We humans are funny creatures, aren’t we?
We spend mental energy convincing ourselves that sticking with what we already know, even if it’s bad for us, might be preferable to trying something new that seems good but is unknown.
With the known bad option, we’re familiar with its pitfalls and do our best to manage them accordingly. In contrast, since we can’t be certain if the new option is truly good, thoughts creep in of encountering a disappointing outcome, so the existing bad option prevails.
Lather, rinse, and repeat this mental exercise at your own risk.
We experience this phenomenon throughout all facets of life, of course. From relationships to careers to big life decisions like moving to a new state or telling your mom once and for all that you throw out the tacky gifts she gets you and that they don’t “get lost somehow.”
When it comes to making the switch from an existing leave management process that’s bad for you to a new one, the same psychological blocks may apply.
If your familiar leave process is a tremendous administrative burden for HR teams, delivers inconsistent leave experiences to employees, and exposes your organization to compliance risks and insufficient workforce optimization, perhaps it’s time to evaluate whether it’s time to trust something new that seems like a much better option.
Getting Rid Of Untrustworthy HR Systems and Processes
The first step toward solving a problem is recognizing you’ve got one. There’s a greater than 0% chance you’re reading this because you recognize that your existing method for managing leaves of absence isn’t good for your company’s health or your mental health.
These might be some of the reasons why an HR Team feels this way today:
Your current process isn’t scalable: Leaves of absence are unpredictable. There might be zero leave requests this month and 15 next month. If your current process doesn’t automate the leave planning process every leave request that comes in has the potential to derail an HR team, and multiple at the same time could sink it.
Manual leave processes give the illusion of control and accuracy: It’s uncontroversial to say that manually tracking leave data in a spreadsheet is a major administrative burden for HR teams everywhere. Even if the process is familiar or “the way it’s always been done,” the lack of ability to control the uncontrollable is glaring.
Similarly, it’s impossible to avoid clerical missteps and ensure accuracy, and manual processes simply aren’t capable of adapting in real-time to real-life changes in a leave.
As Tilt’s CEO Jen Henderson puts it:
“The spreadsheet problems are self-explanatory. They don’t scale well and they’re prone to human error. With the complexity of leave that has risen in the last 5 years, spreadsheets can’t handle the “if/then” scenarios that arise in a leave through cells and formulas.”
Being a leave law expert is a full-time job: The time it takes to be an expert in all things “leave law” is substantial, and even then, existing laws evolve and new ones are popping up in states regularly. There are over 400 leave laws across the country that organizations are required to understand and potentially adhere to.
If your current process relies on the HR team to be experts in the law, it’s unreasonable to feel confident that your organization is administering leaves of absence in accordance with the latest legislation because with how complex the laws are, most HR professionals don’t trust a Google search.
Employees need a level of support HR doesn’t have the bandwidth to provide: HR and people ops teams strive to provide the best support possible to their employee population, but the nature of leaves of absence makes it difficult to accomplish this effectively with an ineffective solution in place.
Whether your current solution has employees dialing an STD carrier for guidance on how to apply for a state benefit in California, or they’re being asked to self-serve in a digital database that’s cold and shifts the burden on employees who have important life situations they should be tending to, employees need to trust that they’re getting sound direction along their leave journey, and HR needs to feel confident that they’re being guided correctly.
Tilt Recap: If you can’t trust your existing leave solution to scale, track with accuracy, adapt to changes, adhere to laws compliantly, or support employees, it’s time to say goodbye to what’s familiar because what’s familiar isn’t serving you. In the modern world of leave, seeking expert leave management support elsewhere is no longer a risk, it’s a business necessity.
How The Right Leave Management Software Is Easy To Trust
Now that we’ve established why your current processes have you mentally conflating familiarity with effectiveness, let’s break down what to look for when finding a leave management software you can trust.
The trustworthy leave management software should:
Remove manual processes with automation – Accurate leave plans that are created quickly and are easy to follow.
Sync directly to your HRIS – Always be working from the latest employee demographic information to ensure accurate leave data is being tracked and adjusted automatically. Payroll sends its thanks in advance.
Give HR complete oversight – The right solution should do the work for you, not remove your visibility into everything leave-related in your organization
Be designed to keep the org compliant – From complex leave laws to avoiding manager missteps, the software should incorporate compliance and educate the employee population to avoid potential lawsuits.
