily accessible. Find a suitable annual leave planner software option that supports businesses like yours, or you can create your own spreadsheet tracker. 

If you’re not too sure where to begin, our free annual leave planner template is a great place to start! 

3. Set up your planner

Once you’ve established your annual leave planner, the next step is to populate and import relevant data. These include employee data, leave policies, and leave types. 

For example, you might enter the data for your staff of 50 employees and attach company leave policies for easy access. This could be something along the lines where “no more than 15% of any department can take leave at the same time.”

4. Communicate and train

With the planner up and ready to go, it’s time to communicate the new planner with your employees. It’s important to store the planner in a secure but easily accessible location, such as the company’s intranet.

Make a company-wide email announcement about the planner, and hold an education session for it. Finally, train your managers in your leave policies and how to use the planner so that they can educate employees about them.

5. Implement and monitor

Finally, you can implement the staff annual leave planner and track leaves with the system. If you opt for our free template, it is best practice to regularly monitor the data to ensure that it’s accurate and updated, while also making changes to ensure the leave planner can adapt to your business’ evolving needs.

Maximize the Benefits of Leave Management with Omni

Leave management systems offer a practical solution to reducing administrative work and streamlining People management processes. 

Omni’s time off management capabilities help managers and HR teams swiftly navigate employee leave management. Omni’s platform allows you to approve leave applications on the go and keep track of who’s in and out of the office with at-a-glance scheduling. 

Our employee self-service portal empowers employees to submit their time off requests, which automatically routes to the appropriate manager thanks to customizable approval workflows. Our user-friendly mobile application further simplifies the process, allowing employees to apply for time off requests on the go.

For further leave management ease, Omni seamlessly integrates with common work tools such as Slack, enabling managers to manage time off approvals with a simple push of a button. With automated calculations, employees and managers can easily view leave balances in real-time, and track how many vacation days they have left without having to go through HR.

Our localized solutions and inter-connected system integrates your leave management efforts with payroll processing, facilitating automatic, accurate calculations and compliance with local regulations for various regions. 

Book a demo with our team today and we’ll walk you through our platform’s capabilities and demonstrate how Omni can transform your leave management processes, saving you time, reducing administrative burdens, and enhancing overall efficiency.

Not ready for automation yet?

According to a recent Statistica survey in Asia Pacific, the majority of employees prefer hybrid work arrangements. Deloitte’s survey further mirrors that idea, emphasizing that “37% of Asia Pacific respondents say they allow international remote work,” compared to 25% in the Americas.

It’s clear that flexible working is taking Asia Pacific by storm, making it essential for you to update your flexible working policy to create an optimum working environment that both retains your employees and attracts top talent.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the different types and benefits of flexible work arrangements and provide you with a flexible working policy template to get you started, alongside best practices to communicate your policies. 

Relevant reading: Understanding Singapore’s 2024 Tripartite Guidelines For Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA)

What are the types of flexible working?

Understanding the types of flexible working can help you envision the kind of workplace you want to establish, and make it easier to set up your flexible working policy template.

• Remote Work: Remote work is where your employees work from a place other than the company premises, such as their home or coworking spaces. It can apply to full-time jobs or be part of a hybrid arrangement. Microsoft is a great example as it hires for several remote jobs, such as software engineers, program managers, onboarding managers, and security sales specialists.

• Flexitime: The flexitime flexible work policy example allows your employees to choose when to start and end work within a broader timeframe (provided that they work during core hours and work a certain number of hours per month). Google has a flex time policy, encouraging employees to choose their working hours.

• Compressed Workweek: In the compressed workweek flexible work policy example, employees work longer hours so that they can work fewer days that amount to the same total working hours. You can find a flexible work policy example for this in Panasonic (with an optional four-day week policy to accommodate new economic policy guidelines in Japan).

• Part-Time Work: In the part-time flexible work policy example, your contractor works less than the full-time hours. Some companies allow part-time arrangements for all jobs except when it’s impractical. Zillow, the online real estate marketplace, offers part-time work, thanks to their flex time policy.

• Job Sharing: In a job sharing flexible work policy example, a full-time post is divided into two part-time ones. Both employees have compatible skills and share the responsibilities and duties. If you’re looking for a flexible work policy example for this one, look at Target and Deloitte where employees can coordinate and request job-sharing from their HR department.

Why is a flexible working policy important?

Now that we’ve established the types of flexible working, you might wonder what these big corporations see in a flexible working policy template. Here’s why:

Ensure clarity and consistency

Setting a flexible working or a flex time policy is necessary so that all employees are clear about the areas of flexibility in your system and so that they apply to everyone. As such, it should outline the organization’s flexible practices clearly.

With such a flexible working policy template, managers can maintain consistency in their decision-making, promoting fairness. As for employees, they can fully grasp their rights and form their expectations.

Streamlined process and management

A flexible working arrangement requires coordination, which is where the flexible working policy template comes in. You can customize it to include all the details that facilitate management and streamline the process.

If you’re looking for a flexible work policy example here (like a flex time policy), your policy should detail the core hours, for instance. This way, your managers will know when all their teams will be online so that they can schedule meetings and synchronous work during those hours.

Additional reading: How to Implement an Asynchronous Work Environment 

Improved employee satisfaction and productivity

One of the main goals of implementing a flexible working or flex time policy is to boost employee satisfaction and productivity levels. According to the National Institutes of Health, working from home, employees changing their schedules, and any similar flexible work policy example furthers employee well-being.

Naturally, employee well-being and satisfaction levels reflect directly on productivity levels. Emotionally healthy and motivated employees go above and beyond, and this heightened productivity means better problem-solving and brainstorming.

