The 5 Best Leave Management Software for Small Businesses in 2020

Everybody loves taking leave from work–unless you are the person who has to manage it all. At first glance, leave management seems like a straightforward process. But last minute requests, low visibility of records, and disparate spreadsheets and email make the entire thing a huge headache.

The first step would be to implement the leave policy that is rotting around in the employee handbook, but you know if you call one more meeting to explain the leave policy, you might have a mutiny on your hands.

Instead, bid goodbye to emails, spreadsheets, and paper forms, and opt for a transparent leave management software that enables visibility into every form of absence, provides accurate real-time data, and highlights leave trends.

The need to implement a leave management software

Here are some of the major benefits of using leave management software:

1. Eliminates paperwork – Cut down on papers and reduce chaos using automation.
2. Remove Manipulations – With an automated software, you cannot modify the leave forms with approval.
3. Collaboration – With a leave management software, you can improve collaboration by communicating with your management or HR and get the approval done faster.
4. Leave tracking – A leave management software, can track the number of paid and sick leave availed and the number of leaves available.
5. Integrations – You can integrate your leave management system with other hr modules like timesheets and payroll.

But while you were busy on your spreadsheets, the leave management software landscape became pretty crowded. How do you find the perfect fit? What features would you look for? Should you just choose the most popular one? Is it affordable? Will it have the features you’re looking for? What other vendors can you trust?

Even with a clear idea of what you’re looking for, the selection and shortlisting process is still daunting. 56 percent of organizations are looking to adopt cloud-based leave management software in 2020.

Five popular leave management software

To ease the burden of choosing, we have put together this list of leave management softwares that tackle the time-off process and make you fall in love with leave management again.

1. Kissflow HR Cloud

Kissflow HR Cloud is a cloud-based leave management software that reduces the time and effort organizations spend on the time-off process. Rather than force your policy to conform to software limitations, Kissflow HR Cloud lets you build a online leave management system that fits you.

It centralizes leave and holiday lists for easy accessibility, decreases the chance of leave policy abuse, keeps the entire process transparent, and enhances the overall productivity of an organization.

Here are a few of the features of Kissflow’s HR Cloud leave management software you can use to manage the leave request process:

Auto-updates (depending on eligibility, employee role, holiday )
Flexible leave accrual (including leave history, balance tracking, etc)
Drill-down reporting and analytics (leave trends for smart decisions)
Effortless API integration (with Payroll, GL Accounting, HRMS, etc.)
Risk mitigation aspects (role-based access, conditional visibility, etc.)
Self-service portal (role-specific — employee, manager, etc.)

The downside of choosing a custom leave management solution like Kissflow HR Cloud is that it is not ready-to-use. You might have to spend some time building the app. But once you start, you’ll be unstoppable. Best of all, it is not restricted to HR processes. You can automate an array of other business processes and workflows as well!

2. Pocket HCM

Sage’s Pocket Human Capital Management (HCM) is offered in suites or individual modules which steadily rise up in functionality (and cost) based on the modules you choose. It is an entirely cloud-based solution that assists organizations in managing employee leaves easily.

Using Pocket HCM’s attendance management software, you can define holidays, leave types, policies etc. It offers an employee self-service portal, through which employees can track their leave history and query/edit/delete time-off requests in real time.

Once a leave request is accepted, it’s automatically integrated into attendance tracking and payroll module. The mobile app can manage leaves from anywhere in the world. The only drawback of Pocket HCM is its awkwardly divided interface that bundles up core capabilities (employee self-service is not available in the core module) as optional modules.

3. ADP

ADP Workforce Now is a cloud leave management software that offers customizable leave policies, unique holiday groups, and easy integration with organizational calendar. It supports an array of leave types (short and long-term) including vacation, personal, PTO, LOP, and so on.

It comes with a native mobile app (iOS and Android) designed exclusively for employee and manager self-service. Additionally, it integrates effortlessly with all best-of-breed HR solution through API integration. ADP’s customizable homepage acts as a digital noticeboard that organizations can use to share leave policies, updates, and notices organization-wide.

Flashy homepages aside, ADP has been extremely reserved about the pricing of the product and offers a ‘quote’ only after further evaluation by their analysts. This lack of transparency just adds an additional dose of mystery (and distrust) while you’re on the verge of taking a purchase decision.

4. GreytHR

GreytHR is an easy-to-use, web-based leave management software designed specifically for SMBs. It automates all key areas of leave management from leave accounting and grants to period closing process.

It simplifies year-end leave processing by automating leave lapsing, carry-overs, and encashments for all employees with regards to the leave policy. With accurate calculations, organizations can make a smooth transition to the next financial year.

The access library of standard leave policies will come in handy when you don’t have a leave policy in place. Although most functionalities could be accessed easily, it does take quite a few clicks to get there. The clumsy UI and complex navigation leave a lot to be desired.

5. Workforce

Kronos Workforce absence manager is a leave management software optimized for all industries. Its cloud-based nature makes it secure, scalable, easily accessible, and mobile-friendly.

Using this centralized leave software, organizations can manage leaves, track time, measure productivity, etc. The robust reporting tool empowers organizations to control absence trends which impact the bottom line.

However, the PTO tracking in the workforce absence manager are a bit off. As the PTO balance is not displayed, organizations are left to keep track of the balance on an excel sheet and make manual adjustments every time.

Summary

Streamlining your management process using a cloud-based leave management system can eliminate paperwork, remove the manual dependency, improve communication, offer real-time visibility, and ensure legal compliance.

Every organization may have unique needs, so while deciding on a time-off management software, it will be wise to pick a solution that caters to the basic requirements while offering the flexibility to customize leave requests. Picking a cloud platform like Kissflow HR Cloud, will simplify leave management, remove the process bottlenecks, and make life easy for all stakeholders involved

If you’re looking for a user-friendly, cost-effective leave management app that does it all, try Kissflow HR Cloud. Sign up for a free demo.

Top 5 Leave Management Software for Your Small Business

The need to implement a leave management software