A helpful guide to absence management in 2024

Employee absences are a normal part of running a company, and supporting adequate paid time off (PTO) is essential for any good employer. And just as you want to ensure that team members are able to take days off when they need to, it’s critical to have effective absence management policies in place. 

These policies help set clear requirements for time off requests, promote fairness in the workplace, and avoid team disruptions when employees are away, whether they’re out sick with a cold or enjoying a trip to a far-off destination.

In this post, we’ll discuss the importance of absence management for businesses of all sizes and share practices to help you create and implement effective absence management policies for your company.

🏖️ Implement strong absence management policies 

‍Leapsome’s new HRIS tool can streamline absence management with features like team holiday calendars and easy leave request processes.

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What is absence management? 

Absence management is an organization’s approach to dealing with employee absenteeism. It’s an umbrella term that can encompass absence-related policies, procedures, and programs, as well as tools the company may use to track, approve, and review different kinds of absences.

The goal of absence management isn’t to avoid employee absences, as everyone needs and deserves time off for a number of different reasons. Instead, it aims to minimize potential workforce disruption, monitor employee data like days of leave taken compared to earned time off, and establish streamlined processes to manage leave requests and approvals. 
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What are the different types of workplace absences?

There are multiple possible types of workplace absences, and it’s important to account for each one in your leave management policies.

Common kinds of workplace absences include:

• Planned leave, potentially including paid time off, parental leave, paid sabbatical, and extended medical leave. 
• Unplanned leave, which may come with little or no advanced notice and can include sick leave, bereavement leave, and personal emergencies.
• Absent without leave (AWOL), which is when employees don’t report for work without reason or communication, especially on an ongoing basis.

An individual’s right to take certain types of leave may be protected by local and/or federal legislation. For example, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in the United States entitles employees with qualifying eligibility to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a series of family and medical situations. In addition, in the European Union, parents have the right to a minimum of four months of parental leave each, with at least two of them being paid.
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How can effective absence management impact organizations?

Absence management programs should never be about slashing potential time off or sick leave allowances. Caring, supportive work environments are essential to employee well-being and work-life balance, and time off is an important part of that.

However, effective absence management can benefit your organization in the following ways:

• Planning for team members’ absences thoroughly and in advance where possible, for example, by allocating budget and considering scheduling needs to prevent cutting into profits and overloading colleagues. 
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• Creating a positive company culture that respects the importance of work-life balance by encouraging employees to take time off as needed.
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• Providing your team with clear policies for different types of leave, eligibility, and time off request processes to improve internal operations and avoid people feeling confused or frustrated. 
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• Reducing absenteeism and burnout, which can improve employees’ satisfaction rates and make the workplace more enjoyable and productive overall. 

💡 Happy team members are also less likely to be absent. Some studies have even shown that companies with unlimited time off policies have reduced absenteeism compared to those with traditional models, and those results are largely tied to employee satisfaction.
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5 necessities for excellent absence management

When your HR team is ready to establish or improve your absence management program, keep these five considerations in mind for a successful HR process.

1. Have a clear absence policy

Different companies need different things out of their absence policies, so it’s important to clearly define everything that all team members within your organization need to know in yours to ensure compliance, fairness, and overall employee happiness. 

To get more specific, your absence policy should address the following:

• Eligibility for different types of leave
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• Amount of leave available for each type of absence, and, where relevant, under what conditions
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• Processes involved in notifying managers about unplanned leave
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• Processes involved in requesting time off for planned leave
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• Rules regarding how many employees on a set team or within the company can take scheduled time off at once
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• Regulations impacting “peak seasons,” which might limit the amount of vacation time team members can request within a given period

Leapsome’s new absence management tool — which will launch at the end of this year — will allow businesses to develop and implement absence management policies, making the whole process simpler for both HR teams and employees. 

2. Use an absence management tool to record & review absences

Dedicated absence management solutions — or platforms that integrate with existing HR and employee management software — are invaluable if you want to set up comprehensive leave policies for your organization.

Advanced absence management tools act as all-in-one solutions that allow companies to track absences and review accrued time off, as well as enable employees to submit time off requests. People-centered, end-to-end HRIS software solutions like Leapsome often have capabilities like these, making absence management a small task instead of a major hassle. 

3. Train managers on how to deal with absences on their team

Rather than leaving them to figure things out for themselves, ensure that your organization’s managers get dedicated training on your absence management policies. That training might look like an async video, a group video call, self-service written training materials, or a combination of the three. You should ensure that team leads understand how to have leave-related discussions with their reports and know how to explain your company’s absence management policies to others. 

Above all, be sure that managers remain compliant with your established internal policies, as well as any external laws that may apply. For example, a team lead might unjustifiably deny a team member’s time off request or put pressure on an employee to return to work from leave. Both situations could result in unhappy employees, human resources complaints, and potential legal complications.

It’s also advisable to provide managerial training on the following:

• Scheduling check-ins with reports when they return to work from an extended absence.
• Adjusting workloads and delegating tasks to account for absences.
• Reviewing the company’s absence policy with team members, especially recent joiners.
• Knowing how to identify employees who may be taking advantage of certain leave policies.
• Modeling great communication skills and absence practices.

4. Investigate the root cause of absences

While many absences don’t indicate a workplace problem, some do. It’s important that managers and HR professionals look into absences if they feel there might be a cause for concern so they can address the underlying problem.

For instance, if a large number of employees start taking unplanned leave at regular intervals, they might be experiencing burnout due to a stressful work environment or even a particular event.

Indeed, research has shown that when team member satisfaction decreases, absenteeism increases — a study from Gallup recently found that higher job satisfaction resulted in a 78% decrease in absenteeism on average. Looking into local benchmarks can help identify potential concerns. In the United States, for example, happy employees take an average of 15 days of paid time off annually.

In addition, HR teams should monitor trends and patterns amongst specific staff members, certain teams or departments, and the overall company on a regular basis. They can then pair this data with regular employee feedback surveys for more detail and context.

Leapsome Surveys can help with this, giving you insight into why you’re seeing more unexpected absences in the workplace than usual. You might ask questions to assess overall job satisfaction, possible stressors, and common causes of increased leave. We recommend making surveys anonymous to make people more comfortable sharing their honest perspectives. 

5. Comply with federal & local regulations 

Most countries — and some regions — have specific labor regulations related to workplace absences and leave in place. They may require eligible employees to take certain amounts of time off within a given period or include measures that protect a person’s job during an extended leave.

Make sure to build your absence management program around any labor legislation that applies to you. Your human resources team is likely already familiar with the local laws that impact team members and will stay up-to-date on any changing regulations as part of their routine responsibilities. However, it’s also important to consider laws that may impact international teams that are spread across different countries, which can be particularly challenging. When in doubt, seek legal counsel to ensure your policies (and their implementation) are fully compliant. 

Promote organizational & employee well-being with great absence management 

Absence management is a critical component of excellent business operations. It can help you better allocate resources, accommodate scheduling needs and requirements, and ensure that team members receive the time off they need to thrive both personally and professionally. 

Create clear, fair, and compliant policies, train managers on how to implement them professionally and thoroughly, and leverage an absence management platform to track and streamline your processes. This can promote both organizational and employee well-being, leading to increased employee engagement, productivity, and retention.

And best of all, look for a comprehensive, people-first HR platform like Leapsome that can help you take care of core HR tasks like absence management and engagement initiatives like feedback, development, and surveys in one intuitive place. 
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🙌 Streamline your leave management processes

‍Create and implement leave management systems that support both organizational and employee growth. 

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