Risk management and compliance

Using a flexible working policy template to formulate yours helps you comply with labor laws and mitigate non-compliance risks, which means avoiding penalties, legal complications, or potential disputes. 

Let’s say you decide to establish a “work from anywhere” flexible working policy, and an employee may move to a different jurisdiction where you don’t have premises. It’s important to consider questions such as ‘What are the tax implications for that?’ and ‘What local and state regulations do you need to meet?’

Referring to a flexible working policy template enables you to create better guidelines for remote work. This way, you can mitigate compliance risks proactively.

What to include in your flexible working policy?

Now that we’ve established the importance of a flexible working policy template, here’s what you need to know when considering what to include within your flexible working policy:

1. List out the available types of flexible work arrangements

Do you want to establish a remote, hybrid,  or flex time policy? A flexible working policy template states the types of flexible arrangements allowed in a workplace, from which you can pick the ones that serve and align with your company mission and vision.

2. Eligibility criteria

The second step in creating a policy for flexible working arrangements is to determine the eligibility criteria. Are all employees allowed flexible working arrangements or a flex time policy, or do they apply to a certain group? Personalize a flexible working policy template to suit your workplace needs.

When you set the eligibility criteria, you should be mindful of the nature of the position, team needs, impact on colleagues, and business impacts. To illustrate, an employee’s job may require their attendance during certain hours or involve tons of synchronous work, which may be difficult for flexible arrangements under your flexible working hours policy.

3. Application process

A flexible working policy template should detail the procedures of the application process for flexible work arrangements or flex time policy approval. They’ll need to submit a flexible working request, and your policy should detail the needed information in that request, such as:

• The request date
• The desired changes to the work arrangements
• Whether the request is statutory or non-statutory
• Whether this is their first flexible working request or not
• The dates of their previous flexible working requests (if present)

4. Approval process and timelines

After you receive the request for a flex time policy, what is the standard procedure? How should your HR team make the decision? They’ll reference the eligibility criteria. 

A flexible working policy template might make this approval on a case-by-case basis (depending on the benefits and drawbacks of the proposed change to the employee and the organization). If the request requires more back and forth, you can formulate a policy that allows HR specialists to invite the employee in question to a consultation meeting.

Also, the flexible working or flex time policy should include the documentation method in case of the approval of the request. For instance, it may be in writing (along with the details of the new arrangements and any meetings to discuss them). It should include the procedures for appealing to the response.

Finally, any flexible working policy template includes timelines for each step. What is the timeline for responding to a flexible work or flex time policy request? What is the timeline for setting a meeting to discuss that request? What about lodging appeals and hearing them in case of rejection?

5. Responsibilities for employers and employees

Finally, you want your flexible working or flex time policy to detail the responsibilities of employers and employees in your work environment.

Let’s take a flexible work policy example. You implement a hybrid working arrangement. How many days per week do your employees need to attend in person? Is attendance optional? Do you need to provide workstations to accommodate them?

Best Practices for Communicating Your Flexible Working Policy

After you’ve developed your flex time policy based on our flexible working policy template, you’ll need help communicating it so that employees and managers implement it properly, creating the flexible work environment you strive for.

Be transparent and communicate clearly

The implementation of your flexible working or flex time policy is contingent on your transparency and clear communication with the relevant stakeholders, including employees, leaders, and cross-functional departments.

Use the appropriate channels to cover the new policies, whether that’s a webinar, meeting, or workshop. Explain how important this information is and why it’s important, along with the reason behind and implications of your policy changes.

Read next: Navigating the Digital Divide: Enhancing Remote Team Communication

Make it easily accessible

Your employees should have easy access to your flexible arrangement or flex time policy. For that, you can include the modified flexible working policy template in your employee handbook, making it easier for employees to refer when shifting to a flexible working arrangement. 

Set up internal Q&A platforms

Look at any successful flexible work policy example or flexible working policy template. Chances are that the HR team provides employee support.

Therefore, you’ll need to establish an internal Q&A platform: an online discussion forum for your employees where they can voice their concerns, ask questions, and offer suggestions. Along with the responses, they should be published and retained so that employees can refer to them in the future.

Provide regular updates

As is the case with any new flexible work policy example, you’ll need to review and update it regularly. Working conditions are always evolving, and, in any thriving flexible work policy example, it should evolve with them.

This way, your flex arrangement or flex time policy can accommodate the dynamic needs of the workplace, changing legal requirements, and constructive employee feedback about the flexible working policy template. Be sure to communicate relevant updates and explain the thought process behind them to foster and maintain employee trust.

Streamline Flexible Working with Omni

Flexible working arrangement brings about plenty of benefits to the organization such as employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity. A robust flexible working policy is crucial to ensure the success of guiding approval and managing flexible work arrangements within your organization. 

Omni’s centralized document management solution makes it easy to gather the necessary data required to create the flexible working policy that suits your organizational needs. With customized workflows and automated reminders, HR can help empower employees to manage the deadlines and documentation requirements for flexible work arrangements as required within your flex time policy. And centralized documents and real-time data makes it easy for employees to get notified on their request status.

Book a demo with our team to learn more about how Omni can streamline your flexible working options.

Offering floating holidays for employees can be a great way to boost productivity and employee engagement. As a result, HR teams should consider implementing floating holidays whilst ensuring compliance. 

In this article, we’ll answer the question of ‘what is a floating holiday?’, the benefits it provides for employers and employees, and how to create a floating holiday policy. 

What is a floating holiday?