Provide trustworthy humans who are experts in leave to support employees whenever they need it – Leave software that eliminates the human element of support doesn’t factor in how human leaves of absence can be.
Payroll should be accurate – Automated payroll calculations and adjustments to changes in leave (start and stop dates for example may change for a number of reasons) can help avoid over/underpayments to employees.
Administer all types of leaves – A trustworthy leave software should handle any type of leave type you offer and do so consistently no matter the leave, no matter the state.
Securely store data – When storing sensitive leave-related documents relying on a G-drive or, heaven forbid, a personal folder on your computer is a major compliance risk. Be wary of allowing a 3rd party to handle state benefit paperwork on your behalf, and ensure that version control is the last of your worries.
Tilt Recap: The right leave management software delivers accurate leave plans and provides human support to employees when they need it most. It securely stores sensitive data and provides education to employees about the leave journey. It also keeps organizations compliant by incorporating the latest leave laws and ensuring consistent administration of leave for all leave types.
Tilt's Automated Leave Leave Management Builds Trust For HR
Since Tilt’s inception, we’ve been on a mission to make leave not suck for HR and People Ops teams across the country. Over the years we’ve learned what matters most for those of you charged with navigating the world of leave of absence and are trusted by companies of all sizes in all industries to do HR’s least favorite to do.
Building trust requires breaking a lot of the mental roadblocks we all face when making a switch to something new. Especially when we know leaves are personal, leaves are complex, and leaves require compliance, accuracy and empathy to be successful.
Part of that trust is giving you access to the platform so we aren’t just talking about how we automate leave and give HR full visibility, we let you experience it for yourself:
Tilt provides HR teams with real-time leave information with information pulled in directly from your HRIS. Employees can request a leave from right within the platform (or HR can facilitate this process) and leave plans are developed for that individual employee based on things like their location and the specific leave that they’re taking.
Within the HR dashboard, you can track leave status and progress for every leave in your organization, stay up to date on files that need to be submitted (Tilt reminds employees of this so HR doesn’t have to) and see what has already been securely uploaded, export payroll calculations, monitor FMLA usage and more.
Tilt basically does all the things we need. They’re available to help answer questions that my team has had, as well as our associates who are taking leave. I also love how they lay out the FMLA and state benefits laws & instructions. And finally, we have an easy way to keep all of our leaves archived so we can go back and look at records if needed, right within Tilt. Going from confusing spreadsheets to Tilt was a DREAM!
As for what the employee experiences in the software:
Tilt removes all the stress of the leave journey for employees by clearly outlining everything they’ll need to do and when. As mentioned above Tilt sends employees reminders, breaks down pay information, educates them on their rights and responsibilities, and what the software doesn’t show is where our trust really shines.
Tilt provides every employee taking a leave of absence with their own leave success manager. An empathetic leave journey guide who is there when needed to answer the tough questions, or sometimes be a shoulder to cry on.
Sabrina (my Leave Success Manager) was such a wonderful surprise from the day we met. Navigating FMLA is confusing and somewhat frightening to navigate on your own, especially as you're going through such a large life change. I was so happy on day one when Sabrina emailed me immediately to chat live about leave, what I needed to do, and helped consult on strategy. Sabrina, thank you so much for all that you did to make my leave easy and enjoyable, you are the best!
Tilt also removes the unease around relying on Google searches for leave laws. Tilt’s in-house team of leave law experts are, well, leave nerds through and through. We stay up to date on the latest and greatest in the world of leave legislation so you can rest assured that our platform is backed by experts of such a complicated field.
We’re so passionate about keeping our superfans compliant that we develop quarterly Leave Law Reports that synthesize the latest information that may impact your business. Will Tilt keep you compliant even if you don’t read them? Of course, we subscribe to the belief that the more informed people are in the wild world of leave laws, the better for everyone.
Tilt Recap: Making the switch from your existing solution that’s not healthy for you or your business to Tilt shouldn’t be a cause for pause, but rather for celebration. Implementing Tilt will replace your ineffective leave management solution with administrative automation and an empathetic touch. Tilt’s software is the leave management solution HR teams can trust to deliver consistent, compliant leaves every time so your business can thrive and HR can survive.
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.
