How to Track Vacation Time for Employees 🌴

How to track vacation time for employees effortlessly? With time tracking software, of course! PTO policies may differ in countries worldwide, but a single PTO tracking tool can streamline this complicated process and help save time on manual reporting.

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Key Takeaways:

Tracking employee time off is essential for compliance with labor laws and regulations, improving employee satisfaction and productivity, and maintaining accurate records.
Use a time tracking system to track employee time off, including employee vacation, sick days, and personal time.
Ensure that records are accurate, reliable, and easily accessible to privileged users.

Understanding Employee Time Off

We all know that everyone deserves a break while working. Research proves that regular breaks during the workday boost one’s performance by improving focus, reducing stress levels, and enhancing creativity. (see the full research)

However, taking vacation days is what makes people truly refreshed and recharged. Ensuring employee eligibility to take time off also pays off the employers in a longer perspective. Relaxed and well-rested employees are less prone to moods that negatively affect their creativity, such as frustration and anger.

But what exactly is employee time off?

According to labor law, employee time off refers to the time an employee takes away from work, including vacation days, sick leave, personal days, and other types of paid time and unpaid time off.

Tracking time off with PTO tracking platforms ensures compliance with labor laws and regulations, improves employee satisfaction and productivity, and helps maintain accurate records.

Below, you’ll find out how to track action time for employees using online tools.

Legal Requirements for Tracking Employee Time Off

Two major areas regulate the process of tracking employee vacation time:

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to keep accurate records of the hours worked by their non-exempt employees, including their time off.
State labor laws may also require employers to provide employees with time off for specific reasons, such as sick leave or jury duty.

Compliance with legal obligations

Ensure your time off tracking system complies with the labor laws and regulations mentioned above.
Track employee time with PTO tracking software that meets the requirements of safe and compliant vacation tracking.

Types of Employee Time Off

A single employee can request paid time off or use unpaid time off. Employers must clearly define requirements for taking paid time off PTO; however, year after year more companies decide to keep the same regulations for exempt and non-exempt employees.

Paid Time Off PTO

Paid time off means earning wages despite being absent from work. Here are some of the examples:

Vacation days are accrued over time, and the longer an employee works at a given job, the more vacation time they will receive.
Sick leave is typically provided to employees to help them recover from illness or injury. By monitoring the amount of sick leave each employee uses, you can ensure they comply with federal and state labor laws and regulations.
Holiday pay is compensation for missing days at work due to publicly recognized holidays (like Christmas, Independence Day, etc.).
Bereavement leave is when an employee’s closest family member or a distant relative passes away. Employees can use it to take care of funeral arrangements and attend the ceremony.

how to track vacation time for employees paid time off

The only exception to PTO tracking regulations are employees hired on non-traditional arrangements who are not entitled to paid annual leave and paid sick leave.

Unpaid Time Off

Unpaid time off also means taking time away from work without compensation from the employers. Its requirements are regulated by federal laws like the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA, visit website), which obliges employers to offer up to 12 workweeks without any compensation.

Once an employee completes that unpaid leave, they usually must be restored to their former or equal position and regain the offered benefits. These days, more employees are eligible to take paid time off than years ago; however, there are regions of the world where parental leave or sick days are still considered unpaid.

how to track vacation time for employees unpaid time off

How to track PTO?

There are two main methods for establishing time off approval workflows:

Manual vs. automated tracking

Manual tracking involves using Google Sheets or paper forms to track employee time off, which can be time-consuming and prone to errors.
Automated tracking uses software solutions specifically for tracking employee time off, which can streamline the process and reduce errors.

Keeping Track of Employee Time Off with Online Tools

Employers can choose between many tracking methods for submitting employee time off requests. Still, some small businesses do it with a paper calendar, wall calendar, or post-it notes.

Why previously mentioned solutions are highly inaccurate requires no explanation.

Luckily, more and more users have begun to understand that manually keeping track of vacation days has flaws, like being time-consuming, pricey, and against eco-friendly norms.

On the contrary, there are countless benefits to keeping track employees PTO with an online tool:

Smooth approval workflow: A few simple clicks are required to request time off and review the submission. Users get immediately notified if they are approved or not.
Easy usage: A user-friendly app improves employee satisfaction and productivity by allowing employees to take time off when needed.
Regulations compliance: Tracking employee time off helps ensure compliance with labor laws and regulations, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
No hidden costs: Companies subscribe to monthly or annual plans at a fixed price per employee.
Valuable data at hand: Accurate employee time off tracking helps office administrators maintain accurate records, which is essential for payroll processing and compliance with labor laws.

Implementing online vacation tracking software streamlines leave management and helps keep the time off requests and other extraneous details stored in an easily accessible place and properly organized.

