What’s the Best Leave Management Software for HR Teams?

If your team is still relying on manual HR processes for leave of absence management, then you know it’s time to go digital and streamline your workflows. But choosing the best leave management software is no small feat. Even with today’s user-friendly, cloud-based solutions, there are dozens of factors to consider.

To help you get started, we’ve rounded up five of the best leave management software solutions for human resources teams. From no-code automation to HRIS integrations, here’s what to look for in a modern, all-in-one leave management system.

What Is the Best Leave Management Software?

Every organization is different, so the best leave management software for your team will depend on your company size, location, and the features you need. As a general rule, the best leave management software includes:

• A built-in attendance tracker and leave calendar 
• Automated email and SMS notifications
• Real-time reports and dashboards
• An employee self-service portal and mobile app
• A custom rule engine to ensure HR compliance

Modern leave management software tends to be cloud-based software as a service (SaaS), rather than legacy systems that run on your own hardware. This means they can be highly flexible, and in many cases, you can choose which features or modules you want to use — for example, time off management vs. workforce management.

Pulpstream’s leave management system is one example of HR software that includes multiple functions in a single platform. This allows you to spend less time transferring information between data silos and more time on strategic decision-making.

The best leave administration software also uses HR automation to streamline your leave approval workflows and track leave balances automatically. 

3 Key Features of the Best Leave Management Software

Before comparing specific HR platforms, it’s important to get clear on what features you need in a leave management system. A small business going from paper timesheets to digital spreadsheets will need a less robust set of tools than an international company with employees in multiple time zones.

Similarly, your budget may be a factor in your choice of leave management tools. Many SaaS platforms offer per-user pricing on a monthly basis — which may differ from the pricing models that HR managers are used to. You’ll need to calculate the ROI of HR technology when determining which leave management software is right for you.

With that in mind, here are some key features to look for in HR software solutions.

HR Compliance Tools

One of the biggest reasons to implement HR leave management software is to keep up with leave laws and ensure leave of absence compliance. Businesses with 50 or more employees are covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) at the federal level, and employees may be eligible for other types of leave in some states.

Modern leave management tools can automatically determine eligibility for FMLA leave, ADA leave, and more. The best HR software can also track sick leave and paid time off (PTO) under company policies. Pulpstream’s custom rule engine makes it easy to track accruals, employee leave balances, and personal leave policies all in one place.

Employee Self-Service

Another reason for HR teams to use leave management software is to provide a better employee experience. Using Slack or Excel spreadsheets for employee scheduling can be tedious and time-consuming. Plus, without automation, leave requests can pile up, making it hard for individual teams to prepare for employee absences.

The best leave management solutions provide a self-service portal that employees can use to view their leave balance and request time off. They can access this portal from the web or a mobile device — simplifying FMLA for remote employees.

With Pulpstream’s self-service portal, employees can upload their own documents to support their leave request so you don’t have to chase it down. These tools optimize time off requests so they only require 15 minutes of oversight instead of hours.

Reporting Dashboards

Employee time off requests aren’t just a question of leave laws and company policies: There’s also staffing and workforce management to consider. When you manage all of your leave requests using a single platform, you’ll be better able to process employee data and use HR data analytics to make decisions.

Reporting dashboards can help you manage employee absenteeism, track long-term staffing trends, and identify cases of FMLA fraud or abuse.

With traditional leave management practices, it can be hard to get a big-picture view without crunching the numbers yourself. Pulpstream’s built-in reporting dashboards allow you to generate custom reports and monitor workforce trends in real time.

Comparison Checklist of the Best Leave Management Software Options

Now that you know what separates the best leave management software from the rest, let’s take a look at five HR software solutions currently on the market. Here’s how they compare based on features, pricing, and which use cases they’re best suited for.

All five of these tools offer a similar set of features, such as attendance tracking, but they all have slightly different areas of focus. For example, TeamSense focuses on distributed employees, with mobile-first tools for attendance and communication.

Deel, on the other hand, is aimed at global teams, with separate modules for benefits administration, workforce planning, and payroll. Each module has its own price tag, though, so you’ll need to factor that in when determining the overall cost.

Pulpstream is the best leave management software when it comes to automation. Our user-friendly interface makes it easy for your HR team to optimize their workflows — even if they don’t know how to code. Plus, our self-service portal is there to support employees throughout their lifecycle, from onboarding to offboarding.

Why the Best Leave Management Software Is an All-in-One Platform

With cloud-based tools and per-user pricing, HR software providers are making it easier than ever to build custom solutions. You don’t have to lock yourself into a legacy system that you can’t easily move away from later. If a feature is missing, you can link multiple pieces of software together and share data between them using integrations.

But there’s still an advantage to centralization. By choosing an all-in-one platform like Pulpstream, you can get more done in one place. After all, leave management isn’t a standalone HR function — it’s closely linked to payroll, benefits administration, and workforce management, and compliance needs to be considered holistically.

Pulpstream supports built-in integrations, so you can keep what works and move away from what doesn’t without any roadblocks. Continue using Excel, Google Workspace, and Microsoft Outlook if those are the tools your team knows best. And with custom pricing plans, you won’t have to track monthly payments to multiple providers.

Take the Hassle Out of Leave Management With Pulpstream

The best leave management software is a cloud-based SaaS platform with a portal that employees can use to submit their own leave requests. Several providers offer leave management solutions, but they vary widely when it comes to pricing and features.

Pulpstream’s leave management software is an all-in-one platform with a focus on HR automation. By automating key tasks and using a custom rule engine to verify eligibility, you can spend less time on simple leave requests and more time on complex cases. 

Pulpstream handles FMLA leave, ADA leave, sick leave, and more, helping you comply with state and federal leave laws and enforce your company policies.

Request a demo today to see how!