1. It’s difficult to get permission to take time off
We all hate filling in forms, but many companies insist of a complex series of forms that need to be filled in by staff in order to book time off. Worse still, they need to get these bits of paper signed by their manager (sometimes, more than one signature is needed). It all takes time and effort that would probably be better spent doing something more useful. Streamline your approval process so it’s less bureaucratic and time consuming for staff to complete.
2. It’s hard to find out what you’ve booked off and what you have available.
We know how much time off we get each year, but it’s much harder to remember how many days we’ve actually already booked off. It’s even worse for managers, who need to keep track of everyone else’s time off too, plus throw sick leave into the mix and it can quickly get out of hand. Make sure you have robust system to track time off for all your staff that is simple to manage and importantly gives your staff and managers all the information they need, when they need it.
3. We’re only human…
If you are still tracking your staff absence manually, then human errors are inevitable. Imagine what would happen if one person’s holiday is assigned to someone else by accident! Make sure it’s hard to make mistakes like this (a self-service solution where staff book and manage their own time off mostly solves this). An audit trail that lets you figure out what changes have been made is also soooooo helpful when someone complains.