At the end of each year, a slew of PTO requests come in. Everyone wants to take time off around the winter holidays they celebrate, the New Year, or both. With so many employees requesting time off at the same time, it’s hard to keep your operations running smoothly.
Below, we offer tips and tricks to overcome the challenges caused by the inevitable spike in PTO requests during the holidays.
Manage PTO Requests Across Teams and Departments
Many teams have increasingly time-sensitive responsibilities as year-end approaches. Keeping operations humming along means ensuring proper coverage in the face of a spike in PTO requests. Even for teams without specific year-end tasks, managing PTO requests can still be challenging.
Next-gen PTO-Leave technology makes it much easier to manage time off requests. With an employee PTO-Leave, time tracking, and expense reporting solution like DATABASICS, you’ll be able to find scheduling options that work for everyone without impairing coverage.
With DATABASICS, managers can see the PTO-Leave requests and schedules of their entire team in a calendar view. With at-a-glance views over the team’s schedule, managers can approve or reject requests based on coverage needs.
Team PTO calendar view in DATABASICS
With the flexibility to customize the PTO-Leave system to meet the policies of any organization, it’s easy to optimize schedules to keep the business running smoothly.
One unmatched benefit of using DATABASICS PTO-Leave is the ability to see a real-time and forecasted view of an employee's PTO balance and accrual for the year, at any time. Each employee and their manager has this view, which eliminates the guesswork typically seen when using other apps, like payroll systems. This gives employees and managers a far more effective way of planning time off and team schedules.
Here’s what a DATABASICS client has to say about the PTO-Leave app:
"Leave Management has been such a great add for our company. It allows each employee to see how much PTO they accumulate per pay period; how much they used, and when they would max out. It makes each employee responsible for managing their own PTO.”
Plan Ahead
Holiday PTO is a challenge, but it’s a predictable one. The sooner you know when employees want to take PTO, the more time you have to plan and adjust when the inevitable conflict arises.
Best practices for managing PTO:
- Ask employees to submit holiday season PTO requests early. Get line of sight before issues arise by asking employees to submit PTO requests for post-Thanksgiving a month in advance, if possible, so you can resolve any scheduling challenges.
- Use an employee PTO-Leave app that simplifies and automates the approval process. DATABASICS can accommodate your organization’s PTO-Leave policies and needs.
- Have a clear policy on how your organization prioritizes PTO requests. Policies and procedures serve as impartial arbiters of potential scheduling disputes. Communication of policies is crucial. If your company’s PTO policies prioritize requests on a first-come, first-served basis or by tenure, make sure the team knows.
- Incentivize flexibility. Offering a PTO-based incentive could entice employees to work around their initial PTO requests for the benefit of the organization. For example, awarding an extra PTO day or bonus to employees who wait until January to take vacation could be attractive.
- Have a use-it-or-lose-it PTO policy? Consider pushing the deadline out well past the holidays. You can reduce holiday PTO request conflicts by ensuring employees won’t lose their vacation time if they choose not to use it during the holiday season.
- Allow employees to rollover PTO to the next year. Companies that offer this benefit often have fewer time off conflicts during year-end and holidays. Having the ability to rollover five days (for example) gives employees additional flexibility in planning a major family vacation, or if they'd just prefer to have more PTO in the next year.
- Make your holiday policy as employee-friendly as possible. For daily operations functions, incentivize holiday work with a hefty bonus. Let employees choose a major holiday to take off while working other holidays.
- Set a clear process and timeline for approving PTO requests. Quick and timely approvals allow employees to focus on the fun of planning an exciting trip, not the stress of waiting to see if the request is approved while they watch pricing change for airfare, accommodations, or excursions.
Whatever your holiday leave and PTO policies are, it’s important that all employees understand them. Clear communications to remote, hybrid, and in-person team members helps avoid misunderstandings and last-minute frustrations.
Your new employee onboarding program should cover your time off policies and the process for requesting PTO. It should be easy for existing employees to find PTO policies should they need to refer to them later. Ideally, use your time tracking system.
Use Real-Time PTO Forecasting
Employee PTO forecasting view in DATABASICS
With DATABASICS, team members and managers can forecast how much PTO each employee will have at the end of the year, even as PTO accruals and scheduled time off occur. Having clear visibility at all times throughout the year, particularly well in advance of December, encourages employees to coordinate PTO requests.
Far too many HR, payroll, and PTO-Leave systems create harsh surprises for employees during the holiday season when they find out they don’t have enough PTO available for a new request. With the DATABASICS PTO-Leave app, employees can easily predict how much PTO they’ll have available and make informed decisions.
Automate the PTO Management Process
Employee PTO calendar view in DATABASICS
Automation takes the guesswork and delay out of managing PTO requests, especially during peak times, like holidays and year-end. Solutions like the DATABASICS PTO-Leave app make it easy to submit and track PTO requests. Managers and employees can see each PTO request and its status.
With DATABASICS, requesting time off is easy. Employees can simply go into their timesheet or PTO-Leave calendar, choose dates, and click submit. From there, the request goes into an approval queue for their manager or follows your organization’s defined PTO policies. With real-time coordination between mobile and desktop, employees can submit requests using either, and the PTO-Leave calendar will automatically update.
DATABASICS is easy to configure to your compliance needs, including company policies and government requirements. Some organizations have rules governing either a minimum or maximum amount of time employees can take off at a single time. Others set rules about using PTO on important days, like holidays or month, quarter, or year-end closing.
DATABASICS will configure the PTO-Leave app to meet your organization’s exact policies. Should a team member submit a request that violates these rules, it will be automatically denied before it even moves to a manager’s queue.
Policies should clarify how to prioritize PTO requests when conflicts arise. If your company’s PTO policies stipulate prioritizing requests on a first-come, first-served basis or by tenure, the DATABASICS app will simplify the process for you and your team.
DATABASICS integrates with payroll and HR systems, like ADP, and other accounting systems, including Sage Intacct, NetSuite, and Microsoft Dynamics. And with real-time insights, the DATABASICS PTO-Leave app keeps employees and management informed about PTO.
Are Your Employees Asking for a New PTO Solution?
The DATABASICS PTO-Leave app is easy to use, secure, intuitive, and powerful enough to automate your current process. Managers and employees enjoy a simple user experience. Syncing the DATABASICS Time Tracking app with our PTO-Leave tech gives you real-time insights into each employee’s work schedule, location, and availability.
DATABASICS can be customized to whatever compliance rules or policies your organization has documented. You can automatically reject PTO requests that violate company policies and give managers timely reminders to respond to permitted requests.
Ready for a modern, next gen PTO solution that your organization and employees alike will enjoy? Connect with us to see a DATABASICS demo today!