Choosing the right tracking software

When choosing a tracking software, consider features such as ease of use, price, security, and integrations with payroll software.
Time tracking software that offers an internal vacation tracker is the wisest option to track employee time off, including vacation time, sick leave, and personal days.

Introducing TimeCamp – time tracking software with leave management features

By implementing TimeCamp time tracking software, your company also gains an easy-to-use vacation tracker. Attendance is a separate report-like view, where employee time data is simplified to clock in and out hours within a selected time range.

Here, regular employees and team managers can, for example:

Submit and approve/reject leave requests with just a few clicks.
See their leave balance (divided by vacation days and free days).
See used vacation hours per day (half days, etc.) and personal time.
Calculate overtime.

how to track vacation time for employees timecamp attendance view

Your HR department will surely appreciate TimeCamp’s user-friendly interface and real-time insights into employee vacation records.

Time tracking by TimeCamp is free forever for an unlimited number of users.

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Implementing a Time Off Tracking System

HR software simplifies many time consuming processes, saving your company valuable time and cutting administrative costs.

Ensure labor law compliance

Ensure you and your HR administrators are familiar with the vacation tracking policy in your country and the countries your remote employees are working from.
Find a vacation tracking software that ensures full compliance with these employee eligibility regulations; don’t forget to check if it’s certified for security standards and meets the requirements of GDPR.

Create a clear time off policy

Develop a written time off policy that outlines the rules and procedures for requesting and approving time off.
Ensure the policy is clear, concise, and easily accessible to all employees during the onboarding process and until the employment is terminated.

Set up a centralized tracking system

Use a centralized tracking system to track employee time off, including vacation, sick leave, and personal days.
Ensure the system is accurate, reliable, and easily accessible to all employees.

Execute PTO tracking usage

Check regularly if your employees submit time off requests and half days according to clearly defined requirements.
Keep track of the changes in labor law and notify your employees of any significant updates regarding their accrued vacation time.

Managing Time Off Requests

Once your company starts using time tracking software, it’s time to introduce the employees to the steps of submitting time off requests.

Creating a request process

Make the entire process as simple as possible, letting employees request time off in just a few clicks.
Ensure everyone knows where in the system and when to submit a request (e.g., two weeks before for shorter time off and at least a month for a vacation longer than one week).
Include the rules of sick leave requests and parental leave in the employee benefits handbook.

Explain the steps of the approval workflow

Establish a clear process for approving and rejecting time off requests, including employee notification. Remember always to leave the employee a note explaining why you rejected the submission.
Do regular check-ups to ensure the process is fair, consistent, and compliant with labor laws and regulations.

Maintaining Accurate Time Off Records

Accurate vacation tracking is one thing, but keeping them in the right order for documentation purposes is another equally important activity.

Understand the importance of record-keeping

Accurate record-keeping is essential for compliance with labor laws and regulations, payroll processing, and employee trust.
Ensure that records are accurate, reliable, and easily accessible to authorized personnel.

Handy tips for maintaining accurate records

As mentioned before, use an online vacation tracking system to track employee time off.
Ensure that records are updated regularly and accurately, and available for all the employees whenever needed.
Use payroll tools to streamline payroll processing and ensure the employees get accurate payment for their jobs.

Best Practices for Tracking Paid Time

Save time understanding the time-tracking process by organizing it into one easily accessible document.

Develop a clear paid time policy:

Develop a written paid time policy that outlines the rules and procedures for requesting and approving paid time off.
Ensure the policy is clear, concise, and always accessible to all employees.

Provide training to managers and employees:

Provide training to managers and employees on the paid time policy and procedures.
Ensure that training is regular, comprehensive, and accessible to all employees.

Implement effortless vacation days tracking

HR managers say there’s a fine line between a tedious and easy task when it comes to tracking time off. However, they can make it efficient with the right software and policies in place. Choose a tool trusted by small and medium-sized businesses, as well as big enterprises, to ensure that one HR software simplifies tracking employee time instead of making it more complex.

By following best practices and using the right software, you can ensure that your time off tracking system is accurate, reliable, and compliant with labor laws and regulations.

Track vacation time effortlessly

Organize PTO management process at your company with TimeCamp

♦ Useful resources:

Full text of Fair Labor Standards Act: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/legacy/files/FairLaborStandAct.pdf

Types of paid time off: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/wb/featured-paid-leave

“The State of Paid Time Off in the U.S. in 2024”: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-state-of-paid-time-off-in-the-u-s-in-2024/

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Ola Rybacka Product Marketer and Content Specialist at TimeCamp. Remote worker advocate; has been working from home for 10+ years so far. Knows TimeCamp far and wide and does her best to translate the technical jargon into more plain English so that the users can understand the product better. Besides writing blog articles and shorter content types, she’s open to creating product-related videos like tutorials and feature explainers. Privately, passionate about any form of Japanese culture and learns 日本語 to consume mangas and animes in their native language.

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