Absence management is one of the main tasks in human resources (HR). If it is neglected, this can lead to major problems for the company in the short or long term.
What is absence management?
As the name suggests, absence management deals with all employee absences within the company.
This includes recording, documenting, managing and processing all forms of staff absence. This is usually done using HR software.
Absence management distinguishes between plannable and unplannable absences. Plannable absences include, for example, vacation and parental leave. parental leave . Unplannable absences are illnesses or accidents.
The management of absences can be used to plan working hours, projects and the distribution of tasks within the company. It enables a rapid response to absences and a strategic redistribution of the corresponding tasks. This prevents gaps in projects and delays in deadlines.
Absence types
Within the planned and unplanned forms of absence, there are different types of absence that are treated differently by management.
Planned absence types
- Vacation: By law, all employees are entitled to a certain number of vacation days per year. The use of these vacation days is agreed with the management and planned accordingly.
- Special leave: Paid leave also includes certain occasions for which employees may take special leave. These include their own wedding, the birth of their own child or medical appointments.
- Sabbatical: The sabbatical year is a special unpaid leave. Although it is referred to as a sabbatical year, the time can be arranged flexibly. Only civil servants and those in the public sector are entitled to a sabbatical.
- Unpaid leave: Employees and management can agree to take unpaid leave for a certain period of time. No work is performed during the leave and no salary is paid.
- Educational leave: In all German federal states except Saxony and Bavaria, there is an entitlement to educational leave. However, the regulation of this entitlement is a matter for the federal states and differs from state to state.
- Company vacation: If the company itself takes a vacation, all employees must also take vacation. For most companies, this is the case between Christmas and New Year.
- Parental leave: Parents can take up to three years of parental leave. This affects their leave entitlement. Parents may work part-time during parental leave.
- Maternity protection: (Expectant) mothers have a protection period of six weeks before and eight weeks after the planned date of birth.
- Public holidays: There are nine public holidays in Germany: New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Labor Day, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, German Unity Day and both Christmas Days. The federal states also have their own public holidays, which can be added.
- Remote work: Although work is done remotely, it counts as absence, as certain tasks cannot be completed in the home office. It therefore makes sense to include this in your planning.
With timeCard, you can also easily manage your employees’ vacation. Employees create their leave requests directly in the system via digital leave management and all you have to do is confirm them. Whether they are in the office or working from home, simply using their smartphone. This means that last-minute leave requests, for example, are no longer a problem and can be completed with just one click. You still have an overview at all times, as timeCard automatically manages all leave accounts and creates attendance lists.
Unplanned absence types
- Illness: Illnesses are rarely known in advance. They are therefore reported spontaneously and the response must be spontaneous. Sick employees are entitled to continued payment of wages for six weeks. Then the health insurance fund takes over.
- Accident at work: If an accident at work (or an accident outside working hours) has an impact on the performance of tasks, the absence falls within the scope of illness. However, it is also possible that an accident prevents the performance of certain tasks, but not the complete ability to work. In this case, the person concerned may be able to be deployed elsewhere.
This area does not include operations, or at least not all operations. For example, if an operation is necessary but does not impair the ability to work to such an extent that absence is necessary, the upcoming operation can be planned to a certain extent. An operation following an accident, on the other hand, cannot be planned. It therefore depends on the individual case.
