Leave and absence management software at a glance

What leave and absence management does

Employees request leave digitally, managers approve with the team calendar in view, and the system keeps entitlements, remaining days and carry-over up to date automatically. Sick leave, special leave, remote work or business trips can be set up as separate absence types, each with its own rules.

Some products focus on longer absences – parental leave, caregiver leave, sabbaticals – and support planning, communication and the return to work. The benefit lies in fewer queries to HR and a dependable basis for planning and payroll.

What to look for in absence software

The features look simple; the rules behind them rarely are. In a comparison, the following count:

• Rules: entitlements by part-time ratio, start date and location, public holidays per federal state and country, carry-over and expiry.
• Absence types: freely configurable types, approval chains, substitution rules and blocked periods.
• Integrations: synchronisation with calendars, time management, payroll and collaboration tools.
• Data protection: particular care with sickness data – who sees the reason, who only sees the absence? Plus GDPR-compliant hosting.
• Size and price: standalone tool for smaller teams or module of a larger solution; price per employee.

Leave & Absence, Time Management or HR Suite?

Time Management records hours worked and frequently includes absences as a module. An HR Suite generally covers holiday and sickness as well; standalone solutions are worthwhile where rules are unusual or no all-in-one system is planned. Workforce Management uses absences as an input for rosters.