Business success is academically defined as the achievement of strategic objectives, sustainable profitability, and enduring competitive advantage within a market or industry. It encompasses the effective utilization of resources, the creation of stakeholder value, and the ability to adapt to evolving market conditions while maintaining long-term viability and growth potential.
HR success can be academically defined as miraculously turning the chaos of human emotions, office politics, and bureaucratic paperwork into a somewhat functional ecosystem, all while pretending, and sometimes praying, that it’s all under control.
On any given day, week, or quarter there are countless obstacles in an HR leader’s path to achieving the various metrics of success they’re measured against. Selecting the right partner to administer leaves of absence can remove one of the most frustrating and unpredictable obstacles HR faces today.
But beyond the successes HR teams stand to gain by easing the burdens of managing leave, choosing the right LOA partner also has strong business success implications as well.
Choosing the right LOA partner:
- Is an effective utilization of resources (bye-bye spreadsheets and ineffective software),
- Creates tremendous value to internal and external stakeholders (hello workforce optimization and satisfied clients),
- Makes adapting to evolving LOA conditions automatic (Thank you compliance)
- Provides scalability as you grow (Long-term adaptability).
So how exactly do you find the “right” LOA partner? Let’s dive in
Tilt Recap: HR success is business success, but there are countless obstacles in the way that prevent HR leaders from achieving it. Leave of absence management is one function that presents several obstacles, obstacles that are compounded by their unpredictable nature. Choosing the right partner to manage leaves can remove those obstacles while making both HR and business success a reality.
How to Find the Right LOA Partner For You
When evaluating an LOA partnership, most HR and People Ops leaders are looking for exactly that, a partnership.
They want a solution that removes all the pain points a leave of absence request can cause for their team, the employee, the employee’s manager, and payroll, but it’s also important to not be so removed from the process that there’s no visibility into what’s going on. For LOAs, the right solution should act as an extension of the HR team.
Leave Automation
Beyond having transparency into all organizational leaves of absence in one place, it’s necessary (for sanity and accuracy) to have manual processes automated wherever possible.
Relying on automation removes uncertainty around consistent, accurate leave plans being developed for every employee needing a leave of absence, and ensures that leave data is always up-to-date even when changes to the leave occur mid-journey.
Scalability and the Removal of Human Error
That last tidbit is particularly important to the long-term success of any HR team. Relying on outdated systems and spreadsheets is a solution that doesn’t scale well, is prone to human error, and with the complexity of leave that has risen in the last 5 years, can’t handle the “if/then” scenarios that arise in a leave.
Leaves are on the rise as well.
“Pre-march of 2020, about 7% of employee populations engaged in a leave of absence,” said Tilt’s CEO Jen Henderson on a recent episode of Match Relevant’s, “From the Ground Up” podcast. “Since that moment in time, it has in fact doubled. Tilt now supports between 10-15% of an employee population engaging in a leave every year.”
Sensitive Leave Data Security
With leaves on the rise and their complexity increasing, it also makes securing sensitive employee data more important than ever. Reducing the risk of private information falling into the wrong hands is paramount, so proactive HR leaders are seeking solutions that shore up any potential leaks of their leave data.
Attachments living in rogue email threads or downloaded to shareable and accessible Google Drive folders would give any compliance team heartburn.
The right leave partner should keep all leave data safely stored under one secure digital roof.
Leave Law Experts That Prioritize Compliance
The next factor that should be considered might seem obvious, but it doesn’t make it less important or worthy of evaluation. Compliance.
A trusted LOA partner should be up to date on all things leave. From the latest legislation coming down from Capitol Hill to state-paid leave program developments to municipality programs.
Compliance risks can come from administering inconsistent leaves for employees (that’s rife for a discrimination lawsuit), sensitive data being shared inappropriately (even on accident), and always being current with the latest leave laws.
Empathetic Human Support
One other thing that is paramount to leave of absence efficacy and strategic success is how the employee feels on their leave journey.