A floating holiday is a paid day off from work that employees can take in addition to paid time off (PTO) and public holidays. The day the employee decides to take off is up to them. Employees can use it as a substitute for a public holiday or to celebrate special events like religious holidays, festivals, birthdays, etc. 

The beauty of floating holidays is their flexibility. However, company policies may give certain restrictions, such as requiring advance notice or restricting employees from using it during peak business periods. Clear communication of these policies will ensure clarity.

For example, an employee who follows a religion that is not widely practiced in their area can use a floating holiday to honor a major religious festival, such as Deepavali or Hari Raya Puasa. This allows the employee to participate in cultural rituals and family gatherings, demonstrating that the employer values their religious commitments without affecting their annual leave or sick leave.

Another example of a floating holiday is celebrating a personal milestone or a significant family event, like a graduation ceremony. This flexibility acknowledges the importance of their personal life while not impacting their regular paid time off.

What is the difference between a floating holiday and a public holiday?

When answering the question of ‘what is a floating holiday’, it’s important to discern the difference between a floating holiday and a public holiday. 

A floating holiday is a day off that employees can take at their discretion. In contrast, a public holiday is a day designated by the government as a non-working day for the general population, usually to commemorate a historical or cultural event. 

Although public holidays are fixed and observed nationwide, floating holidays are much more flexible and can be used based on individual preferences or needs, often requiring prior approval from the employer. 

What is the difference between a floating holiday and paid time off?

Paid time off (PTO) and floating holidays may seem alike since they are both benefits that offer employees a day (or days) without work. However, the distinction lies in the scope of each benefit. 

PTO is a comprehensive term that encompasses various types of leave, such as vacation days, sick leave, and holidays. Unlike PTO, which can typically be carried over into the following year, most companies do not allow employees to carry over floating holidays.

Depending on your state’s PTO regulations, if a floating holiday is not associated with a specific event, you may be required to compensate employees for unused floating holidays upon their departure. Not all states mandate this, so it is essential to familiarize yourself with local regulations.

For example, some companies offer floating holidays for occasions like Christmas Eve, allowing employees to choose whether or not to utilize them. However, if an employee resigns in August, they would not receive compensation for the Christmas Eve holiday, as it is contingent upon remaining employed until the holiday occurs. 

Is it mandatory for employers to provide floating holidays?

When understanding the concept of what is a floating holiday, an essential aspect to consider is its mandatory nature. In short, employers are not obligated to offer floating holidays.

Whether or not a company gives its employees a floating holiday is determined by its internal policies and practices and any applicable state or local regulations. Some employers can choose to offer it as part of their benefits package to provide employees with greater flexibility, but it’s not a legal requirement in most places.

Read next: HR’s Guide to Employee Leave Management

Benefits of a Floating Holiday

There are a lot of employers and employees alike who stand to gain from creating a floating holiday policy. Here’s why: 

For employees

• Increased flexibility: Employees who take floating holidays have the freedom to choose when they take time off, allowing them to better align their personal needs with their work responsibilities. 
• Improved work-life balance: Every employee values work-life balance, and having the option to use a floating holiday gives them a chance to better balance personal commitments without sacrificing their professional responsibilities.
• Feeling valued and trusted by employers: Providing this benefit for employees shows their employers value their well-being and it creates a more motivated work environment where employees feel appreciated and respected, leading to higher job satisfaction.

For employers

• Attracting and retaining top talent: Getting top talent to apply and stay with your company is possible through floating holidays. For employees who value work-life balance, they may be more likely to stay with employers who offer more flexible paid time off options. 
• Improved employee engagement and satisfaction: When employees are aligned with company values, they put in their best work and the freedom they have to manage their schedules makes them more engaged and satisfied with their work, leading to lower attrition rates. 
• Accommodating diversity and inclusion needs: Allowing your employees to take time off for cultural or religious events that are meaningful to them shows respect for their identities and beliefs, promoting diversity and a more inclusive work environment.
• Spreading our time off: Offering a floating holiday can allow employees to spread out their time off throughout the year, rather than being limited to fixed holidays. This can ensure workload is effectively distributed, prevent absenteeism and employee burnout during important work seasons.

Things to Include in Your Floating Holiday Policy 

1. Number of floating holidays

To ensure clarity about when employees can take a holiday, define the number of days they can take in your policy. Here are two important factors to consider: 

• Industry standard: Depending on the industry and work tasks, some may have more floating holidays than others. For instance, in the creative sector, offering more paid time off benefits can be a way to attract and retain top talent, given the emphasis on work-life balance and flexibility. 
• Company size and budget: Company size and budget constraints should be considered when setting a policy. Larger companies with more resources may offer a more significant number of floating holidays as part of their employee benefits package. 

2. Blackout periods

You should establish blackout periods, typically during busy business seasons, when employees are not allowed to take floating holidays. This helps the company avoid being understaffed during important cultural events.

It’s also important to properly state any restrictions you have on when or how employees can use the holiday. Define things like how many days they can take at a stretch or the maximum number of employees that can take their holidays within a period.

3. Advance notice for requests

Your floating holiday policy should balance flexibility with scheduling needs. Employees should be required to inform employers in advance, making planning work around employee absence easier. Exceptions for a shorter notice period can be allowed for urgent situations. 

Incorporating into the policy the requirement for employees intending to take floating holidays during busy periods to complete their work in advance can help alleviate the workload for their colleagues.

4. Approval process

The approval process is important in a floating holiday policy as it helps with orderliness and smooth operations within the organization. 

Typically, employees are required to request their desired floating holiday from their manager and HR team. The request is then assessed by their manager to ensure it fits with the team’s current operating situation, and it is either approved or denied.

