Disclaimer: The following blog by no means reflects Tilt’s overall attitudes or opinions toward spreadsheets. Tilt fully recognizes the general badassery of spreadsheets and what they’re capable of. We love and use spreadsheets here at Tilt regularly.
With that formality out of the way, however, we don’t think it’s controversial to say that spreadsheets are an abject dumpster fire when used to manually track your organization’s leaves of absence and to act as your system of record.
Effective and efficient leave tracking is a critical function of today’s People Ops leaders that directly impacts a variety of business outcomes from employee satisfaction, to productivity, and overall organizational success. Relying on cumbersome spreadsheets to manually manage and track leaves of absence exposes your process to potential errors (we’re only human), inefficiencies (super busy humans), and frustrated employees (empathetic humans).
Can you track leaves without using spreadsheets though? Absolutely. Otherwise, this would have been the most clickbaity headline of all time. So let’s dig in.
The Pitfalls of Using Spreadsheets For Leave Tracking
While manually tracking your leaves is both time-consuming and frustrating, a spreadsheet’s limitations extend beyond the administrative burdens of the manual process. But let’s talk about them for a quick sec.
From regularly calculating FMLA usage to ensuring leave start dates and end dates are accurate (‘cause you know all too well that they’re subject to change), to accounting for changes in pay rates that may occur and much more, the amount of manual data entry and updating required even for a single leave of absence can make even the most seasoned People Ops pros feel like their drowning in a sea of busy work.
The compliance risks, however, cannot be overlooked. Using a spreadsheet can lead to version control issues or the potential for sensitive information to fall into the wrong hands. Clerical errors can be both costly to your organization (from lawsuits to overpayments) and lead to employee dissatisfaction and turnover.
All of the concerns above are only magnified as your organization scales, of course.
Tilt: The Foolproof Alternative to Leave Spreadsheets
The solution to the spreadsheet dilemma lies in the adoption of modern leave management software. Technology like Tilt was developed for the specific purpose of automating and empathizing the entire leave management process, providing a centralized platform for tracking and employee support that offers numerous benefits for both People Ops pros and the employees you support.
Bye-Bye Spreadsheet, Hello Real-Time Dashboard: Forget about sifting through color-coded rows and columns on a spreadsheet. Tilt provides real-time visibility into everything from employee leave balances, to pending requests, and historical data. Tilt replaces your spreadsheets with an easy and intuitive leave dashboard that provides real-time visibility into all aspects of a leave.
It’s one mighty dashboard that gives you and your team a holistic view of every leave of absence occurring within your organization at any moment. No matter the leave. No matter the state. Tilt is foolproof leave tracking at its finest.
Integration with HRIS: Tilt can pull employee information directly from your HRIS into our platform. This means that as changes to your employee population data occur in your HRIS, those changes are incorporated in TIlt in real-time.
Effortless Request Submission and Eligibility Verification: By talking to your HRIS Tilt is able to determine benefit eligibility automatically. When a leave request is entered into Tilt’s system the up-to-date employee information from your HRIS informs our eligibility engine which ensures that requests are submitted accurately, promptly, and securely organized within our platform.
Compliance and Policy Adherence: Tilt is backed by a team of in-house leave law experts and can be customized for your organization’s specific leave policies. Staying compliant with labor laws and company policies is crucial when tracking and administering a leave of absence, and Tilt ensures your organization is abiding by any relevant regulatory requirements, minimizing your risk of non-compliance.
Cross-Functional Calendar View: Visualizing leave data is essential for effective planning and ensuring all parties involved are on the same page throughout the leave journey. Tilt removes any ambiguity around when certain benefits kick in for your employees as well as leave start and end dates through our leave map technology. Your team, your employee on leave, and your employee’s manager get a detailed visual of every leave that updates in real-time.
One leave of absence can require tracking multiple federal and state programs your employee might be supported by. Each program has its own set of rules and has its own deadlines and requirements for applying in a timely and accurate manner.
Tilt guides your employees through everything they need to do for an effective leave, and tracks it all in one safe and secure platform.
Your Leave Tracking Spreadsheet Woes Are Over
Tilt’s automated leave management software is the extinguisher for your spreadsheet dumpster fire. Safe, secure, and accurate leave tracking every time, for every leave. No more administrative headaches every time a leave request comes in. No more compliance cold-sweats because you aren’t entirely sure you’re operating in accordance with the latest laws.
Tilt removes all barriers to a better leave experience. A better experience for you, and a better experience for the people you wake up every day trying your damnedest to support.
About Tilt
Tilt is leading the charge in all things leave of absence management through easy-to-use tech and human touch. Since 2017, our proprietary platform and Empathy Warriors have been helping customers make leave not suck by eliminating administrative burdens, keeping companies compliant, and providing a truly positive and supportive leave of absence experience for their people.