Removing the human element from the administrative tasks associated with leave is one thing, but removing the human element from the human side of leaves is a risk most HR leaders aren’t willing to take.
And for good reason.
“The stories that hit me the hardest are when you have the loss of a pregnancy or the loss of a newborn baby and those parental leaves turn into bereavement leaves.” Said Jen in a recent episode of The Modern People Leader podcast. “Often employers have absolutely no idea what to do with that, how to support that, how to navigate it, how to put it into their system. That is not a time for technology or for employees to self-serve. That is a time to provide human-to-human, heart-to-heart support.”
Okay we covered a lot, so to recap, the right leave management partner should:
- Act as an extension of your HR team
- Provide automation for everything from leave planning to tracking to payroll calculations
- Act as an extension of your team and provide holistic visibility into every leave across your org, keeping key stakeholders in the loop and the workforce running smoothly.
- Scale with business growth and the rise in leave requests
- Adapt to changes in the leave law landscape
- Securely store sensitive employee leave data
- Keep you compliant
- Provide empathetic human support when employees need it most
It’s nearly impossible to achieve all of this with the antiquated tools and processes at HR’s disposal. There’s no wonder why leaves of absence create such a hurdle to achieving success and leaders are looking for a better way to give leave some love.
Tilt’s Leave Management Solutions Makes HR Success A Reality
Tilt’s approach to leave management is the one solution that truly turns LOA obstacles into opportunities.
From workforce planning obstacles to the opportunity to keep operations running smoothly.
Tilt’s emphasis on leave transparency provides platform access, tailored by role, for necessary stakeholders to stay informed in order to make strategic workforce decisions to keep the business moving forward:
Take a walk through the platform yourself:
From data security obstacles to the opportunity to keep employee information safe and your company compliant.
Security and compliance are of the utmost importance to you, so they’re of the utmost importance to Tilt. You can read all about how Tilt keeps your organization’s information safe at: https://trust.hellotilt.com/
From manual process shortcomings to the opportunity to reduce human error and free up valuable time for your team.
Manual processes are a nightmare for HR teams and can be as frustrating to execute accurately as they are cumbersome to complete.
Leave of absence administration can’t be both manual and scalable, but Tilt removes that obstacle with ease.
Allie Morton, Senior Director Senior Director of People Operations at FluentStreams has this to say about it:
As a fully remote company operating in over 20 states Tilt has saved us so much time in research, compliance, employee conversations, and payroll calculations. Instead of balancing these activities with other responsibilities, we can focus on more strategic and culture-building initiatives!
From employee support obstacles to the opportunity to provide empathetic human guidance
Employees can feel a wide range of emotions when taking a leave of absence. From excitement to uncertainty, fear to heartbreak, or even mental burnout and grief.
Even the most straightforward of leaves can seem overwhelming to an employee going through a significant life event. That’s why it’s vital that employees have access to all the information they need, but when they need a beating heart and a helping hand, they have a human they can turn to who has been familiar with their leave situation from the moment the leave request was submitted.
Tilt’s Leave Success Managers, AKA Empathy Warriors, ensure that employees are taken care of with empathy and understanding every step of the way. A leave of absence is not the time to tell the employee “call the carrier,” or to have them fend for themselves to find answers in a digital database, or even having to say, “Let me Google this really quickly.”
It was great to have my LSM Courtney to be able to ask questions in plain English and to have her guide me through the steps that were needed. Dealing with the leave was already stressful enough, so it was amazing to have someone there to help instead of having another platform I had to figure out. – Henry N., Principal Engineer at Ease
Tilt Recap: Tilt is the right LOA partner for HR teams looking to streamline one of the biggest obstacles in their path to success. With Tilt managing leaves, HR Teams stay informed, employees stay supported, and organizations stay compliant. Tilt makes leaves of absence easy to manage while providing empathy for employees in need. By removing these obstacles with Tilt, your team can help propel your business forward while never overlooking the fact that leaves are the most human thing your employees may experience.
Make it a positive experience with 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.