Once approved, employees will be notified. Proper documentation is then completed, usually using HR tools, to ensure accurate tracking of employee time off and compliance with payroll regulations.

Read next: What is a Leave Management System? Why Every Business Needs One

5. Carry over or encashment

Most floating holiday policies don’t contain carryovers from one year to the next. Although some companies offer it, it’s not against the law. Companies that allow employees to carry over their holiday may also provide them the option to encash their unused floating holidays. 

Encashment can benefit employees who prefer extra income or have difficulty scheduling time off due to workload or other commitments. You can include this in your policy if it aligns with your overall company goal. 

6. Tracking and scheduling

Employers should establish clear guidelines for tracking and scheduling employees’ floating holidays. Employers can use HR software to log employees’ time off requests, and managers can review and approve them. 

It’s important to specify in the policy the importance of maintaining transparency and consistency in leave management. This helps ensure that employees use their allocated days off appropriately.

7. Communication

Nothing beats clear communication regarding workplace relations. Employers can educate and train employees on what is a floating holiday and the existing policy, holding Q&A sessions to help them understand their rights to the benefit. 

If you, as an employer or HR manager, are unsure where to start with your policy, we’ve got you covered with a fully customizable, downloadable employee handbook template to guide you on creating your floating holiday policy. 

Building a Thriving Workplace with HR Tools

With Omni’s time off management capabilities, managers can approve floating holiday applications on the go, and keep track of who’s in and out of the office with at-a-glance scheduling. Our employee self-service portal enables employees to submit their time off requests, which are automatically routed to the appropriate manager thanks to customizable approval workflows. Our user-friendly mobile application further simplifies the process, allowing employees to apply for time off requests on the go. 

For further leave management ease, Omni seamlessly integrates with your team’s well-loved work tools such as Slack, enabling managers to manage time off approvals with a simple push of a button. With automated calculations, employees and managers can easily view leave balances in real-time, and track how many floating holidays they have left without having to go through HR.

Try out Omni for 14 days free!

Book a demo with our team today and we’ll walk you through our platform’s capabilities and demonstrate how Omni can transform your leave management processes, saving you time, reducing administrative burdens, and enhancing overall efficiency.

In the wake of the pandemic, many employees have grown comfortable working from home. However, the reality is that enabling all employees to work remotely is often unfeasible. This raises the question: what about the 94% of employees who prioritize work-life balance? 

In Singapore, where overwork is prevalent, addressing this issue is crucial. While granting remote work to all employees may be difficult, offering time off in lieu can help strike a better balance. Taking action now can prevent valued employees from resigning due to employee burnout. 

Time off in lieu (TOIL) allows employees to take time off work for extra hours performed. Understanding and implementing TOIL effectively can help rejuvenate your workforce, leading to improved results and positive work environment. 

What is time off in lieu?

Time off in lieu refers to the practice where an employee takes time off of work for additional hours they have worked beyond their regular working hours. Instead of receiving monetary compensation for overtime, employees accrue hours they can use as paid time off. It gives them the flexibility to manage work-life balance and can be particularly beneficial if they prefer time off rather than additional pay. 

For example, if an employee works extra hours in a particular week, he is entitled to take equivalent time off in the future. It typically depends on the employer’s approval and clauses mentioned in the company policy. Employers can use time off in lieu to reward their hardworking employees without taking the burden of additional payroll costs for overtime. 

What is the difference between TOIL and paid overtime?

When dealing with overtime, both time off in lieu and paid overtime offer solutions, but their compensation methods differ. With TOIL, employees trade extra hours for future paid leave, whereas paid overtime compensates employees with additional pay for each hour worked beyond their regular schedule. 

TOIL offers greater flexibility in managing work-life balance, as employees can choose when to use their accrued time off. Conversely, paid overtime provides immediate financial compensation for the extra hours worked. Each approach provides its benefits and is suitable for various circumstances, depending on the needs and preferences of the employees and organization. 

Who is eligible for time off in lieu in Singapore?

When it comes to determining eligibility for time off in lieu in Singapore, there are a few considerations: 

Employment Act coverage

Part IV of the Employment Act entitles employees who are earning up to S$2,600 per month and workers performing manual labor earning up to S$4,500 per month to time off in lieu if they worked on a rest day or public holiday. Employees can choose to receive either: 

• 1 day of TOIL for up to 4 hours of work
• 1 day of TOIL + overtime pay for more than 4 hours of work

It is important to note that employees not covered in Part IV such as managers and executives are not automatically entitled to TOIL. However, there are other ways to provide entitlements to these groups of individuals. 

Employment contract

For individuals not covered in Part IV of the Employment Act, the employment contract is the go-to to determine specific TOIL provisions and entitlements for working overtime, on weekends, or on public holidays. It’s important to specify all these conditions within your employment contracts to ensure compliance.

Read next: HR’s Guide to Managing Singapore Employment

Mutual agreement

Regardless of the Employment Act coverage or employee contracts, employees can always negotiate TOIL provisions with employers in exchange for extra working hours. This should be a mutually agreed arrangement where both parties are aware of the terms including numbers of hours worked and the corresponding time off provided. 

It’s also crucial to note that the act provides 11 public holidays to employees in Singapore. What if your peak working days fall between any of these holidays? That’s where you ask employees to put in the additional hours for time off in lieu or paid overtime, as they see fit. 

Do employees get time off in lieu if a public holiday falls on a rest day or non-working day?

