There is a tendency in small businesses to think that the newest technology isn’t necessarily needed, like attendance management systems or leave trackers. There are a few reasons small businesses will shy away from introducing new software platforms.

First, business owners may not feel like they can justify the expense. However, most technology is cloud-based and can be purchased on a scalable subscription basis, so the costs are minimal.

Small businesses may think they don’t have the complexity in their organization requiring new software solutions, but that’s not the case either.

Many business owners are also reluctant to introduce any new technology because they fear their employees will be apprehensive about it, or not willing to make use of it.

In terms of an attendance management system or leave tracker, businesses might incorrectly assume it won’t be of any benefit to them in their organization. This isn’t the case, and the following are some specific ways even a very small business can benefit from implementing an attendance management system.

Managing Hourly Workers

Many small businesses have hourly workers. Those workers have schedules that change frequently, they may have different leave requests, and the approvals process for those requests can get quickly complicated.

For many businesses, there can actually be a lot of conflict when it comes to managing hourly workers’ requests for time off. That conflict can be alleviated, and hourly workers will feel like they’re treated more consistently and fairly if there is an attendance management system in place.

This is particularly true if the leave tracker and attendance management system features the ability for hourly employees and all other staff to log in themselves, submit their requests, and see approvals.

Regarding hourly workers, business owners get an advantage here too. They can log in and see trends for specific employees, which can be helpful as they make other decisions within their business.

Avoid Understaffing

Depending on the type of small business someone operates, different times of year may be their busy season. For retail businesses, as an example, that time is during the holidays. If everyone also wants to take off during this busy season, it can be damaging to the entire business.

The potential for understaffing, particularly during key times, is greatly reduced with a leave tracker.

When a small business has automated attendance solutions in place, it lets them make sure that they’re scheduling employees in a way that reflects their estimated workload projections. Once these elements line up, a business is going to be able to improve efficiency and meet goals, while effectively managing costs at the same time.

Reducing Internal Conflict

This was touched on a bit above, but it’s important to mention on its own as well. Reducing internal conflict is something all business owners are concerned with.

When there’s a lot of conflict and discord in a business for any reason, it’s damaging to productivity, employee engagement and morale, and the overall culture of the organization.

If one employee feels like another is being treated better than them when it comes to taking time off, that can have a ripple effect in many other areas of the business.

That can be reduced significantly when a leave tracker system is introduced.

Legal Compliance

A lot of things related to employees’ work time and time off are regulated under federal and state laws. A small business that has above a specific number of employees is required to be compliant in certain areas, and not doing so can be costly or highly damaging.

With a leave tracker, it’s easier to not only set up employee time-off rules but also to be able to show that you’re adhering to them if the time ever comes.

When there’s a leave tracker and the system for requesting time off and receiving approvals is all automated, there’s not the opportunity for employees to claim they’ve been treated unfairly or retaliated against either.

Reduce Administrative Burdens

In some cases, small businesses can benefit from a leave tracker system even more than larger organizations. Large businesses have entire departments that manage scheduling and time off.

If you’re a small business owner, you’re probably doing this all yourself, or you may have one employee who’s doing everything in terms of administration.

That leaves option the opportunity for confusion, a lack of organization, and human error.

Reduce these risks and the overall administrative burden of dealing with leave requests by introducing a leave tracker. The most important aspect of a leave tracker system for small business is that employees can log on themselves, and manage their own requests, see their schedules, and see any other relevant information they may need.

Scalability

If you’re a small business and you’re managing employee attendance manually, what are you going to do as you grow? Are you still going to be able to keep up with that outdated way of tracking employee attendance and leave time? Chances are, probably not.

A paper-based system may be fine for you as your business stands currently, but it leaves you no room for growth.

Go ahead and plan for growth and use a leave tracker system that’s scalable to the needs of your organization now and over time.

Finally, collecting and maintaining data is important for any business, whether they have five employees, fifty, or five hundred. Data is what’s used to drive the majority of all business decisions in modern organizations, and using a leave tracker system is just one more way to get that data.

Using a leave tracker lets employers see different views of employee attendance in their company, whether it’s for a single day, a window of time, or for a group of employees.

Employers can assess the data tracked through their leave management system and determine hiring and firing decisions, or whether something needs to be done about how much time employees are either working or taking off.

It’s just one more way to gain an overview of the real data within a business to make smart, numbers-driven decisions and that’s never a bad thing regardless of the size of the business.