Emergencies are inevitable and arise when we are least ready for it. If you are an on-job professional, circumstances such as family issues, domestic affairs, health emergencies and a host of other reasons might make it unable to make it to work for a temporary period of time. In such case, many employees opt for a leave of absence from work.
What is a Leave of Absence?
A leave of absence is a leave for a specific period of time that does not cover the major benefits offered in a paid time off. A leave of absence is usually acquired by the employees who have already consumed their paid leaves or whose employment package does not include paid casual or sick leaves.
Just like the paid time-offs, leaves of absences are governed by the state laws related to employee rights, as well as the organizations’ internal leave management policies.
Managing Leaves of Absence
Since leaves of absences are mostly requested by the employee, in urgent and inevitable circumstances, they are to be processed and approved by the manager and HR team on a short notice.
Here’s how you can efficiently manage the situation when an employee has requested for a leave of absence.
Request a Written Application
A leave of absence should not be handled over verbal communications. Even if your employee has made the request in person, ask them to submit a written application requesting a leave of absence from work.
Advise them to mention the time span they will stay away from work and state a genuine reason behind forwarding the leave request.
Assess the Requisite Eligibility Criterion
As per the policies of many organizations, the employee must have been associated with the organization for a specific period of time to be eligible to apply for a leave of absence. Peruse the employment record of the employee and determine whether they are eligible for the unpaid leaves.
Also, make necessary assessment related to the reason for leave, if it goes with the criteria and standards defined in your organizational leave policies.
Offer Situational Accommodations
Analyze the reason and situation, in which the employee has resorted to requesting a leave of absence, and identify some solutions to see if the reason for leave can be accommodated through some alternate means.
Offering flexible shifts or remote networking often makes it convenient for the employees to continue with their services, even in the most unforeseen circumstances, without having to seek a leave of absence from work.
Make Necessary Recordings
If you have approved the leave of absence request made by your employee, make it a point to make the necessary recordings in your data systems. If you have a leave management systems installed in your management systems, it will automatically record the time the employee has been away from work and automatically look after the subsequent payroll adjustments.
Arrange Substitutes
You have to ensure that the work tasks are not affected when the employee is away from work. Therefore, you will have to make substitute arrangements to perform the job roles of the employee on a leave of absence.