As per the Ministry of Manpower guidelines, if the public holiday falls on a rest day, the following day will be a paid public holiday. If the public holiday falls on a non-working day, employees are entitled to time off in lieu or an extra day’s pay.

For example, Nathan works 5 days a week. In this case, Saturday is his non-working day and Sunday is his rest day. 

For public holidays that fall on Saturday, Nathan is entitled to either a day off or salary in lieu at the gross rate of pay, which includes the basic rate of pay and allowances. 

For public holidays that fall on Sunday, Nathan will receive a paid public holiday on Monday.

Struggling to understand and calculate public holiday pay in Singapore?

For employees who work on a public holiday, employers by default are required to pay an additional day pay. However, by mutual agreement, employees can choose to receive either: 

•  A public holiday in lieu
• Time off in lieu (only for employees not covered under Part IV)

How to calculate time off in lieu?

Accurately calculating time off in lieu is crucial to ensure you are accurately compensating for the number of hours worked beyond regular working hours. Here are some tips: 

Recording time off in lieu earned

Your company policy or employment contract should clearly state a specific conversion rate between overtime hours worked and time off earned. You then multiply the overtime hours worked by the agreed-upon conversion rate to calculate the equivalent time off earned by employees. 

For example,

Conversion rate: 1.5 Hours of TOIL for 1 hour of overtime

Total overtime logged by employee = 10 hours.

Time off in lieu entitled = 10 hours x 1.5 = 15 hours

Omni Tip: Maintaining accurate records of time off in lieu is crucial to clearly indicate the dates or periods for which TOIL is earned. This practice helps remove unnecessary confusion.

Administering time off in lieu

Proper administration of TOIL is pivotal to prevent potential misuse. It is important to ensure that TOIL aligns with company policies and procedures, including clear guidelines on how employees can request TOIL in advance.

You should clearly state the number of days of advance notice required from employees and outline the approval process from managers. Additionally, maintain accurate records of TOIL balances, showing the total accumulated TOIL hours and any time taken off in lieu. 

When employees request time off in lieu, deduct the corresponding number of TOIL hours from their balance. Encourage employees to take TOIL within a reasonable timeframe to prevent excessive accruals.  

Utilization of Time Off in Lieu

Now that we’ve covered the basics of calculating and administering time off in lieu, it is necessary to impose limitations on usage of TOIL. This includes setting a cut-off date and refraining employees from using TOIL during peak periods.

Setting a cut-off date

Setting a cut-off date for TOIL offers several benefits for both employers and employees. 

For employers, accumulating large amounts of unused TOIL can create significant financial liabilities, especially when employees choose to take their time off simultaneously. A cut-off date encourages employees to utilize their accrued TOIL within a reasonable time frame, reducing potential financial burdens.

On the flip side, encouraging employees to use their TOIL within a specific time frame helps them maintain a healthy work-life balance and avoid potential burnout from accumulating unused leave. 

Limiting TOIL during busy periods

Busy periods often require all hands on deck. Allowing employees to take TOIL during this time could potentially disrupt productivity due to understaffing. By limiting the usage of TOIL during peak periods not only ensures sufficient workforce availability when it’s needed the most but also, reduces workload and associated costs for HR departments to process and manage TOIL requests. 

What to include in your time off in lieu policy?

Your time off in lieu policy should clearly outline eligibility criteria, accrual rates, maximum limits, request procedures, appropriate tracking methods, and other relevant details. Let’s delve into these aspects in detail.

Eligibility

The policy should clearly specify who is eligible for TOIL. As mentioned above, employees are entitled to TOIL based on the Employment Act or employment contract. However, the policy can further clarify eligibility based on:

• Employee category and employment status: define which categories of employee are eligible. Specify eligibility based on employment status (permanent or probationary). 
• Job roles: clarify eligibility based on job roles or positions. Consider responsibilities, work hours, or classification within the organization. For example, positions requiring frequent overtime should be eligible for TOIL. 

These are just some examples of eligibility criteria for your TOIL policy. It is crucial to focus on implementing fair and equitable criteria across the organization. 

Accrual and maximum limits 

Accrual in a TOIL policy determines how employees accumulate time off based on additional hours worked in a given period. The accrual rate can vary based on different factors. 

For example, the hour-for-hour method accrues TOIL based on each additional overtime hour worked, ensuring employees receive equivalent time off. However, some organizations may prefer a fixed accrual rate, where employees receive time off based on a predetermined rate, regardless of actual overtime hours.

To prevent excessive accumulation of TOIL, setting a maximum limit on TOIL accrual can be beneficial. This ensures employees do not accumulate excessive time off, which could disrupt company productivity and operation. The limit should strike a balance between providing enough rest time for employees and maintaining operational efficiency, while also complying with relevant regulations. 

Usage

Your time off in lieu policy should clearly state the process for requesting time off, including how and when employees can take their accrued time off. This should include a formal procedure for submitting requests, such as through employee self-service portals, email or written form, along with any required documents or approvals. 

Additionally, the policy should specify advance notice requirements to facilitate effective absence management and ensure sufficient time for planning during absences. It should also define limitations on when TOIL can be taken based on staffing levels and peak periods to avoid disrupting organization operations. 

Lastly, ensure transparency by empowering employees to easily access and track their real-time accrued TOIL balance, allowing them to plan time off effectively. 

Recordkeeping

Investing in an HRIS can help manage TOIL accrual, usage, and balances for both employers and employees. Employees should have access to a dedicated employee portal to view their TOIL records, enabling them to schedule time off effectively.

However, it is essential to prioritize data security and confidentiality by ensuring that only employers and relevant employees have access to this information.

