We work in an environment where CFOs and CIOs and every other C-related acronym is taking a special interest in the way HR is managing their operations.
And they’re not without their reasons.
HR and People Ops teams are the life force of any well-run organization, so it only makes sense for leadership to have a finger on the pulse of how key functions are managed. Leadership sleeps better at night knowing the existing solutions in place meet the needs of your team to achieve success, but also that the organization is mitigating risk and doing so in an economically sound way.
A function that has increasingly become an area of interest for C-suites is leave of absence management. The inefficiencies and exposure to risk most HR teams are saddled with may be of particular interest to a CFO, for example, who recognizes that over 50% of an HR’s department’s time is spent processing information or answering employee questions.
This will come as no surprise to anyone in HR reading this, but most outdated leave management solutions are bogged down with numerous manual processes and require fielding complex leave-related questions outside of their area of expertise.
Why HR Is Looking For a Better Leave Management Solution
If you’re currently running your Leave of Absence (LOA) Management program in-house, you and your team are likely handling LOA intake and overseeing all aspects of your leave management solution. This includes everything from coordinating with your Short Term Disability (STD) provider to developing a leave plan for the employee to calculating payroll.
If that weren’t enough, you also bear full responsibility for tracking leaves in compliance with laws and regulations, as well as managing compliance risk for your organization; no small feat of it’s own.
So why manage leaves in-house if it requires so much of your team? Well, two of the primary advantages of having an in-house leave management solution are that spreadsheets are cheap and they allow employers to maintain their culture and practices.
Leaves are very personal and HR teams and organizations may feel a sense of ownership over the process because of it.
In practice, C-suites are noticing that spreadsheets merely offer the illusion of affordability, and without leave experts overseeing the process, the culture is suffering.
Organizations continue to find the pros of in-house leave management being drowned out by the cons, including:
- Employers assume full responsibility for the technology platform(s), which oftentimes is spreadsheet-dependent and includes developing manual processes and integrations across multiple systems.
- Costly workforce management inefficiencies due to decentralized and non-updated leave information.
- Employees must share sensitive medical data with the employer and that data must be stored securely.
- Inaccurate payroll calculations.
- Employees often do not have a consistent experience, which can lead to discrimination claims and turnover.
- Front-line managers and supervisors may be heavily involved in leave processes, or removed from the process entirely, and both scenarios expose organizations to potentially costly lawsuits.
- Manual processes are prone to human error.
- There is a significant compliance risk.
- Keeping up with new regulations is challenging and time-consuming as employees disperse across the country.
- The program requires dedicated staffing.
Tilt Recap: HR has been looking for a better way to manage leave for years and the costly risks and inefficiencies are becoming too glaring for CFOs to ignore. The low cost of managing leaves of absence with spreadsheets never outweighed the time burden that was placed on HR teams to begin with, and strongly correlates to bigger expenses like compliance exposure, lawsuit risks, and payroll miscalculations.
Taking Steps Toward A Modern Leave Management Solution
If you’re well aware you need a new leave management solution in your life you aren’t alone. But it’s not as simple as snapping your fingers and making it happen (if only…). It’s going to require buy-in from individuals within your organization who may (or may not) be aware of the shortcomings of your existing process and aren’t as close to the frustrations it causes as you and your team are.
So what can you and your team do to educate leadership on the struggles and risks of your existing leave processes mentioned above?
- Audit your existing processes. Leadership needs to know, in detail, the way leave is currently being managed.
- Clearly outline friction points and potential gaps in compliance.
- Note specific examples where the current process impeded business success (i.e. the loss of a key employee, overpayment, a lawsuit, or failure to deliver to a client due to workforce planning blindspots)
What can you do to ensure that the leave management solution you propose and implement delivers empathetic leave support to employees while mitigating leave-related risks?
Scalability: A new leave solution should solve the pain points you’re experiencing today and have the capabilities to grow as your business grows and leave requests rise.
Automation: The right leave management solution removes manual tasks such as building leave plans, tracking FMLA, calculating payroll, or ensuring HRIS data is current.
Compliance: There are currently more than 400 separate municipal, state and federal leave laws and it can be an onerous task to keep up with changing laws as well as the administrative duties surrounding FMLA. Does the solution you’re looking at account for the ever-changing leave law landscape?
Partnership: The right leave solution should act as an extension of your team and not leave you in the dark. The solution should provide complete visibility into your organization’s leaves without you having to lift a finger to manage them.
Empathy: Leaves of absence are a foundational experience for your employee population. Will the experience be a positive one or a negative one? A modern leave management solution should prioritize the employee experience and support the experience as humanely as possible.
Tilt Recap: In order to successfully transition from your existing way of managing leaves to a more modern solution, it’s imperative to clearly communicate to leadership your current process and why it no longer is (or perhaps never was) viable. Further, you need to identify a replacement solution that removes your frustrations through automation, keeps your data secure and your organization compliant, while acting as an empathetic partner to your team and employees.
Replacing Your Old Leave Management Solution With Tilt
The clock is ticking for HR teams to shed old inefficient leave management processes. According to a recent study, 62% of respondents reported an increase in leave requests over the last year, with more than half (55%) of respondents reporting that taking time to manage mental health-related issues is among the top three reasons for employees requesting leave.
Leave requests are rising, and new laws are being passed in new states all the time, so HR teams need a solution like Tilt that simplifies the complex leave management process, dramatically improving operational efficiencies while providing 1-1 human support to employees for an empathetic experience like no other.
“We really feel we can leave our leaves in the hands of Tilt and they will manage from start to return. We spend way less time tracking down and determining eligibility and what is needed for a leave and I imagine anywhere between 8-10 hours a week have been saved when we transitioned to Tilt, which has been the biggest benefit to our time management goals.” – Sr. Benefits Director of a leading Small Business Insurance organization.
Tilt’s technology keeps leave plans accurately administered and tracked, while our team of in-house leave law experts ensure organizations are compliantly adhering to the letter of the law. For HR leaders looking to be a bit more hands-on with the latest legislation, Tilt’s quarterly leave law reports compile every important leave law development you need to know.
“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!” – Allie Morton, Sr. Director of People Ops at FluentStream
Taking a walk around the Tilt platform for yourself will help bring these concepts to life:
As for the all-important employee experience, Tilt provides every employee taking leave with a human Leave Success Manager (AKA LSM, AKA Empathy Warrior) whose sole purpose is to ensure your people are empathetically supported throughout their leave journey, even if that journey takes unexpected twists and turns.
“The Tilt platform is intuitive and easy to use. The progress bar and outlined steps are fantastic features! Each step included clear instructions, need-to-know information, and actions required by me. Paired with (my LSM) Alexandra’s thoughtful communication and responsiveness, I felt well supported and impressed with my Tilt experience!” – Andrea A., Learning& Development Specialist at TrueBlue
From automation to compliance to human support, Tilt’s leave management solution is making one thing very clear. Time’s up on the old way of managing leave.
Tilt Recap: Tilt is ushering in a new era of leave management. Tilt replaces manual processes with a secure, automated solution that keeps organizations compliant, HR teams unburdened, and employees effectively and empathetically supported throughout the leave journey.
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.
