Absence management

Absence Management: Efficient Planning for a Productive Company

Life doesn't always go according to plan. Whether due to illness, family emergencies, or occasions like holidays and parental leave, absences are unavoidable. For companies, it is crucial to manage these effectively to minimise disruptions and maintain productivity. But what exactly does absence management mean, and how can it be optimally implemented?

What is Absence Management?

Absence management encompasses all processes for recording, managing, and analysing absences in the workplace. This includes not only holiday requests but also sick leave, parental leave, special leave, and official absences. The aim of good absence management is to create transparency, ensure productive workflows, and ensure compliance with legal requirements.

An efficient absence management system helps companies avoid unforeseen bottlenecks, optimally utilise resources, and promote employee well-being. A digital solution like Sundae OS can significantly assist by automating absence management and linking it with shift planning.

What Areas Need to Be Covered by Absence Management?

A holistic absence management system covers various types of absences and ensures smooth operational processes:

• Holidays & Exemptions: Planned absences such as annual leave, educational leave, or special leave should be recorded early and integrated into the duty roster.

• Sick Leave & Health Limitations: Companies need clear procedures for reporting sickness, including the ability to upload medical certificates digitally and to manage approvals efficiently.

• Parental Leave & Maternity Protection: Long-term absences require early planning, particularly regarding replacement arrangements and the re-entry process.

• Business Trips & Training: Absences arising from external training or business trips should be coordinated with shift and personnel planning.

• Unpaid Leave & Overtime Reduction: Employees taking unpaid leave or wishing to reduce overtime require a transparent way to apply for and obtain approval.

A digital system like Sundae OS can centrally manage all these areas and automatically incorporate them into the shift plan to avoid bottlenecks and ensure planning certainty. Employees can conveniently manage their absences via the Employee App, and all processes are transparent and clear.

Benefits of Effective Absence Management

• Minimisation of Work Interruptions: By using a digital system like Sundae OS, holiday and sick leave reports can be directly recorded in the system. Thus, days blocked in the shift schedule are automatically generated, avoiding bottlenecks.

• Increase in Productivity: Transparent workflows for absence requests and smart shift planning with Drag & Drop help to utilise resources efficiently.

• Employee Motivation and Trust: A digital self-service allows employees to apply for their absences themselves and check the status of their requests at any time.

• Compliance with Legal Requirements: Audit-proof documentation of holiday and sick leave ensures legal protection.

• Cost Savings: Thanks to automated cost calculations and live cost displays in Sundae OS, companies can keep track of their personnel expenses.

Important Components of Absence Management

1. Digital Absence Administration with Sundae OS

Sundae OS includes an integrated absence module where employees can directly upload their holiday requests or sick leave reports. Managers receive a notification and can directly confirm or adjust this.

Benefits:

• Automatic transfer of absences into the shift plan

• Self-service for employees (requests, document uploads)

• Real-time overview for managers

2. Clear Holiday Policies & Self-Service for Employees

Thoughtful holiday management is essential to avoid bottlenecks. With Sundae OS, employees can indicate their availability directly (“not available on Mondays”), so the system only suggests suitable people for a shift. In addition to availabilities, it is possible for holiday requests to be submitted directly by employees in the Employee App. These requests are transmitted to the manager in real-time and can be confirmed or rejected.

3. Automated Shift Planning & Availability

Sundae OS simplifies personnel allocation through a visual weekly overview and an intelligent shift repetition function. Using AI, Sundae OS can also automatically create shift plans that take into account absences and availabilities, etc. If employees fall ill, they can submit shift swap requests through the system, which colleagues can take over – all without the chaos of phone calls and messages. 

4. Legal Foundations & Documentation

Sundae OS stores relevant employee documents such as sick notes, employment contracts, or HACCP certificates in a central document repository. This helps companies meet legal requirements and to retrieve all relevant documents at any time.

Best Practices for Efficient Absence Management

1. Utilise Digital Systems: With Sundae OS, absences, working hours, and shifts can be managed centrally.

2. Transparency for All Involved: Employees can adjust their availabilities, swap shifts, or request holidays through self-service. This allows all parties to remain informed about upcoming absences.

3. Implement Automated Approval Processes: Managers receive notifications about requests and can approve them with a click.

4. Keep an Eye on Personnel Costs: Through the live cost display, companies can directly see how absences impact the budget.

Conclusion

A well-structured absence management system is essential for smooth operations in a company. With modern software like Sundae OS, absences, shifts, and personnel costs can be efficiently managed – all without paperwork or cumbersome Excel spreadsheets.

Employees benefit from flexible self-service, while managers always maintain oversight of availabilities and personnel costs. This not only increases productivity but also enhances satisfaction within the team.