Feature Focus: An insight into our Leave & Absence Management module

As part of our new Feature Focus series, we’re introducing you to some of HR Planner’s key functions. We’ll give you an insight into each, highlighting important uses and benefits that have been designed specifically for UK SMEs. 

First up is our Leave & Absence Management module. 

Discover the simplest way for SMEs to manage leave and absence 

Using HR Planner’s intuitive interface, requesting, amending and managing leave and absence has never been easier! Our system can be fully customised, making it simple to tailor your experience to your company’s requirements. We achieve this through… 

Customisable widgets 

Leave-focused widgets are one of the standout features of our dashboards, giving each user the option to instantly see your personal employee summary (including leave allowance and days remaining) and a table of upcoming staff leave in your team. Other handy widgets include our leave comparison chart, which shows you differences in holiday taken year-on-year, and leave progress, which displays your total team allowance taken to date. 

Instant notifications 

Managing leave has never been quicker! Employees can request holiday or notify managers of absence at the click of a button, as well as easily keep track of annual leave and how many days they have remaining. 

With instant notifications and an outstanding tasks list, leave can be approved, modified or cancelled in seconds, saving administrators heaps of time (and unnecessary paper holiday request forms)! 

Built-in low cover protection tools

Using our innovative low cover protection feature, you can define a minimum number of employees to be working on any given day. This protection can be defined against companies, locations, employee roles, departments or a simple list of employees, meaning you can avoid frustrating staff shortages for good. 

Automatic allowance updates 

Our system is programmed to meet your company’s requirements, so holiday entitlement will be calculated automatically at the turn of year as specified by you. For example, if your staff get an extra day of holiday for each year of service they complete, this can be added automatically to help save time and prevent any confusion. 

Easy to use calendar 

Having a shared calendar that shows all of your team’s availability in one place is one of our users’ favourite features! We’ve built the module for simplicity and ease of use, with four different views for you to choose from: day, week, month or classic. 

You can even sync your shared calendar with Outlook to display it in the app for added convenience and speed. 

Flexible leave options

With HR Planner, you’re free to tailor the system to what you need it to be. You can create unlimited number of custom leave types, making it easier to monitor and keep track of which staff are away and for what reason. 

We also allow you to choose when to refresh leave allowances at a time that suits your business, whether it’s at the turn of the calendar or the end of the financial year. Employees can then choose themselves if they want to request a one-off allowance change to a specific leave year, or transfer holiday from one year to another. 

Real-time reporting 

Using insightful real-time reporting, HR Planner gives you a holistic view of your company’s leave progress, so you can see how much of the total allowance has been taken or booked to date. Our leave comparison charts can be used to see how much leave has been taken in comparison to previous years, helping to identify patterns and periods where you may expect to need extra cover. 

Our reports will also provide you an insight into high frequencies of sickness, which can be used to support staff wellbeing initiatives or identify potential grievances. 

To put our industry-leading Leave & Absence Management module to the test, start your 14-day free trial of HR Planner today. You’ll get complete access to this and all our other features, designed to simplify HR for SMEs in the UK.  

If you have any questions, give us a call on 01252 63 60 70 or email support@hrplanner.uk.