Creating leave policies for your organization is of utmost importance because, in the midst of the umpteen numbers of tasks that you are involved as an HR Manager, you are sure to lose track of things. You have your tight deadlines to meet, the terrible economy, the client presentations that you are working on.

When this happens one is bound to be a little absent minded about filling in some details in the employee portal. Time off taken by the employees is one such important detail which is hard to keep track at the spur of the moment.

For any organization, especially for start-ups and small businesses, employee leave management is a crucial aspect. The number of days taken off by the employees helps to track their diligence. It also indicates their attention to work. A day off sometimes may be due to genuine illness in which cases the employees may require assistance from the management to handle their situation. Typically, the message that gets sent across is – more the number of off-days, the lesser the employee’s interest in work.

To avoid circumstances as this, all organizations need to craft their leave policies with utmost care so that the employees are able to avail the time off that they are entitled to by proper planning without affecting the growth and productivity of the company.

There are several HR Software for leave management. CavinHR is one such software which gives power to your people to perform optimally. It allows your employees to plan their vacation and submit the Time Off request easily. The time-off requests are automatically routed to your manager for review and you’ll be notified when your manager approves.

Here in this blog, I shall discuss the kinds of leaves that you can include while crafting the leave policies of your organization.

Before we talk about the different leave types, ensure that these below general rules are followed diligently to have a perfect leave management system in place.

  • A leave application should be submitted on prescribed format in advance in case of planned leaves and approval should be obtained from the respective manager.
  • Medical Leaves typically should be supported with Medical certificates.
  • The continued absence of more than a week or repeated irregularity at work without intimation should be liable to disciplinary action. In some cases, it could be even termination of services.

Paid Leave

Paid leave are those that you earn while you serve the company. Most organizations give 15 days paid leave per year and they carry over if they are not utilized within that year. Usually, a limit is set for the carry-over and a limit is given for the maximum paid leave that can be accumulated.

Sick Leave

Sick leave is mostly limited to 15 days per year and usually expire at the end of the calendar year. A longer sick leave usually will need to be accompanied by a Medical Certificate.

Loss of Pay (LOP)

LOP is unpaid leave that is taken by the employee for which they do not receive any pay. It is taken by the employees after they have exhausted all their eligible leave balance or as a sudden absence from work.

Apart from the above, companies offer maternity leave, paternity leave, grievance leave, depending on the country or state regulations and organization type. Some companies offer Sabbatical leave to their employees. It is the time period in which the employee does not report to the office, he may or may not receive any payment from the organization, but he remains in the organization payroll. Sabbatical leave could be taken for reasons like completion of higher studies, taking care of children, caring for a sick family member or even for interesting reasons like traveling and exploring. Sabbatical leaves can be taken with proper prior approvals from the top management of the organization and the employee can return back to work after the leave tenure. The number of days offered as Sabbatical break depends on the organization.

Do you have any more types of leave? CavinHR is flexible enough to accommodate new leave types specific to your organization. Please feel free to add any new type of leave that your organization follows in the comments.