Read next: The 7 Best HR Software Singapore Has to Offer in 2024

Review and updates

Regularly review your TOIL policy to align with your organizational changes, legal developments, and employee feedback. Consider various metrics like utilization rates and compliance with accrual limits to gauge employee engagement and satisfaction. 

Collect feedback from relevant stakeholders, including HR professionals, managers, and employee representatives, and update the policy as needed. 

Communicating the policy

Transparently communicating any changes to the TOIL policy to employees using clear and simple language through various channels such as email, newsletters, bulletin boards, and team meetings. 

Ensure the TOIL policy is clearly outlined in a document or include it inside your employee handbook, emphasizing key points such as eligibility criteria, accrual methods, maximum limits, and request procedures. 

Additionally, HR professionals and managers should be readily available to address any TOIL-related inquiries. 

Additional considerations 

Some additional considerations to strengthen your TOIL policy are as follows: 

• Carryover policies 

While some employees are excited to take time off, others may not utilize it as frequently. Clarify in your policy whether accrued time off in lieu hours can be carried over from one year to the next. Some organizations permit this while others require employees to use all accrued TOIL within a timeframe. If carryover is allowed, specify any limitations or conditions. 

• Loss of TOIL

What happens to the accrued TOIL in case of resignation or termination? Either the employee receives the payout of unused TOIL hours, or it is fortified. Your company policy should tackle the same while complying with labor laws and regulations. 

• Compliance with labor laws 

Ensure your TOIL policy complies with relevant labor laws, regulations, and industry standards governing time off, overtime and compensation in your jurisdiction. This includes adhering to minimum wage requirements, overtime regulations, and specific TOIL provisions. For example, in Singapore, employees covered under the Employment Act are entitled to 11 public holidays. If they work extra hours, TOIL and additional pay policies must be followed.

Time Off in Lieu Management Made Simple with Omni

Time off in lieu offers a flexible approach to balancing employee workload and ensuring fair compensation for extra hours worked. A robust leave management system can streamline the process, making it easier to track, approve and manage TOIL accrual and usage. 

Omni’s time off management capabilities help managers and HR teams swiftly navigate employee leave management. Omni’s platform allows you to approve time off in lieu on the go and keep track of who’s in and out of the office with at-a-glance scheduling. 

Our employee self-service portal empowers employees to submit their time off requests, which automatically routes to the appropriate manager thanks to customizable approval workflows. Omni seamlessly integrates with your team’s favorite work tools such as Slack, enabling managers to manage time off approvals with a simple push of a button. With automated calculations, employees and managers can easily view TOIL leave balances in real-time, and track how many vacation days they have left without having to go through HR.

Ready to take your TOIL management to the next level?

If you’re not quite ready to take the leap, try leveraging some free tools to simplify your leave management efforts for free. Download Omni’s Employee Time-off Request Form Template to easily gather the information you need to manage employee time and attendance.

Paid time off, otherwise known as PTO, is a key element of the employee experience. It allows employees to recharge, take breaks, and come back with a refreshed and productive mindset. By allowing your workforce time to attend to their personal needs, you are helping them to stay present and engaged while at work (while helping curb employee burnout). Ultimately, PTO works out to be a win-win for both employees and the organizations that employ them. 

The key to any great employee benefit comes down to the ease of access and use. Like most HR functions, a clear, easy-to-use system is required to ensure initiatives run smoothly. Employee leave management does exactly that, facilitating the tracking, administering, and compensating of employee leave, to ensure employees are getting the rest and work-life balance they need, while keeping functions like team collaboration, payroll, and compliance efforts on track. 

What Is Employee Leave Management?

Employee leave management involves the processes and policies that govern the requests and administration of employee time-off; a benefit often offered by employers as a part of employee compensation. These processes include reviewing and approving or denying employee time-off requests, communicating and managing employee’s schedules, tracking time off allowances, and administering paid benefits.

Employee leave includes vacation, sick time, family and personal leave, and bereavement, and can be both paid or unpaid, depending on your company’s policies.

To assert the importance of leave for employees, Pew Research Center says, “About six-in-ten workers (62%) say it’s extremely important to them personally to have a job that offers paid time off for vacations, routine doctor’s visits or to deal with minor illnesses, larger than the shares who say the same about having employer-paid health insurance (51%).”

The task of employee leave management falls under the core responsibilities of the HR department, and can be managed manually, electronically or outsourced through a trusted third party.

Why Is It Important to Have a Leave Management System?

When well implemented, a leave management system balances staffing and employee demands on one side and legal and business policy compliance on the other. In that sense, it supports both business and employee success.

Accurate records keeping

Employee leave management includes keeping records of leave that employees take so that they have a clear understanding of how much leave is available to them throughout the year. This need becomes abundantly clear during payroll and offboarding, as providing records and having clear policies prevents disputes over accumulated earned leaves.

A leave management system allows HR, management, and employees a clear view of how much leave is available and how much has been taken, simplifying leave requests and payroll.

Not to mention, tracking enables you to enforce your leave policy justly, cutting down revenue losses. That’s because the existence of records means you won’t pay for absences (non-completed work hours) that are not covered under your company’s leave policy. 

Compliance

Depending on the country you are operating in, you may have specific legal requirements to adhere to around employee leave. Some countries require a minimum amount of parental leave, paid or unpaid time off in relation to hours worked, or certain federal holidays observed by companies. Leave management systems allow you to input these unique requirements and ensure your organization adheres to local labor laws.

Labor management

Leave management systems help to organize employee schedules, offering a straight-forward view into who is working and who is taking time off, reducing instances of under-staffing or conflicts across teams that may affect project deadlines, staffing needs, or other team effectiveness considerations.

