Leaves are an important part of the employee lifecycle, and these time offs helps to maintain employees’ emotional and physical health and boost productivity. Employers must be aware of the local labor laws of the country they are operating in and the expectation of the employees before deciding on the leave packages that they are going to offer to their employees.
What is Leave of Absence
Any time off taken from work by the employees or workers for a specific period while maintaining their employment can be considered a leave of absence. The Employees or any workers are entitled to take a leave of absence according to the labor law of a country. So, leaves are regulated by the local labor laws, but some leaves are voluntary and generally offered by the organization to attract and retain talents. But employees must have a valid reason to take the time off, for example, illness, crucial moments or celebrating events, statutory holidays, and more. Depending on the reasons the type of leave they can enjoy, or avail will differ, but there are some common leaves that are part of almost every employee benefit package.
Types of Leave of Absence
The number of leaves available, and how to apply for the leave will differ depending on the type of leave the employees are applying for. And the type of leave will depend on the reason for which the employee needs to take the time off from their work. Also, different countries, regions, and the company may have different regulations for leave.
Therefore, companies with a global workforce must understand these rules to create more coordinated leave policies and work schedules for their teams. Generally, employees must notify employers well before taking a leave, so that their duties can be covered unless the leave is asked for a sudden reason like illness or any other unforeseen events.
Companies can employ leave management software or an HRMS with a leave management system to make employees able to apply for a leave anytime and from anywhere. HR tools with leave management system can also help companies to implement their leave policies more effectively.
Here is example of some common types of leaves that are offered to the employees:
Sick Leave
Sick leave is a mandatory benefit in most countries that employers must offer to their employees. It enables employees to take time off when an employee feels unwell. Whether the employees will be paid or will not be paid for the sick days is get determined by the local laws and policies. Sick leave is also known as medical leave, sick days, or sickness absence, and policies may significantly vary from one country to another or the region, or company employee is associated with. So, the number of leave and eligibility to obtain sick leave may be subject to the policies and rules of a specific country, region, or company.
Though the number of paid sick days provided by a company can differ, no previous notice is necessary for taking a sick leave. A leave management system can make employees aware of the availability of sick leaves, a number of sick days they can take, and other details of leaves by checking their leave allowances through the application.
Casual Leave
Casual leaves are types of benefits that employees can use for taking short-term absences by providing advance notice to the employer. Generally offered for personal reasons and emergencies, employees are entitled to receive a particular number of days as casual leave each year. The number of leaves available for employees or rules of granting casual leaves can change according to the company, industry, region, or country.
Maternity Leave
Maternity leave is offered to the employees before and after they give birth or adopt a child. It is a leave provisioned to the employees for giving birth, recovering their health after birth, and taking care of the newborn baby. Maternity leave regulations can also differ significantly from country to country. It can be a paid or unpaid leave of absence or a mix of both. The length of maternity leave also varies according to the country and region considerably.
Paternity Leave
Fathers and partners are also given time off from work with paternity leaves to care for and bond with their newborn or adopted child. Paternity leave is less frequent than maternity leaves globally, yet it varies just as much from country to country as maternity leave. Eligibility for paternity leave may also differ and only biological fathers are mostly entitled to obtain paternity leave. However, in many nations, it is available to parents and partners of any gender.
Sabbatical
Sabbatical or study leave is a special form of leave that is offered to an employee to upgrade their expertise. During the sabbatical, employees are expected to update their knowledge and skills so that, upon their return, they will be more valuable to the organization. Sabbatical leave is a kind of extended leave that is often granted at the employer’s discretion rather than as a statutory benefit. Also, their duration depends on the nature of academic pursuit and the leave policy of the organization.
Privilege Leave or Earned Leave
An employee is entitled to a specific amount of paid leave after working for an organization for a predetermined period. This kind of leave is authorized for employees to take without getting penalized for vacationing or other reasons. The ability to accrue, encash and use these leaves are also available to employees. The number of privilege leaves granted may vary by sector and region. Employees can check policies for privilege leave and the number of leaves available from the leave management system.
Public Holidays
In the majority of countries, specific days of the year are usually designated as paid holidays. Public holidays, bank holidays, and religious holidays are among them. However, because most public holidays commemorate important national events, which days are valid and when they fall may vary significantly by location (for example, Independence Day).
These holidays are normally celebrated on a specific day of the year whether it is already a weekend or other holidays are happened to fall on the same day. But, in some countries or organizations employees may be allowed to take it on a weekday.
Compassionate Leave or Bereavement Leave
Compassionate Leave or Bereavement leave is provided to an employee following the loss of a family member or other life-changing situations or emergencies. It enables people to take some time to process their loss, attend the funeral or memorial ceremony, and handle other administrative obligations.
Other Types of Leaves
There are also other types of leave that are granted on different occasions and the availability of such leave is contingent on many factors, such as Comp off or compensatory leave for staff who have worked overtime. This type of leave is offered as an alternative to overtime pay and its availability, the number of days largely on the organization. If an employee has used up all of their other leave options, they may take unpaid leave.
It will be deducted from their pay. If the management allows, employees may take unpaid time off to study, go to a doctor’s appointment, get training, or pursue other personal activities. Annual leave is common in many countries and regions and these leaves are paid leaves that employees can take for vacationing or other purposes. It is part of the employee leave package and an essential benefit that is offered to an employee.
Manage Leaves Better with a Leave Management System
Depending on the nature of the company, industry, and location, leave regulations can fluctuate significantly and so, it is complicated to manage a global workforce and their leave benefits without an efficient leave management system. Many HRMS includes leave management tools along with other modules like onboarding, payroll, performance management, etc.
Also. a leave management system can be integrated with other applications like an HR CRM, workforce management system, or onboarding HR software, for secure and seamless functioning of an organization.
Workforce management tools or HR management systems or onboarding HR software allows employees to view the leave details, apply for leaves and check the status of the leaves. Also, managers can approve the leaves, view, and track employee leave applications, and obtain reports of the employee leaves.
