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Articles and resources covering leave management, employee time and attendance, absence management and more.

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By Sherman Morrison No Comments

New Jersey’s New Paid Sick Leave Law

New legislation in New Jersey related to paid sick leave will have significant impacts on employers and entrepreneurs. Knowing the details here is important. Paid time off from work has been in the media a lot lately, bolstered by many political candidates who made it a cornerstone of their campaigns leading up to the mid-term elections. The shifting landscape of paid sick leave is evolving rapidly, and because it can vary from state to state, it’s important to know what’s happening in your state. Successful legislation in one state often becomes model legislation for other states. This article will cover details of the New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act that became effective on October 29, 2018.

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By Sherman Morrison No Comments

Leave Management System: What Does Your Company Need?

Selecting the right leave management system is critical for your company, but how do you go about doing that? There are steps your company can take that are useful for selecting any type of software and will help ensure you end up getting the right leave management system to meet your needs. This article will provide you with the steps to take and questions to ask in order to cover all the bases, assuming your company does not have the in-house technical expertise or resources to build your own solution from scratch.

 

Finding the Right Leave Management System: Setting the Stage

The most important step to take in starting the software selection process is to define your needs, and that means both present and future needs. The more specific you can be about this, the better. Define what your current needs are in the here and now within the context of your company’s business goals. Then take a look at whether you think your company is going to grow in the near future. If significant growth is on the horizon, you’ll want to select software that can scale up as needed if growth happens. Be realistic about this part of the process – it would be a waste of resources for a small business to buy into an enterprise solution meant for large companies. But if you’re on the cusp of transitioning from a small business to a medium-sized business and actively growing, then it might be wise to consider a solution geared towards that next level for your company.

 

With those big-picture considerations outlined, then it’s time to analyze your company’s needs at the more granular level of the specific business processes that will be impacted by the leave management system. In this case, take a thorough look at how employee leave is currently managed and identify all the parts of the process that are working well along with all the aspects that need improvement. This will help ensure that your company doesn’t inadvertently select software that has negative impacts on processes that are already going well but instead supports them while improving or correcting the areas that need it. It’s also a good idea to divide your list of needs into “must-haves” versus “nice-to-haves” so you have additional flexibility in your search.

 

After defining your needs as specifically as possible, you can then assemble a list of all the software options that fit your needs assessment. By filtering out all the software options that are clearly don’t fit your needs, you’ll end up with a list that is much more manageable than trying to evaluate all of them. But make sure your list is as complete as possible so you don’t miss a solution that might be the right one for you company.

 

Questions to Ask About Leave Management System Options

With your list of potential leave management system software options in hand, it’s time to start examining each one with a set of questions that will let you further winnow down the options. Use the following questions to accomplish this part of the process:

 

  • Will the software meet all your most important needs?
  • Will the software meet any of your less important needs?
  • Is the software as user-friendly as you want or need it to be?
  • Will it be easy to implement the solution?
  • Does the software allow the level of customizability you desire?
  • Will the software require you to change some business processes in a way that makes sense?
  • Does the vendor have other customers or testimonials from companies like yours?
  • Relative to its competitors, does the solution appear to be innovative?
  • Is the pricing within an acceptable range?

 

Additional Steps in Selecting a Leave Management System

After you’ve gone through your list of software options and asked those questions, the list ought to be much smaller. Once you have this short-list of leave management system options, take these additional steps to help you decide:

 

  • Ask your peers in other companies for their recommendations.
  • Contact each vendor about their offering and pay attention to the quality of your interactions with them.
  • Sign up for a free trial if it’s available so end users can try the solution and provide feedback. Otherwise, you’ll have to settle for a software demonstration (but again, get end-user input).
  • Ask the vendor for references and speak to them, just like you would when making a hire.

 

Following a process like the one outlined above when selecting a leave management system for your company will go a long way towards making sure you end up with a solution that will meet your needs. With literally hundreds of options out there, taking a step-by-step approach will allow you to quickly narrow your search down to short-list of viable options. Check out CaptureLeave as one simple but powerful solution great for small and medium-sized businesses. Sign up for a free 60-day trial to see how it can work for your company!

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By Sherman Morrison No Comments

What is PTO?

PTO is the acronym used in HR departments when referring to paid time off. It reflects the growing movement to stop distinguishing between different kinds of paid leave (vacation, sick time, personal days, even holidays in some cases) and instead establishes an overall amount of paid time off that can be used by workers as needed or desired. The irony is that while the original push for establishing paid leave began in America, the US is one of the few developed countries in the world without a national mandatory paid leave policy. This article will cover everything you need to know about PTO and the importance of accurately tracking and monitoring employee leave time at your company.

