5 Things Managers Need to Pay Attention to in Managing Employee Leave

Managing employee leave can be a challenge for a manager. In general, approval of requests for leave is done through the manager, and the more employees who report to him, the more requests for leave will have to be managed.

Although on the one hand managers have a responsibility to ensure the rights and well being of employees are fulfilled to ensure they are productive at work, but on the other hand, managers also have a responsibility to consumers and companies to ensure that they get the services as promised.

This can be even more complex if there are a number of employees who plan to take leave at the same time. Certain events, such as school holidays, celebrations of religious holidays, concerts or sporting events, are common reasons for employees to apply for leave together. But with good planning and effective communication, these situations can be overcome. Here are some tips for managing employees who are on concurrent leave:

Communicate Company Leave Policy and Expectations on Leave Periods

Even before an employee applies for leave, managers should make sure the employee is aware of the workplace leave policy. Make sure employees are clear about employee leave information, and provide clear expectations as to how duties and responsibilities will be distributed over the period.

Make sure all team members understand what is expected of them and who is responsible for specific tasks.

In addition, avoid being inconsistent with policies for the sake of facilitating a few people, as this can make others judge you unfairly. If you or your company make changes to the leave policy, then make sure everyone in your team knows about these changes.

Plan and Track Your Employee's Leave Time

Ask employees to tell you about their leave plans as early as possible. This will give you sufficient time to work out time off schedules in your team and see if there are any conflicts with the needs of a particular team or project.

You should also have a record of the time and period of your employees' leave to help you determine who gets the leave and who doesn't. Keeping records can also help you whether an employee is using their leave fairly, as well as prevent you from making the mistake of reporting an employee's leave if the leave cuts into their pay.

Use Apps and Automation When Necessary

If you have difficulty managing your employee's leave, consider using leave management software / application.

Leave management applications can help you reduce administrative work related to leave, especially those that are manual in nature. Some applications can even provide reminders to employees about their remaining leave so that employees can also make plans about when they can take their leave, or give reminders to managers to see who has submitted requests for leave.

Additionally, you can also take advantage of collaboration platforms such as project management applications or team communication platforms to help your furloughed team members stay updated with what is happening at work while they are away.

Ensure Workloads are Well Distributed

You need to pay attention to the duties and responsibilities of each employee on leave and the importance of their contribution, to identify areas that require special attention during the leave period.

If you neglect this distribution of workload, you may give too many leave permissions or employees who are not on leave may become overburdened with the duties and responsibilities of those who are on leave. In fact, it could be that you are forced to ask employees who are on leave to do work in the office.

Perform Evaluation and Learning on Leave

Employees who are not taking time off may have to take on unfamiliar tasks or face situations they are not used to. This has the potential to cause stress or conflict for the employee concerned or within the team.

Identify the level of stress vulnerability of employees, and provide support as needed. After the employee returns from leave, conduct an evaluation to see what went well and what could be improved in managing furloughed employees in the future, especially if there are concurrent leave.

A team certainly needs to be able to synergize with each other and be able to support each other if needed. Management of policies such as leave can certainly affect team dynamics. Therefore, it is important to be able to understand the characteristics of team members. Assessment can be a useful method for knowing the nature and abilities of team members, so that it can help to map out the management of how leave policies are applied to the team.

Article by Herjuno Tisnoaji - Resident Assessor of prasmul-eli