One of the most common complaints we hear from business owners is that their company has grown to a size that has become unmanageable. In other words, managing their new headcount is more time consuming and complex than it used to be. More than anywhere else, we hear this as it pertains to the tracking of employee time off. What is interesting is that the employer is actually trying to keep track of two different things:
- Recording their employees’ absences
- Calculating the impact of those absences on the balances and the impact of newly accrued time on those balances.
“Every Monday, there’s a line at my door of people wanting to know how much time off they have left to take, and everyone wants to take off the same days” we hear. In many cases, employers will have a very complicated accrual plan that really tests the spreadsheet they are using to track the employee time off. Not only that, but it never ties into the payroll or time system, so the potential is there for huge transposition errors as well.
As if the complexity of employer accrual plans isn’t enough, states like Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, California and many others now have mandated paid sick and family leave, that carry formulas for the accrual of sick time such as “the employee earns one hour of sick for every X hours worked”. This creates an additional burden on the employer to have a foolproof system for tracking a plan like this, and proving that it is in place in case of an audit.
Luckily iSolved has the tools to simplify these processes for a business owner regardless of size.
Using iSolved’s employee self-service tools, an employee can log in and request time off, which then generates an email notifying their supervisor or manager that the request requires approval or rejection. The supervisor or manager can then log in, review the request amongst other requests they have received for their department(s) and make a decision whether to approve or deny. Within this process, both the supervisor/manager and the employee can review available balances, year-to-date usage, and coverage requirements in order to make their request or decision. Approvals can be granted online or by using our web app, iSolved GO.
For after-the-fact absence recording, like sick days, jury duty, or bereavement, supervisor/managers can simply record the time and date of the absence on the employee’s absence tracking screen in iSolved, hence creating a very accurate record of employee attendance.
These absences all feed into our ability to create accrual plans that can grant time off based on annual grants, monthly, or per-pay-period grants, or an accrual per hour worked. The amount granted can be based on seniority or incremental hours worked. iSolved’s accrual plans can set up roll-over amounts based on calendar year or anniversary date with limits specific to each plan. This versatile system allows for the automation of even the most complex accrual plan. iSolved’s eligibility rules engine allows for the application of accrual plans to the employee based on specific requirements. With this capability, it’s easy to create a plan that complies with state mandated paid, sick, or family leave time.