Apr 15, 2020

The Importance of Time-Off Management

Paid time off can be a great tool to improve employee morale and productivity.

If executed correctly, time-off management can make a sizeable positive impact on your culture. Unfortunately, many employees in the United States receive the impression that vacations are discouraged. A new hire excited about generous PTO (paid time off) becomes disengaged when they notice that their co-workers aren’t taking vacations. Alternatively, when these employees do take a vacation, their supervisor implies that they should answer client emails or log in remotely to meetings, eliminating the feeling of truly having time off.

PTO is one of the most important benefits offered to staff members. As such, it is important to create a vacation-positive culture at your company. Encourage vacations, set a good example, and do not expect staff members to check in while they’re away. They should have the chance to disconnect completely, as vacations have a propensity to improve employee morale and productivity upon the employee’s return. 

Timeworks Plus/TimeSimplicity from Panacea Payroll.

Timeworks Plus/TimeSimplicity is uniquely suited for effective time off management. Take advantage of this system to handle:

• Timekeeping for salaried, hourly, remote, mobile, and contract workers
• Staff member vacation requests
• Manager approvals
• FMLA administration
• Employee scheduling

Summary of 7 Key Findings about Employee Leave

• Employees rank paid vacation as their second most-valued benefit after health insurance. (Project Time Off)
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2018 the average PTO for all U.S. employers was 9.7 days annually plus 3-4 days for every 5 years of employment.
• More than half of U.S. employees forfeit vacation days every year. (U.S. Travel.org)
• In 2018, American workers failed to use 768 million vacation days. (U.S. Travel.org)
• Employees who believe their organization encourages vacation report improved job satisfaction. (Project Time Off)
• Many U.S. organizations expect employees to work remotely for part of the day while they are away. When this is the case, employees are less likely to benefit physically and emotionally from the time off. (Mark Gorkin, MSW, LICSW, “The Stress Doc”)
• 54% of organizations that switched to a combined PTO policy had a 10% decrease in unscheduled absences. 4% experienced a decrease of 20%. (The Alexander Hamilton Institute)

What are the risks of poor time off management?

• Decreased morale among staff
• Employee burnout
• Higher turnover
• Negative employer reputation
• Diminished productivity
• FMLA violations

UPGRADE TODAY

Panacea Payroll offers Timeworks Plus/TimeSimplicity that makes it easy to optimize the performance of your supervisors, employees, and business operations. IT includes TimeWorksPlus, TimeSimplicity, and TimeWorks Mobile. These are developed for busy employers like you who need to reduce cost-per-hire, streamline scheduling, automate time tracking, maintain regulatory compliance, and reduce labor costs.

Want to find out how much you can save? We can get you up and running with Timeworks Plus/TimeSimplicity immediately. Contact us today to book a demo.