For many employees, the warmer months mean vacations, relaxing and spending time with family and friends — all of which lead to a
This year, businesses are expected to see a surge of 40% more time-off requests during the summer season, according to recent data from HR and business payroll platform Paycom. Specifically, time off around Independence Day — less than a month away — is expected to be the most in-demand vacation request of the summer. This means that organizations should already have some kind of
"The number of PTO requests goes up every summer," says Tiffany McGowen, senior executive vice president of HR and talent acquisition at Paycom. "Employers need to be communicating early and often about their expectations if they want employees to keep doing a great job."
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Many of the challenges employers face during
Technology could offer more support
The first steps to successfully managing leave requests are to establish policies with the help of executives and make sure that they are visible and accessible for employees to refer back to — but that's not always enough. There is still room for human error with PTO requests, like favoritism and miscommunication.
"Outdated PTO management can lead to confusion, biased decisions, inaccuracies and employee frustration," McGowen says. "With the right HR tech, companies can embed their PTO policies into the system directly, which alleviates confusion around request processes and PTO rules."
Paycom's time-off management tool GONE
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"Automate your policy and then continue to over-communicate it," McGowen says. "Employees still need to understand that if they're part of a critical project, they need to be at work [or] work with their colleagues to offset some of their responsibilities."
When
"PTO can be positive and celebratory if employees plan it out the right way, and it's the leaders' responsibility to ensure it is," McGowen says. "We all win when we have competent, confident and capable employees."