 

 

PTO by the Numbers

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 73% of all workers in the US had access to paid vacation time (source). But the proverbial devil, as they say, is in the details. While 73% sounds like an impressive figure, that does mean 27% or nearly a third of American workers do not enjoy the benefit of any PTO for vacation time away from work. Also, while around 80% of workers in categories such as sales and office jobs, manufacturing, transportation, construction and so on enjoy PTO as a benefit, only 55% of workers in service occupations can say the same. And when you translate these percentages into real number of American workers, the sad result is that there are 28 million Americans who don’t get any PTO or paid holidays at all (source). There are many who find this unacceptable and call for a national policy to address the problem since it would appear that a significant portion of the business community won’t voluntarily give its workers PTO. Back in 2002, as many as 71% of organizations were distinguishing between different types of paid leave, while 28% were using the PTO concept. By 2010, those figures had shifted to 54% using the traditional approach and 40% using the PTO framework.

 

The Painful History of PTO in the US

There are only 13 countries on the planet that don’t guarantee PTO for all workers and the US is one of those, despite the fact that all the way back in 1910 President William Taft unsuccessfully pushed Congress to pass a mandatory paid vacation law. And he wanted workers to have three months off! More than 100 years later, the closest the nation has come to a national PTO policy is the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) passed in 1993 that guarantees a minimum of 12 weeks of paid leave for workers dealing with serious medical issues for themselves or their immediate family members. The only recent national attempts by Congress was a proposed Paid Vacation Act in 2009 and again in 2015, but it never even made it to the voting stage. Vocal opponents claimed it would be a job killer, even though it would only guarantee just one week of paid vacation for workers. There has been a growing movement at the state and local level to guarantee a minimum number of paid sick days. A good summary of the status of these laws and where they have been passed can be found at Support Paid Sick Days.

 

Advantages and Disadvantages of PTO

At first glance, the idea of consolidating the different kinds of paid leave into a single PTO category is appealing. It seems simpler and more streamlined, right? But complications can arise in how it plays out. For example, if a worker decides to use all their PTO for a vacation, what happens if the worker becomes ill at another time of the year? The employee will have to come to work sick, and their productivity will be lower. If the illness is something contagious, other workers might also become ill, resulting in potential further declines in productivity. This could result in significant losses for the business. A company’s PTO policy also has to be crafted to comply with any state or local laws about paid leave, which vary widely by location.

 

Track PTO or Paid Leave with the Right Tool: CaptureLeave

Whether your company offers the traditional categories of paid leave or has a PTO plan, successful implementation and maintenance of paid leave depends on using the right tool to track and monitor leave time. The tool should be simple yet powerful without locking your company into long-term contracts for something that might not meet your needs. CaptureLeave offers exactly that – a web-based SaaS (software as a service) application with the simplicity and flexibility you crave at a price your company can easily afford. Your company can try CaptureLeave for free for 60 days to find out if it’s the solution to time tracking you’ve been looking for. After your free trial, pricing starts as low as $25 per month for 15 users.

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By Cait Etherington No Comments

Do Longer Vacations Increase Productivity? It Depends…

Paid time off tracking

Although most U.S. employers do offer paid vacation days, by law, they don’t have to offer any paid vacation days at all. More shocking, however, is the fact that even when Americans are given paid time off, many choose not to use their vacation days. In fact, a 2017 Expedia survey found that on average Americans fail to use 3 paid vacation days per year, which amounts to billions of lost vacation days nationwide. If you think this is normal, however, think again. In all other developed nations, paid vacation time is not only the law but happens on a much wider scale.  

British and French Workers Are Entitled to Five Weeks Paid Vacation

 

Anyone who has worked for a multinational will tell you that outside the United States, the American approach to paid vacation time is not only considered unacceptable but often viewed as a form of worker cruelty. Indeed, when U.S. companies attempt to set up shop in England, France or the Netherlands, one of the first obstacles they face is adjusting their paid vacation time standards. While an American worker may be happy to take two weeks of paid vacation, most Europeans assume that one month is standard and in some European countries, paid leaves are even longer.

 

In the United Kingdom, 5.6 weeks paid vacation is mandated by law, though these days often include bank holidays that would otherwise be unpaid. In France, the deal is even sweeter for workers. On average, French workers get 30 paid vacation days per year. If a worker opts to work 39 hours per week, which is the legal maximum, rather than 35 hours per week, they can also take up to 22 RTT (Reduction of Working Time) days. If you opt to take your leave in the off season rather than July or August when most French people go on vacation, you can even accrue “bonus days.” For example, take three vacation days to go on a skiing trip to the Alps in February, and gain 1 bonus day off. Extend your off-season vacation to six days and gain two bonus days. All and all, through a combination of legal statutes and company interventions, some French employees enjoy up to 9.5 paid vacation weeks per year.

