What Are the Benefits of Leave Request Form Automation?

Employee leave of absence requests can come in many forms: verbally, in writing, or in an email. Maybe you ask employees to add their upcoming absences to a shared online calendar or an Excel spreadsheet. But in today’s world, the best option is to digitize the leave of absence process with the help of HR automation software.

Leave request form automation via a self-service portal offers a better user experience for your employees, and saves time and effort for your HR team.

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of leave request form automation, and how to set up a leave approval workflow for yourself with no-code automation software.

What Is Leave Request Form Automation?

Leave requests forms are standardized forms that employees use to submit a leave of absence request. These can be official forms provided by the Department of Labor (as in the case of the Family and Medical Leave Act) or custom templates specific to your company policies, such as a personal leave policy.

Leave request form automation is the use of software to facilitate this part of the leave request process. HR automation can be used to pre-fill forms with information that’s already available (such as an employee’s name and contact details), streamline the review and approval process, and guide employees through it step-by-step.

Benefits of Leave Request Form Automation

Business process automation provides several benefits for your human resources team, from less paperwork to reduced human error. But why automate the leave approval flow specifically? Here are three benefits of automated workflows for leave management.

Efficiency

Leave request form automation provides a modern, user-friendly experience. Leave of absence automation tools like Pulpstream feature a self-service portal that employees can use to monitor their leave balance, submit forms, and check for updates.

Plus, they can get email or SMS notifications in real-time to let them know if their leave has been approved or if they need to provide more documentation.

Accuracy

With workflow automation, you can pre-fill leave request forms with existing information, reducing typos and time-consuming data entry. When a leave request is approved, use automation to add it to your calendar, avoiding the risk of scheduling conflicts.

Pulpstream even features a custom rule engine, so you can automatically assess each leave request submission against state and federal employment laws like FMLA.

Standardization

By automating leave request forms with cloud-based software, you can standardize the process, ensuring that you treat each request fairly and maintain HR compliance. You can also use Pulpstream to store leave requests digitally to retain a paper trail in line with FMLA confidentiality requirements.

Leave request form automation makes it easy to track absences, view trends by leave type, and identify suspected cases of FMLA abuse.

What to Collect in a Leave Request Form

The information that you need to collect in a leave request form will vary depending on the type of leave and what employment laws it falls under. Although the Department of Labor (DOL.gov) provides a range of FMLA forms online, it points out that “employers may use their own forms, if they provide the same basic … information.”

As a general rule, here are some of the most important details to collect in a leave of absence request form.

Reason for leave

Some types of leave are job-protected, while others are not. Is an employee taking time off to attend a medical appointment, care for an ill or injured family member, or deal with military responsibilities? They may be covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act.

In other cases, a leave request may be covered by company policy, but not by state or law, giving you more discretion in whether or not to approve it.

Duration of leave

Under FMLA, employees are entitled to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period, and are expected to give 30 days’ notice of their need to take leave. Some leave requests, especially for medical leave, may be unplanned and unpredictable, in which case the employee could provide a rough estimate of the start and end date.

An employee may even be entitled to intermittent leave, which means they can take leave in smaller increments instead of over a continuous period.

Work coverage plan

For some types of extended leave, such as parental leave or a sabbatical, the employee may have a plan for handing off their responsibilities to another employee. For requests that aren’t protected by law, they may be expected to find coverage for their shifts.

Knowing if an employee will be available by phone or email while on leave is useful, but be mindful that asking them to work while on leave can violate their rights.

Medical documentation

For leave requests that are covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, the employer can ask for a medical certification to verify their eligibility for leave. Although this doesn’t need to be provided with the initial leave request, employees have 15 calendar days to provide it upon their employer’s request.

Pulpstream streamlines this part of the process by allowing employees to upload their documentation safely and securely using a self-service portal.

5 Steps to Leave Request Form Automation Workflow

As you put together your leave request workflow, it’s important to consider each step and how they all fit together. Here are five key steps to include in your workflow.

1. Form submission

The first step is form submission. Make it easy for employees to initiate a leave request by providing an online form that they can fill out themselves. Pre-fill the form with their contact details and other information that you already have to speed up the process.

2. Review

Next, review the approval request against your company policies and any applicable leave laws. Use Pulpstream’s built-in rule engine to automatically assess employee eligibility for FMLA and other types of leave. Verify that the employee has sufficient FMLA leave or accrued leave available to fulfill the leave request.

3. Approval

Some leave requests can be approved automatically, but others will need to go through a more in-depth approval process. This might include a manual review, or a request for a medical certification from the employee’s healthcare provider.

4. Notification

Notify the employee when their leave request has been approved or rejected. When you manage leave requests with Pulpstream, they’ll get an automatic notification by email or SMS, ensuring a timely resolution to their case.

5. Scheduling

Integrate your leave management platform with your scheduling tools and time-tracking software so you can automatically add the leave period to your calendar. Check in with your employee occasionally while they’re on leave to prepare for their return to work.

Implement Leave Request Form Automation With Pulpstream

Requesting a leave of absence can be a time-consuming process, especially if you rely on paper forms, spreadsheets, or email threads. Leave request form automation speeds up the process for employees and HR teams alike by digitizing leave of absence forms and providing a cloud-based portal for easy form submission and management.

Pulpstream’s no-code automation platform allows HR teams to create custom workflow automations tailored to their company’s leave policies and relevant employment laws. Use our drag-and-drop interface to create an intuitive step-by-step process for your employees. Request a demo today to see how it works!