The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced every business across the world to let the employees do remote work. On the other hand, the experts have been predicted that the remote work facility will rise in the coming days. Instead of going office, experts are expecting a long-lasting shift to the remote workers where employees do remote work from different places and from various time zone.
Remote working has become a new way of working. On the other hand, since the recent COVID-19 crisis, it also has become a new normal for most employers as well as employees. While this facility has brought a lot of benefits, HR managers are now facing challenges in managing leave of different work-from-home with different time zone teams.
So, when it comes to working holidays as well as taking time off, employers can get a lot of requests. However, the fact that leaves for the remote working teams can be different than the leaves for the physical teams as well as a regular team. For example, a PTO related to COVID 19 need to be tracked in compliance with federal, state, and local governance.
Across the world, every company is performing all the possible things to keep up with this. After all, this is a time where ignoring leave management can be a costly affair for the company. So, how to deal with all these things? How can the HR management manage the leaves of the different remote working teams?
Well, the advancement in technology has made it a little easier for employers and companies. Now, one can easily manage the leave requests from multiple teams by using professional PTO tracking software. Now, let’s discuss this in detail and explore some tips to manage multiple leaves.
Before diving deep into the matter, let’s understand why employees prefer to work remotely. Here are some reasons to consider.
A great level of flexibility and freedom
It has been proved that most remote workers with different time zone love their freedom. Why? While working remotely, they can easily plan their Day that will match their home and work life. Having a decent level of flexibility to visit the hospital, spend time with family, and attend to their important task can lighten the load. On the other hand, there is no need to seek permission or follow other members while working. This will lower the pressure. When the companies offer such a level of freedom, it develops the trust factors, and employees enjoy a better level of job satisfaction.
It is cost-saving
A lot of employees think that going to the office can be a little expensive. For example, they are going to the office means dealing with the cost of travel, coffee, snacks, colleague presents, work clothes, and more. With remote working with different time zone, they can easily save on such expenses. As a result, they will save more money. Besides, it has been proved that remote working can also help in lowering childcare costs. Why? Well, parents will get more time to take care of their children.
No location restriction
Another major benefit of remote working with different time zone is employees can work from any place they want. Employees don’t have to a particular city. As a result, they can easily avoid unnecessary traveling. In fact, they will get more time to work.
Better health and happiness
Different studies show that traveling each day and staying in the office for hours is not the healthiest way. The remote teams with different time zone have the biggest advantage of not getting into contact with other people. This is something quite crucial during this pandemic. Besides, remote working also facilitates better mental health.
Why are some companies emphasizing remote working?
It has been seen that some companies are now giving importance to the remote working model as they have understood that this is an ideal way to attain a higher level of productivity. Let’s talk about some other major benefits of having remote teams.
- Better productivity
Different studies have proved that remote employees can easily complete an entire day’s work each week compared to the other employees. Remote team members with different time zone can work during the time that suits them the best and can stay out of the regular office distraction. So, they can concentrate on the task without being disturbed. They can set their own working environment that can inspire them. So, it can be said that remote working can easily lead to a greater level of productivity among the employees
Of course, to enjoy the maximum benefits, the company needs to offer all the facilities to the members, including Day off facilities.
- Efficient communication
Gone ate those days when frequent catchup-up and unnecessary meetings that can affect the working hours. It has been proved that remote team with different time zone meetings are to the point and purposeful. Meetings are organized with a clear goal, action plans, agenda, and more. In general, advanced video software programs are used to organize meetings. The employees will get more time to work as they will spend less on those unnecessary mattings.
- Creative unleashed
To begin with, some businesses may feel comfortable letting their best employees work remotely with different time zone. Why? This way, the best employees can be offered perfect work-life flexibility. The best part of remote working is that companies can bring out the best in their employees.
- Easy access to the global talent
When a company follows a remote working model, the company no longer needs to keep the recruitment process limited by a particular physical location. Besides, the companies don’t have to compromise in locating the right talent for the post. A company can get access to the vast pool of talented candidates and choose the best one.
Well, with all such amazing benefits, the remote working model can look very attractive. But when it comes to managed leaves, companies face trouble. So, how to deal with leaves and enjoy the remote working model. Keep reading to know more.
Why does vacation or leave important?
No matter whether it is for physical employees or remote teams, vacation or leave is a good thing for both the business and employee. Some studies have proved that every year around 700 million leaves go unused by employees. Besides, around 200 million leaves were forfeited by staffers.
Some employees think that taking leaves will make them appear less dedicated to their company. On the other hand, some worry about leaving their undone tasks. It has also been seen that some companies don’t encourage their employees to utilize their leaves. But this is not a good idea.
Different studies have proved that offering vacation time as well as encouraging them to use it can promote a healthier workplace. When you offer required time to employees to refuel is a great way to prevent burnout. However, there are also some other benefits.