 

Given the discrepancy between the United States and many European countries, however, one can’t help but ask: How do British and French companies compete given that their employees are often taking 3 to 5 times as many paid vacation days? At least some studies suggest that taking more time off may not only be great for employees but great for businesses to the extent that vacations drive productivity, but is this actually the case?

 

Vacations Can Drive Productivity…If Well Planned

 

It is now widely accepted that happy workers are more productive. This is assumed to be the case because happy workers are more engaged and engagement drives productivity. In theory, then, vacations, which promote happiness, also promote productivity. At least some studies support this conclusion.

 

Expedia’s 2017 Vacation Deprivation report surveyed over 15000 workers across 30 countries. According to the survey, people generally return from their vacations feeling happier (96%) better rested (93%) and less stressed (94%), as well as in better health (93%) and closer to family (90%).  In addition, the Expedia study found that 60% of workers believe that when they take time off, they return to the office with a better attitude. Nearly half (46%) also believe that vacations drive productivity upon return to work. In addition, the 2017 Expedia study found that 65% of workers globally believe that being vacation deprived decreases one’s productivity on the job.

 

Still, not everyone agrees. At least one 2010 Dutch study found that not everyone is happier after a vacation.  A 2014 study published in the Harvard Business Review cautioned that the real issue may be the type of vacation you plan. As the study’s author, Shawn Achor, writes, “most of the happiness gleaned from vacation is dependent upon the stress level of the vacation. Poorly planned and stressful vacations eliminate the positive benefit of time away. The less the stress, the more likely you will experience a positive benefit from the time off. A positive, well-managed vacation can make you happier and less stressed, and you can return with more energy at work and with more meaning in your life.”

 

So, should U.S. businesses consider increasing the amount of paid vacation time they offer employees? Moreover, if so, what would the return on investment be? While evidence-based research on the relationship between vacation time and productivity remains scant, there appears to be at least some indication that well-rested employees are more productive. To get the most out of paid vacation days, however, perhaps businesses need to go one step further and help their employees plan vacations that are actually relaxing.

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By Sherman Morrison No Comments

Improve Workplace Time Management: Optimizing Workflows

Improve Workplace Time Management

At CaptureLeave we’ve developed a simple but powerful tool to help companies more effectively track and manage employee leave time, but there’s more to “time” at any workplace than just tracking employee time away from work. Every company also wants the time employees spend at work to be as productive as possible. If one of the goals at your company is to improve workplace time management, it will be worth your while to look at some of the ways you can help employees optimize the workflows of their daily routines.

 

Reducing Wasted Time is the Way to Improve Workplace Time Management

In 2014 the number of workers who admitted to wasting time at work reached an all-time high of 89% whereas in 2013 that figure was only 69% (as reported in Forbes)! Yes, lots of time gets wasted in the workplace, and not all of it can be blamed on the distractions of the Internet, mobile devices and social media, although those are the most frequently cited sources of distractions. Employees don’t tend to report “lack of optimized workflow” as a reason for wasted time, but you can bet it applies to lots of workers – it’s just that many of them don’t even realize it. And yes, to use a well-worn phrase, the goal is to help your employees work smarter, not necessarily harder.

 

Improve Workplace Time Management by Automating or Streamlining Regular Tasks

Those routine tasks that have to happen every day as part of the job can actually take up a surprising amount of valuable time. Things like expense reports, payroll, timesheets and time tracking can all be streamlined or automated with technologies available today, often through simple cloud-based solutions. These are the tasks that also make workers feel like just another cog in the machine, so reducing the amount of time spent on such things has an immediate morale-boosting effect – and they’ll have more time to devote to more substantive work you need them to do.

 

Cutting back on Meetings will Greatly Improve Workplace Time Management

Despite how much just about everyone hates too many meetings, companies still seem to have more and more of them. Here’s the shocking reality – not only do professionals have on average more than 60 meetings every month, nearly everyone attending those meetings admit they daydream or even doze off during some of them. Meetings break the flow of work many people need if they’re going to stay focused and get important things done. Yes, there will always be a need for some meetings, but anything you can do to reduce the overall number of meetings taking place will greatly aid in the battle to improve workplace time management. And if you do need to have a meeting, the least you can do keep it as short and focused on a concrete task as possible – that means establishing a clear agenda that you stick to, and reducing potential sources of distractions that might draw focus away from the task at hand. Make use of shared calendars so meetings can be grouped in a way that still preserves large chunks of uninterrupted work time.