Reduced administrative workload

An automated leave management system relieves HR teams of the administrative burden that so often accompanies processing leave requests. From processing requests, tracking employee schedules, calculating leave balances, and processing payroll, leave management systems digitize and automate these tasks, reducing the time spent managing leave and eliminating time-consuming administrative work for HR and management.

Challenges of Employee Leave Management

When you establish an employee leave management system, understanding the potential challenges helps you distinguish a good system from a subpar one and improve how your HR department handles this responsibility.

Tracking leave

Although it may look simple enough, keeping track of employee leave can present its challenges. With multiple employee schedules, leave allowances, and types of leave to manage, you’ll need to document their leave types and confirm that they’re compliant as well as have enough balance to cover their leave. It’s easy to mis-calculate, fail to record, and over promise leave that may lead to gaps in workload coverage if you’re not careful.

There’s also the issue of compliance when tracking leaves. You must know which time-off your employees are entitled to and when they’re entitled to them (depending on local and state labor laws and internal policies). Otherwise, your tracked leaves may land you in legal trouble.

Still using manual leave processes?

Administering payroll

Your payroll management system is intertwined with your leave management system. If there are errors, inconsistencies, and miscommunications in your leave management records, they’ll reflect on your payroll processes. This might result in mixups between paid and unpaid leaves and inaccurate compensation.

Ensuring you pay employees for their PTO is necessary, and solidifies their trust in your company. On the other hand, ensuring you don’t accidentally pay them for unpaid leave reduces revenue losses for your business.

Communication

Communicating company policies clearly can be a challenge within leave management. Whether policies are unclear, difficult to find, or poorly communicated, it can cause a fair bit of confusion for all parties. Further, communicating leave across teams is essential for collaboration and clarity within your organization, and failing to do so effectively can result in missed opportunities and tasks falling through the cracks.

Guide to Developing a Leave Management System

Now that you’re aware of the importance and challenges of an employee leave management system, let’s look at the steps you should follow to build a comprehensive and effective leave management strategy.

Familiarize yourself with local laws and regulations

The first and arguably most important step in setting up your leave management system is to understand your local labor laws and government mandated regulations. Research local, state, and federal labor laws in your location and that of your employees to ensure compliance.

There are a wealth of resources available from government websites to blog posts and templates available for HR teams to leverage as tools for remaining compliant and informed. 

Omni’s blog offers a variety of localized advice and information such as:

• Hong Kong Payslip Templates
• How to File a Hong Kong Employer’s Return
• Understanding Hong Kong’s Rental Reimbursement Scheme
• Itemized Payslip Template Singapore
• Singapore Employment Pass: Updates & Requirements
• Payroll Singapore Reference Guide
• Understanding Malaysia’s Employment Act
• How to Apply, Claim, and Select Training Programs for HRDF Malaysia

Automated leave management systems are often equipped with the knowledge and modules to help your team navigate compliance laws and regulations, helping to reduce the likelihood of errors that can result in fines or larger legal troubles.

Outline leave policies

To prevent communication challenges, outline your policies clearly. Make them transparent, comprehensive, and balanced between employee needs, business interests, and employee satisfaction. Make clear whether you offer a traditional PTO benefits package or follow an unlimited time-off policy. Your employee leave policy should include:

• The holidays your company acknowledges
• The available leave types (such as parental leave, sick leave, casual leave, emergency leave, and jury duty)
• How to request time-offs
• How to handle unused time (whether it’s lost, used, or rolled over)
• How leave time is deducted
• How time is accrued in your company

Making leave policies widely accessible and clear for your teams empowers employees to utilize their benefits, helps reduce confusion, and brings clarity for both employees and their managers. 

We recommend outline your leave policy within your employee handbook, going over this information during employee onboarding, and making the policy easily accessible by storing it in your HR database for quick reference.

Develop a tracking system

You need a system to track employee leave, remaining balances, and the percentage of employees not using their PTO. This system should also track absenteeism and leave-taking patterns to help flag disengaged employees for early intervention.

Tracking employee leave can be done either using manual or automated systems. HR personnel can manually track leave transactions and the net leave balances for all leave types; however, it can be a time-consuming and error-prone process.

Automated systems subtract time from an employee’s leave balance after each approved request. Additionally, such a digital leave management system supports the addition of set PTO amounts every pay period, which keeps the total accurate and updated. They also help establish pre-defined policies for employees living under different jurisdictions.

Tracking helps facilitate clear communication, ensures accurate and timely payroll, and provides valuable analytics to help determine insights around employee engagement.

Streamline Your Leave Management With Omni

Leave management systems offer a practical solution to reducing administrative work and streamlining People management processes. 

Omni’s time off management capabilities help managers and HR teams swiftly navigate employee leave management. Omni’s platform allows you to approve leave applications on the go and keep track of who’s in and out of the office with at-a-glance scheduling. 

Our employee self-service portal empowers employees to submit their time off requests, which automatically routes to the appropriate manager thanks to customizable approval workflows. With automated calculations, employees and managers can easily view leave balances in real-time, and track how many vacation days they have left without having to go through HR. 

Our localized solutions and inter-connected system integrates your leave management efforts with payroll processing, facilitating automatic, accurate calculations and compliance with local regulations for various regions. 

Not ready to switch to an automated system? Download our free Employee Time Off Request Form template to help streamline your manual system.

