For HR leaders across the country, tech automation has proven to be an invaluable tool, alleviating numerous manual tasks that have hindered team efficiency and productivity for decades.
Modern leave of absence management solutions, for example, automate the tedious and intricate processes involved in handling employee leave requests and guiding them through their leave journey until they return, allowing HR leaders to effortlessly scale their leave support while maintaining compliance.
The most effective LOA solutions, however, embrace the power of automation without losing sight of the fact that a leave of absence is particularly human and unpredictable.
Today, HR leaders need a leave management solution that is as advanced technologically as it is empathetic to employees going through some of life’s most challenging moments.
Here’s why…
The Limitations of a Tech-Only Leave Management Solution
Automation can do a tremendous amount of the heavy lifting for HR leaders when it comes to leave of absence management.
From determining FMLA to building leave plans to calculating payroll, automation is a time-saving, compliance-risk-reducing miracle for most HR teams. It’s a critical component for any successful leave of absence management solution.
By nature, leave technology also has its limitations and shouldn’t be solely relied on for a comprehensive and effective solution.
Leaves of Absence are a Human Affair
A leave of absence is like a snowflake, no two are exactly alike, and the more of them that accumulate the greater the likelihood that the experience will be a cold one.
Unlike snowflakes, which usually can be picked up via radar from miles away and far in advance, a significant life event can be completely unexpected, derailing the lives of employees and the workflow of HR teams.
Your client went from logging into work expecting it to be like any other day, and suddenly they have to figure out how to effectively and empathetically support a tragedy their employee just experienced, all while helping them navigate the complex administrative labyrinth that is leave of absence management.
So why doesn’t a tech-only solution work for leave management?
Well, let’s look at two such scenarios; a leave managed manually with help from a short-term disability carrier and a solution that relies solely on automation:
An employee just learned that their parent or guardian passed away. They’re devastated, shocked, and don’t know which way is up. They turn to your HR client seeking guidance on what they need to do and are told “Talk to the insurance company. Reach out to them.”
Insurance carriers are wonderful at handling insurance claims, but when used for managing leaves of absence they’re still an independent 3rd party who aren’t properly equipped to manage all leave types. Often employees must call a 1-800 number where it’s never the same person twice, and they’re primarily focused on the part of the leave that’s impacted by the STD policy.
The problem with that scenario is that when manually managing leaves and relying on a carrier, it becomes exceedingly difficult to account for all of the moving pieces in a leave of absence.
There’s your client’s unique company policy, and in the 13 states that have passed leave legislation, there are also state policies that must be factored in. Manually tracking leaves across multiple systems and only having outreach to that one provider is an incomplete solution, leaving that employee to feel lost in their biggest moment of need.
An employee has been on caregiver leave to support their elderly parent or guardian, only for them to pass away. They never imagined something so tragic could happen in their life, and your client has never had to manage a leave scenario like this.
Your client’s solution relies on a database that automates its employee support for leave scenarios. The employee wants to be mourning their loss and instead is searching a lifeless database for answers, but there isn’t a scenario that quite fits this scenario so now neither your client nor the employee know what their next move is.
In both scenarios, human guidance has been put on the back burner, and in both scenarios, they come up short when it comes to empowering your clients to provide tangible, valuable employee support when it’s needed most.
Whether it’s the most straightforward leave or the most complex one, if your HR client’s leave management solution can’t support all aspects of a leave, not just the administrative aspects, then they run the risk of:
Discrimination claims: An employee feeling they were treated differently while taking a leave than another colleague could be grounds for them to pursue legal action.
Reputational damage: HR leaders work hard to keep their employee populations happy, engaged, and supported. A single poor leave of absence experience can submarine the morale of an organization in one fell swoop. Sometimes that festers only internally, sometimes that spreads to social media and it’s all hands on deck. It’s a risk your clients can’t afford to take.
Employee turnover: What’s more expensive than a discrimination lawsuit and putting out reputational fires? Navigating a discrimination lawsuit while putting out reputational fires followed by an exodus of valuable employees.
The truth is that relying solely on tech and automation for some HR functions is a dream, but it can be a living nightmare for leave of absence management.
What HR Teams Can Use To Manage All Leave Types
In the world of leave of absence management, it’s more important than ever that one size, or more specifically one software, fits all
Tilt’s approach to leave management leaves no stone unturned when it comes to providing a seamless LOA experience for HR teams and employees alike regardless of leave type.
Tilt’s customizable software allows HR and People Ops teams the flexibility to consistently support every type of leave their organization might provide.
That means if your client offers employees everything from a standard caregiver leave to a pet bereavement leave (yes, that also exists), Tilt is able to provide consistent and comprehensive employee leave plans with complete visibility for your clients without them having to lift a finger.
Curious about what the experience looks like for your clients? Have a look yourself:
As for those complex and ever-evolving leave laws, Tilt’s team of in-house leave law experts stay informed on the latest developments across the country so that your clients don’t have to.
Whether Kentucky’s governor passes a new voluntary Paid Family and Medical Leave bill (which just happened) or New Mexico’s PFML bill passed the Senate but narrowly failed in the House on a 34-36 vote (which also just happened), Tilt’s software factors it all into account so instead of late-night Google searches for laws in states your clients have never stepped foot in, Tilt simply takes care of it.
Every current leave law is built into Tilt’s platform, which provides customizable and consistent leave plans to every employee, tracks every employee leave your client has to manage across the organization across the country, provides pay calculations to the employee and payroll so there are no surprises, and gives even the employee’s manager a window into the leave so every stakeholder is on the same page to keep operations running smoothly throughout the leave journey.
Just like not all leave solutions are created equal, all leaves aren’t created equal.
An employee taking a standard parental leave may (or may not) have fewer questions and concerns than an employee taking an intermittent caregiver leave.
The right leave management solution for your clients should go beyond technology and consider the human element of any given leave by providing human support for their employee population when they need it most.
“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 Tilt CEO Jen Henderson in a recent episode of the Modern People Leaders 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. Moments like that are not a time for technology, they are the time for Tilt’s Leave Success Managers, who we call ‘Empathy Warriors,’ to get on a phone call and provide human-to-human, heart-to-heart support.”
Tilt is the only solution that seamlessly blends the sophistication of modern automation technology with the empathy of a human heart, meaning your clients finally have the right tool to manage every leave type worry-free, every time.
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.
