Challenge: For an HR manager at a growing mid-market company, leave had become one of the most complex parts of her role. With headcount jumping from 400 to 1,000 and a younger workforce taking more mental health leaves, her team of two faced a dramatic surge in requests. Tracking leave across multiple systems introduced hidden compliance risks, administrative strain, and an employee experience that couldn’t scale.
Solution: The HR team partnered with Tilt to create a modern, human-centered leave experience. By adopting a centralized platform with guided employee support, leave management moved out of spreadsheets and inboxes and into a system designed for care, efficiency, and clarity.
Results:
- A single destination for leave information, reducing employee confusion and repetitive HR inquiries
- Scalable, empathetic support throughout every leave
- Documented compliance workflows that reduced risk and boosted HR confidence
- Time savings that allowed the HR team to focus on strategy and culture
Continue reading to see how this HR leader transformed leave from a fragile, manual process into a system employees could trust and HR could confidently manage.
The Hidden Challenges of Rapid Growth and a Small HR Team
Growth within an organization is often celebrated, but for HR, it can reveal cracks in systems and processes that are not scalable. Every new hire brought more paperwork, more forms, and more questions. A team of two was responsible for keeping employees on track with leave, while ensuring nothing slipped through the cracks.
“We began looking for a solution like Tilt because our headcount shot up from 400 to 1,000. Due to hiring a younger demographic and an uptick in mental health leaves due to COVID and other factors, our anticipated leaves-per-year increased by 1900% from 3 to 40+. The lack of resources at hand made this difficult for a two-person team.”
Administrative tasks piled up quickly. Important deadlines and documents lived across email threads and spreadsheets. HR spent more time reacting instead of proactively supporting employees, and the stress of managing everything manually was beginning to take a toll.
There was rarely enough time to focus on the strategic work the HR team truly wanted to drive: culture, engagement, and building a workplace employees wanted to stay in.
Prioritizing a Human-Centered and Sustainable Leave Management Solution
The HR manager knew that relying on disconnected systems wouldn’t scale. Tilt offered a platform that centralized leave information, making it visible and accessible for both HR and employees.
“One of the best things about Tilt is that they store all leave information for me and my team in one, secure platform. The same platform provides information for employees taking a leave too, like to-do checklists, paperwork etc. It helps us manage the burden due to the increasing amount of leaves we’re facing.”
What made this solution different was the level of human support built into the leave experience. Tilt’s Leave Success Managers acted as an extension of the HR team, stepping in when employees needed guidance or reassurance with their leave. This allowed HR to maintain clarity and control without losing the personal touch that makes employees feel like humans, not a case number.
The result was a process that was both scalable and protected the employee experience, where HR could trust that every leave was being managed carefully and correctly.
Making the Employee Leave Experience Seamless and Supportive
Employees felt the difference immediately. Instead of uncertainty or delays, they had a clear path forward. Everything from forms to timelines was available in a single platform.
“The employee experience was a major factor for me when I was evaluating leave management software. Tilt makes leave a more seamless and easy process for employees because they can access everything they need on one platform. Tilt’s in-house team of Leave Success Managers provides employees with extra support when they have questions.”
HR felt a sense of relief as employees moved through leave feeling more supported and cared for. With access to Tilt, employees knew what to expect at every step from getting paperwork done correctly and on time to understanding their benefits, pay, and job protection.
Delivering Time Savings, Compliance Confidence, and HR Bandwidth
With leave management centralized, the HR team finally gained time back. Clear visibility into each leave replaced manual tracking across emails and spreadsheets, reduced the amount of time spent finding answers to questions, and gave this team of two some much needed relief.
“Since using Tilt I’ve freed up over 10% of my bandwidth because I’m not having to manage leaves manually in-house. Tilt has saved our team so much time…My favorite things about Tilt are the platform itself & the team! The team has been so amazing to work with. I loved how the platform looks and how easy it appears for employees to use.”
This freed bandwidth allowed this HR team to get back to the work that they enjoyed most, making connections and supporting employees. The team spent less time reacting to administrative issues and more time on work that supported other high-value initiatives.
Transform Leave Into a Strategic Advantage
By rethinking how leave was supported and managed, this HR team moved from a risky, time-consuming process to one that felt clear, dependable, and sustainable. Employees felt supported throughout their leave, and HR regained time and confidence in how each case was handled.
Like most outsourced leave vendors, Leave Experience Management platform does not force a tradeoff between employee care and compliance. When leave is handled thoughtfully with and consistently with Tilt, it strengthens trust across the organization and reinforces the employee experience at moments that matter most.