Receiving an employee time off request is a routine occurrence for HR professionals and managers. As company culture remains top of mind for many as a tool for employee retention and engagement, HR leaders are encouraging their employees to utilize their benefits and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

But with the various tasks that HR leaders juggle, an employee time off request can quickly become a headache that causes bottlenecks in your employee management practices. Having an employee leave management system to effectively direct leave requests can help alleviate errors, frustrations, and delays in your time and attendance practices.

Employee Time Off Request Challenges

While an employee time off request may seem fairly straightforward, it’s the management and influx of information that can often pose a challenge for HR and management. There are several pain points you may have encountered (and some you may be unaware of) when managing leave requests for your employees.

Lack of visibility

The one-off employee time off request is no sweat, but what about when multiple employees request time-off for the same dates? This is not only a challenge in logistics, but can become a nightmare if you don’t have a clear view of exactly who is requesting time off at what time. A lack of visibility can cause managers to approve requests without the full picture, or come up short on staff due to over-promising time off because they were unable to view the rest of the team’s availability. This can be particularly frequent around peak-leave seasons such as holidays.

Inaccurate leave calculations

Unless your organization offers unlimited vacation, you most likely need to track and manage employee leave balances to know how many days have been used, and how many remain for your employees. When your time management system relies on manual entry and spreadsheets to track each employee time off request, the likelihood of data entry errors or miscalculations is high. It can cause issues such as inaccurate administration of benefits, an over reliance on managers to inform employees of their leave balances, and the loss of valuable time that could be focused on strategic efforts to drive your business.

Accounting errors 

As mentioned before, inaccurate leave calculations can lead to major accounting errors. Whether you pay out employees for unused vacation at the end of the year, or approve too much PTO due to inaccurate leave balances, mismanaging an employee time off request can lead to monetary losses for your business and disgruntled employees.

Manager bottleneck

Being inundated with requests to review and approve without a comprehensive system that allows you to clearly see employee’s schedules takes up an unreasonable amount of time for managers. Whatsmore, when employees are reliant on their managers to calculate and convey their leave balances, it places an undue burden on management and HR teams, which not only gets in the way of their busy to-do lists, but slows down the process for employees to access their benefits.

3 Steps to Effective Employee Time Off Request Management

Step 1: Establish a clear leave policy

Develop a comprehensive time off policy that clearly outlines the procedures and guidelines for requesting and approving time off. Details such as the types of leave available and the time allotted should be included in your employee handbook that is presented during onboarding. 

To clearly communicate the procedures for submitting an employee time off request to help streamline your process, consider the following:

Establish a timeframe for time off requests 

To avoid last minute requests that can cause scheduling issues and disrupt workflows, establish a timeframe in which folks are eligible to submit their employee time off request. This allows managers a buffer to ensure all leave requests are honored while maintaining productivity and meeting deadlines.

Standardize how to submit an employee time off request

Communicate with your teams what information they need to include in their leave requests. This may include their title, manager’s name, and reasons for requesting. You’ll also want to develop a system for submission, which could include email, paper form, or sent through your Human Resources Information System (HRIS).

Download our free Employee Time Off Request Form template

Determine blackout periods

There may be a large project or busy season in which your company needs all hands on deck. Establish blackout periods at the beginning of each calendar year to clearly inform employees of when they are unable to take time off (with the exception of unplanned emergencies). This allows employees adequate notice to plan their leave and helps maintain healthy workflows.

Be transparent in the request process

Create a feedback loop with individuals regarding their employee time off request. If you’re unable to grant their request, provide some feedback as to why. This helps employee morale, and promotes buy-in on company initiatives.

Step 2: Implement an Employee Leave Management System

Introduce an employee leave management system to streamline and automate your employee time off requests. An employee leave management system can be a dedicated software or an integrated module within your existing HRIS. 

An employee leave management system helps streamline your leave management processes by allowing employees to submit requests, track their time off balances, and enable managers to review and approve requests efficiently. Some employee leave management systems, such as Omni, even allow managers to quickly generate regular reports to audit employee time off to adequately run payroll and analyze personnel costs. These features help eliminate the pain points of employee time off requests with simple integration into your current system.

Benefits of an employee leave management system 

Boosts employee engagement

An intuitive and seamless employee leave management system plays a central role in helping employees get the most out of their benefits, which can be a major tactic to combat employee burnout and boost overall engagement. 

Frees up valuable time

A centralized and automated system alleviates the administrative burden on managers and HR teams from having to calculate employee leave balances, filter through manual approval processes, and juggle multiple calendars at once.

Provides accurate data

An employee leave management system automatically analyzes and tracks important data that informs payroll processes, benefits administration, and personnel budgeting. All functions that are central to your business’s bottom line.

Step 3: Communicate and train your teams

Once your employee leave management system is implemented, communicate the new process and its benefits to all of your employees. Conduct training sessions — many of which are provided for free through the software’s customer support team — to familiarize them with the system’s functionality and demonstrate how to submit employee time off requests. Additionally, provide managers with training on how to review and approve requests, ensuring they understand the policy and any relevant legal requirements.

Streamline Your Leave Management With Omni

With Omni’s time off management capabilities, managers can approve leave applications on the go, and keep track of who’s in and out of the office with at-a-glance scheduling. Our employee self-service portal allows employees to submit their employee time off request, which automatically routes to the appropriate manager thanks to customizable approval workflows. With automated calculations, employees and managers can easily view leave balances in real-time, and track how many vacation days they have left without having to go through HR. 

Not ready to switch to an automated system? Download our free Employee Time Off Request Form template to help streamline your manual system.

If you’d like to learn more about how Omni can boost your employee engagement by making benefits access simpler than ever, try a free 14 day trial today!