How benefit managers can get ahead of the summer PTO surge

For many employees, the warmer months mean vacations, relaxing and spending time with family and friends — all of which lead to a significant amount of PTO requests. 

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 leave management plan in place.

"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." 

Read more: Employees are refusing to use their PTO in new 'holiday hoarding' trend

Many of the challenges employers face during peak PTO seasons are driven by a lack of formal procedures. According to Paycom's findings, one-third of employees struggle to understand their company's time-off policies — which could deter employees from complying in a timely and accurate manner. In many cases, it already does: Nearly one-quarter of employees do not officially submit their vacation requests until the day of their trip, or even weeks after the fact.

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. Pairing leave policy efforts with a tech tool or platform  could help leaders stay on top of requests and manage them more efficiently. 

"Outdated PTO management can lead to confusion, biased decisions, inaccuracies and employee frustration," McGowen says.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 automates the leave process by approving or denying employees' time-off requests based on criteria set by the managers themselves. Companies can embed the policies they've established in the software, providing a more reliable experience. It also makes the process easier for employees, who can submit a request directly from their phones instead of having to go through their benefits portal on a desktop. 

Read more: Want employees to accept RTO mandates? Incentivize them with benefits

"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 designing a PTO policy, organizations should be considering whether there are important PTO blackout dates around certain projects or deadlines and how they want leave to be approved — for example, whether it's based on seniority, performance or first-come-first-serve. Overall, however, all companies should still be encouraging their workforce to take time off as needed, regardless of the time of year.  

"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."