Researches prove that employees who work for the companies that encourage leave are happier than the companies who are silent about taking time off. Some other studies reveal that around 70 to 72 percent of manages think that employees can handle extra time if they are offered time off facility. Most of the managers think that employees return from a holiday with a better level of creativity and focus.
So, if you want to maintain the perfect growth of your company and keep your employees motivated, then giving them vacation will be a great idea. Now, here are some tips for managing the leaves.
Some best ways to manage the leaves
- Create a clear leave policy
If you don’t have a leave policy, then it’s time to work with your HR department to determine what type of framework the leave policy should follow. For example, you can create a policy considering different factors, such as accrued time, rewards for tenure, and you can also set the maximum number of leave for the employees doing remote working. Once done, distribute that policy to all. This way, your employees will know when they can apply for leave.
- Stick to the leave requirements
As per the BLS- Bureau of Labor Statistics, American employees, on average, get ten days of PTO- Paid Time Off every year. However, the number can go down or up based on the region and industry. In general, the days off increase with the employee’s service period. In some companies, in every five years, the employees can earn around three to four days of additional days off every year based on their longevity.
Cultural celebrations, special occasions, and holidays, there is a huge requirement for managing days off. Besides, some industries follow the vacation regulations set by the government. Fair work in Australia, the UK’s Good Work Plan, and Fair Workweek in the U.S., all these regulations talk about the maximum number of leave an employee can take.
You can make the leave compliance easier using a professional Day Off app that comes with a built-in compliance feature. Using this, you can easily block the time off or leave requests automatically for the dates when you want your employee to be there to work without affecting the leave requirements.
- Make sure the work can get done
Most of the companies, as well as teams, don’t have the required deep bench. What does that mean? Well, then one is on leave, the others need to find out how to get the work done with one less person.
So, what should you do here? Well, you need to ensure that you are encouraging all your employees to collaborate as well as cross-training. As a result, if one employee is out, other employees on the team can quickly fill that person’s place and complete the task. Remember that don’t make a single employee so critical that if that particular employee is taking a leave, that can affect the entire team.
Another best way to ensure that works don’t suffer from the leave is that the team needs to make sure that the work is completed before the vacation. For this, you should provide every member with a checklist so that they can know that they need to finish before they can take a leave. You can easily do that by using a well-designed PTO tracker. The checklist should include:
- Important deadlines
- a summary of their ongoing projects
- location of the important files
- Important contact information
When you have all the information, you can enjoy peace of mind by knowing that the work will get complete on time.
- Set a deadline for the leave requests
To avoid staff shortage issues, you need to make sure that the remote working team members are submitting their vacation requests before a fixed day. This will help you in understanding how many employees have applied for the lead. If you think you will lack coverage, you can ask some employees to postpone their leave requests. Besides, you will get enough time to find out why too many employees want to leave at the same time.
- Consolidate the leave requests on one platform
Text messages, emails, or sticky notes, what method you use to manage the leave requests? Well, the fact is that you will not get enough time to manage this thing using spreadsheets, papers, or voicemails. However, you can use a Free vacation tracker to manage the leave from just one place.
When you have a professional Time off app that can offer you a centralized leave management feature, you can easily view leave balance, different leave types, and more in one place. With this, you can make the process for applying for a leave comfortable, and you can also easily approve the requests.
- You need to encourage the employees for planned leaves
It has been proved that unplanned leaves can greatly affect business activities and can also lead to financial losses. On the other hand, planned leaves can help you in developing an efficient attitude among the staff.
So, it will be better for HR managers to encourage both physical and remote employees to plan their PTO or leave in advance. This is where a company can use an Employee leave tracker app. Using such apps, companies can track the leave balance and current time off status. As a result, it will be easier to maintain a better workflow for the team and employees.
- Offer ongoing communication using a simple tool
To maintain a smooth business operation, you need to keep all the lines of communication open. This is very crucial. Let the employees know when they should or can contact you for the leave questions. You need to create an environment of understanding. Besides, make sure that the team knows there is no need to worry about asking for time off when they urgently need it.
It will be better for you if you can set a time limit between the actual days off and the leave request. Unless the condition is extreme, the employee should not apply for a leave request just one day before the actual date of leave. Using a Vacation tracker, you can check this thing.
It’s time to use leave management software to manage the leave efficiently
A leave management system, or you can say an Employee time off tracker or software, is designed to provide both the employees and company to manage the leaves. There are many automated leave management software programs that enable employers to take the leave balance and leave status.
Using a leave tracker, you can easily save valuable time and track the leaves in one place. Besides, you will be able to set the vacations or leave policies within a few seconds using a Free time off tracker like Day off. By automating all the tasks, you won’t face any issues in managing leaves and looking for the best app? Well, it’s time to try our Day Off app.