 

Improve Workplace Time Management with Collaborative Workflow Tools

Tools like Asana or Trello are a great way to add transparency to teams in terms of deadlines and tasks that need to be accomplished. Making good use of collaborative workflow tools can help reduce the amount of time spent emailing back and forth to a team, which can often result in a confusing loop of communication that does more harm than good. The platform acts as a central clearinghouse for task-oriented communication.

 

Delegating Decision-Making to Improve Workplace Time Management

This might seem like another no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how often it simply doesn’t happen. Your employees need to be able to complete their work without a bunch of obstacles standing in their way. Too many employees are still micromanaged to an unhelpful degree, so it pays to find ways to free them up to get work done. They need the flexibility to focus during whatever part of the day they know they’re more productive. And they need the freedom to establish their own workflow that makes the most sense to them.

 

Any company that adopts these ideas for optimizing workflows will undoubtedly improve workplace time management. Since tracking and managing leave time is one of those routine tasks that can suck up valuable time, sign up for a free 30-day trial to discover how it solve that problem for your company!

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By Sherman Morrison No Comments

Employee Wellness Programs Can Reduce Absenteeism and Boost Productivity

employee wellness programs

Any business owner or leader knows the frustrating costs of lost productivity when workers are absent, often due to being sick. Reducing absenteeism due to illness can be one great benefit of robust employee wellness programs, but they also have the potential of boosting employee productivity – and it can be a surprisingly big impact.

 

The Connection Between Employee Wellness Programs and Productivity

Last year, the University of California Riverside conducted a study that found a significant correlation between employee wellness programs and higher productivity among workers. It’s a well-known fact that most workers are only truly productive for about three hours of any given work day, which feels pretty depressing to businesses. No wonder many are actively looking for ways to boost worker productivity. The good news is that the study examined a company who created an employee wellness program and saw productivity increase by a full work day per month for employees who participated – an impressive result!

 

 

It’s also worth noting that many businesses do demand a LOT of their employees. It’s tough on people when they’re expected to be “always on” in the workplace with constant emails, endless meetings, looming deadlines and more. Many people spend a majority of their lives at work, and if that time results in daily frustration, anxiety and stress, it takes a toll on both health and productivity. Employee wellness programs can take much of the edge off stressful work environments, increasing people’s satisfaction on the job and thereby making them more productive.

 

The Connection Between Employee Wellness Programs and Absenteeism

The link between absenteeism due to illness and employee wellness programs is more obvious than the link to productivity. If the wellness programs make workers healthier, then it’s only natural that they should take less sick time. This is well established by decades of research on employee wellness programs that have noted the following:

 

  • Improving employee wellness behaviors: Behavior change is the key to reaping the benefits of a wellness program. The best programs are those that help people adopt and maintain healthier behaviors. Improved health behaviors lower health risks and reduces the occurrence of sickness and chronic illness. Of course, it has to be a quality program to reap the benefits. There are plenty of examples of poor programs that do not achieve the desire results.

 

  • Lowering common health risks: Programs that focus on lowering some of the most common health risks that get people into trouble are always a good choice. And when it comes to things like elevated blood glucose, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and being obese or overweight, the key behavioral changes are centered on diet and exercise.

 

  • Reducing healthcare costs: It also goes without saying that when employee wellness programs do what they’re intended do, businesses will spend less on healthcare – and not just a little. Dozens of studies have shown that a quality wellness program will easily save a company more money than it spends on the program. There is a positive return on investment to be gained with good employee wellness programs. And the average is impressive – for every dollar spent on quality wellness programming, companies saved an average of $3.27 in healthcare costs.

 

When employee wellness programs achieve their objectives of improving health behaviors, reducing common health risks and helping people manage stress more effectively, the healthier participants are simply absent less. And once again this results in a positive return on investment for the wellness programs. A Harvard study showed that for every dollar spent on quality wellness programming, companies experience an average savings of $2.73 thanks to reduced absenteeism.

 

Is it time for your company to seriously consider more robust employee wellness programs? Part of knowing if your efforts are generating the benefits mentioned above requires effective time tracking software. The CaptureLeave system is a simple yet powerful tool for tracking and managing leave time. It’s easy-to-use but comprehensive in its functionality. You can sign up for a free 30-day trial to find out if it’s the solution your company needs!

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