Holiday management systems can look much the same when you compare their features. The better test is whether one makes requesting, approving and keeping track of annual leave easier for your business.
What you’ll learn
- How to work out what your business needs from a system
- Which real situations to try during a demo or free trial
- What to ask about setup, support and cost before deciding
What needs to improve?
Before comparing holiday management systems, think about how annual leave is managed now.
Where do requests arrive? Who checks whether the dates will leave the team short? Who works out entitlement and updates the records? What do employees and managers have to ask someone else to find out?
Write down the two or three jobs that take the most time or cause the most uncertainty. They might be calculating leave for part-time staff, keeping several managers informed, or knowing which version of the holiday spreadsheet is current. Those are the jobs your chosen system needs to improve.
A spreadsheet may still work well for a small team. The question is whether everyone can get the information they need and trust that it’s up to date, without one person having to keep checking and updating it.
Test an everyday request
Use a free trial or demo to put through an ordinary holiday request. Don’t stop when you find the “request leave” button. Follow what happens afterwards.
As an employee: Can you see how much leave you have available? Is it easy to request the dates you want? Can you tell whether the request is still waiting for a decision or has been approved?
As a manager: Does the request come to the right person? Can you see who else is off before deciding? If you have to check another calendar or ask someone about cover, notice that.
As an administrator: Once a request is approved, does the holiday appear on the calendar and update the employee’s remaining balance? Can you check when it was approved if a question comes up later?
Try these steps on your phone too. Not everyone will be at a desk when they want to request holiday.
If possible, ask someone who isn’t particularly confident with new software to try it without guidance. Can they find their balance, make a request and understand what happens next? If they need someone to talk them through a basic request, you may find that the system still leaves you doing much of the work.
A system can be presented with all the right features and look impressive in a demo. It’s only when people start using it for themselves that you find out whether those everyday jobs are as simple as they first appeared.
Try a real-life complication
The ordinary request shows you the basic process. An example from your own team will tell you more about whether the system fits your business.
You might try:
- a part-time employee who works different days from the rest of the team
- someone on a rolling shift pattern
- a new starter joining halfway through the leave year
- an employee whose hours or working days have changed
- a manager who is away when a request comes in
Choose the situations that actually occur in your business and see how the system handles them. For an employee whose entitlement takes more thought, check the figure it calculates and whether you can understand where it came from. Try making an adjustment if you need to, and check that the right manager can see the right team.
If a result doesn’t look right, see whether the system or its help pages explain it. If you’re still unsure, email or call the supplier and ask them to talk through your example. Their answer will help you judge the support as well as the software.
Check who can see what
It’s helpful to have everyone’s holidays recorded in one place. But the people who need that information must also be able to see it when they’re planning or approving time off.
At Croxdale Group, holidays and absences had been managed manually across dealerships and workshops. Their finance director described how time-consuming it was to keep the information up to date. With The Holiday Tracker, employees could see their entitlement and request leave, while managers could review who was off before deciding. Read Croxdale Group’s story.
During a trial, check that managers can see who’s off in the teams they look after. If other colleagues need to know who’s in across teams, can they see that information without having to manage those teams?
Decide what you actually need
Before comparing feature lists, be clear about the jobs you want the system to do. Do you mainly need staff to request holiday, managers to approve it with a clear view of who’s off, and entitlements and absence records kept up to date?
If so, a system focused on holidays and absences may be all you need. It could be simpler for your team to use than a wider platform full of functions you won’t use.
If you also need rota building, clocking in, payroll or broader HR processes in the same place, include those in your requirements from the start. The right choice is the one that handles the work your business actually needs done.
Understand what setup involves
A system may feel straightforward once it’s running, but you should understand the work needed to get there.
Find out what you’ll need to enter, including working patterns, leave-year dates, holidays already taken and remaining entitlements. Decide who in your business will check those starting figures against your existing records before staff begin using the system. You can also ask the supplier what help they offer with entering the information and understanding the setup.
Ask whether you can bring over previous holiday and absence records, and decide which ones you need in the new system. If some records will stay where they are, make sure you can still find them when needed.
It’s also sensible to ask how you can retrieve your information later. Can you find an individual holiday, run the reports you need and export records if required?
Look beyond the price
Work out what each system would cost for your team today, then ask what would happen if you added employees or your team became smaller. Some suppliers charge per employee; others have fixed prices, minimum charges or different packages. Check which features and support are included at the price you’re comparing.
Think about your experience during the trial too. Was the system easy to use for the people who tried it? If you had a question, was it easy to get hold of someone, and did they give you a clear answer? Look at customer reviews as well, particularly what people say about everyday use and the help they receive when they need it.
Then consider what work the system would actually take off your hands. If staff can request holidays online but you still have to check every balance and update another spreadsheet, a low monthly price may not represent good value.
Your final checklist
- Can staff check their entitlement and request holiday without needing help?
- Can managers see who’s off before approving a request?
- Does the system handle the working patterns and entitlement situations in your business?
- Can everyone who needs to know who’s off see the right information?
- Can you find approved holidays and export the records or reports you need?
- Do you understand the setup, the support available and how the price will change if your team grows or shrinks?
You don’t need every feature a system offers. You need confidence that it handles the situations that matter to you and your team.
If you’re looking for a simple way to manage holidays and absences, The Holiday Tracker brings requests, approvals, entitlement and team calendars together in one place. Start a free trial and see how it handles situations from your own business. If you’d rather talk through what you need first, email us at support@theholidaytracker.co.uk.
