When you choose an automated leave management system for your organization, what are the features you should look for? This article enlists the key features that you should begin with, even as you get the tool upgraded with more advanced features with the changing needs of your organization.
We have come well ahead of the times when leave and attendance of employees in an organization was managed manually by the HR team. While a manual leave management system might serve the purpose, it has several drawbacks, including an increased scope for errors and a time-consuming process, among others. However, effective management of employee leave and attendance is key to management and allocation of resources as well as payroll management. Hence, organizations today are looking forward to switching to automation of the process to overcome the challenges.
Most modern Human Resource (HR) management software, such as Digital HRMS, Zoho People, and Beehive HR provide automated leave system as a module. You also find independent software for the same in the market, such as WhosOff, Jorani and Time-Off. What you choose depends on the requirements of your organization but here are 6 key features you should look for.
1] Ease of Access
How it Helps: Offers flexibility to employees to access the HRMS software from a multitude of devices and operating systems.
Ease of access is perhaps the most desirable feature when it comes to an automated system, simply because employees today do not work from the office alone. In today’s times, when concepts like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) are fast catching up, ease of access is an essential feature of the attendance management system in your organization. After all, if your software allows your employees to apply for and get their leaves approved using their mobile devices alone, can it get better than that?
2] Advanced Data Security Features
How it Helps: Protects sensitive data and prevents unauthorized access to information.
Impenetrable security of the data in the system is another feature that is a must have. After all, one of the primary reasons an automated leave system scores far above the manual approach is the advanced security that it brings in. The architecture of the software you choose should have advanced security features. Also, it should have measures in place to prevent tampering of the attendance and working hours, and curb the occurrence of practices like buddy punching.
3] Easy Configuration of Leave Policies
How it Helps: Allows the organization to define the required types of leaves for the employees.
The move to switch to automation should not force you to change your organization’s leave policy. So, the ideal automated system should have the option for easy configuration of leave policies. For example, gives you the option to configure different types of leaves for confirmed employees and those on probation. The software also allows you to define the working hours and weekly offs as required for different employees.
4] Easy Integration with Other Systems
How it Helps: Offers the benefits of seamless integration with other systems.
No system in organizations today is expected to work in isolation, which makes easy integration a highly desirable feature in any software. Modern automated leave systems allow easy integration with other systems in your organization, such as the payroll system and the biometric system to begin with. This has many benefits, including reduced chances of errors and higher efficiency.
5] Employee Self Service
How it Helps: Serves to empower your employees and give them a sense of control.
With the increased levels of data security offered by automated leave systems, it’s possible to allow employees to perform simple tasks just by logging into the portal. So, employees can check the total working hours for the day or week, generate reports, apply for leaves, and check the status of approval, among others.
6] Real Time Updates & Reports
How it Helps: Offers the benefits of access to real time data to the HR and the employees. Reports make information analysis quick and hassle free.
Updates in real time are essential if the employees are indeed to benefit from the automated leave system. The availability of employee data in real time makes it easy for the employees as well as the HR department and managers. While employees can use it to learn accurately about their leave balance and approval status, real time updates can help managers and HR personnel to manage resources and process payroll and other benefits respectively.
Report generation is a very useful feature to have. Following are a few examples of the types of reports that can be generated:
The Final Word:
Organizations planning to make the switch to automated leave management system, should look for the basic features listed above. Choosing the right software can help organizations reduce costs and increase the efficiency of the HR department. There are a lot many options available in the market today and so it is recommended that organizations analyze their requirements before making that all important decision.
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