Leave of Absence Automation: 8 Advantages for HR Teams

For HR teams that are new to digital workflows, leave of absence automation can be intimidating at first glance. You’ll need to get familiar with new tools, get buy-in from the decision-makers at your organization, and will people complain about having to use software instead of communicating with a real person?

The truth is, leave of absence automation benefits everyone. Your human resources team can ditch spreadsheets, and HR managers can spend less time worrying about leave laws and compliance risks. Plus, employees can get instant responses to their most urgent questions.

Here’s how automation can streamline the entire leave management process from start to finish, improving the employee experience and reducing your administrative burden.

What Is Leave of Absence Automation?

Leave of absence automation is the use of HR software to automate some or all of the steps in the leave management process.

Leave of absence automation helps you:

• Field employee leave requests
• Assess eligibility and leave entitlements
• Handle FMLA certification and recertification
• Manage the return-to-work process

For small teams, leave management software may seem like an unnecessary expense. But as your company headcount grows, you’ll have more leave cases and types of leave to manage. The volume of work can quickly become overwhelming, if you’re still relying on manual processes.

Leave of absence management software helps you stay compliant and maintain complete control of your processes, without sacrificing human touch.

8 Advantages of LOA Automation

If you’re implementing leave of absence automation for the first time, then you may be wondering what to look for in a leave management system. Ease of use, organization, and time savings are all important, but what else should you consider?

Here are eight ways LOA automation supports HR teams:

1. Standardized Request Management

Once you move to a leave management platform, you’ll have a consistent, standardized system that applies to all employee leave requests. Based on rules you define, leave management software can automatically approve straightforward leave cases and notify the employee what documentation is required, how to submit it, and when. You can also set specific triggers that notify HR teams when a case requires review.

Plus, when you use digital leave tracking, you can maintain audit trails from start to finish.

2. Worry-Free Compliance

Leave management platforms are designed to keep up with federal and state leave laws, including FMLA and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They help you stay compliant by automatically running each leave request through a custom rule engine to assess eligibility through one or more specific leave laws.

You can also incorporate company policies into leave management systems to ensure leave requests conform with corporate sick leave, tenure-based leave policies, and remote work policies.

3. Employee Data Security

Traditional leave of absence practices are lacking when it comes to data security, especially when employees are expected to add their leave-related medical appointments to a shared Google calendar. In fact, shared calendars may violate FMLA or ADA confidentiality requirements, which require businesses to store sensitive employee medical information separately.

A leave of absence platform stores all employee records but controls access to ensure privacy and conform with data security rules.

4. HRIS and Payroll Systems Integration

Digital LOA platforms support integrations that link multiple HR tools, reducing the risk of duplicate datasets and data silos. With all HR systems synced and running in harmony, you can easily cross-reference benefits data, payroll, and timekeeping records.

5. Employee Self-Service

One of the most helpful features in any LOA platform is an employee self-service portal, which reduces the administrative burden for HR teams by empowering employees to manage their own LOA requests. Of course, complex cases may require human review, but with a self-service portal, employees can log in to check their leave balances, accrued PTO, and other leave entitlements. A self-service portal also allows employees to upload medical documentation, submit FMLA forms, and more—all from their own laptop, desktop, or mobile device—for a better employee experience.

6. Pre-Filled Forms and Templates

With a manual leave of absence process, you need to do everything by hand: filling out forms, writing emails, calling up medical professionals, and more. With LOA automation, you can maintain a database of templates that you can use for every possible scenario: ADA accommodation requests, FMLA designation notices, and other key documents.

7. Data Analytics

LOA management software learns from the data it ingests, and it can identify important trends that busy HR teams might not notice. For example, LOA management platforms can detect seasonal or location-specific anomalies, chronic absenteeism, and other attendance issues.

8. Return-to-Work Automation

The paperwork doesn’t end when an employee is ready to return to work. In fact, this critical milestone may require a fitness-for-duty certificate or an ADA accommodation checklist. An LOA platform can manage the return-to-work process, including all deadlines, documentation, and communication. The best LOA systems can also recommend appropriate accommodations based on real-time data, and maintain a compliance-ready audit trail.

Make the Switch to Leave of Absence Automation

Leave of absence requests are on the rise, and in many states, workers have more leave entitlements than ever. Leave of absence automation tools help you standardize your LOA processes and field requests in real time. Clear, consistent, and enforceable LOA policies support a healthy workforce and reduce compliance risk.

Pulpstream’s comprehensive absence management software manages LOA requests from start to finish. Assess eligibility for FMLA and ADA leave, enforce your own company policies, and request supporting documentation faster than your team can do by hand. You define what you need Pulpstream to do, and we’ll configure it around your processes.

Request a demo today to see how automation can make a difference!