?? Voice of HR: Managing Annual Leave, Sick Leave, and Other Period Types with Hydrogen

?? Building and following a transparent and flexible policy for coordinating and tracking work hours and absences, while providing opportunities such as flexible working hours, additional leave, and remote work, are among the key factors for #employeeretention. This is a crucial part of a modern employer branding strategy focused on employee convenience and satisfaction. ??

We had an insightful conversation on this topic with Tsveta Ralchevska , Lead HR Specialist at TSD, who shared intriguing information about the effective process of managing various periods like vacation, sick leave, shifts, remote work, business trips, and others within the company. Learn more about it in the interview below. ??

?? But before that, we would like to share the exciting news that TSD is a winner in the “New Product Creation” category of the leading Bulgarian employer awards ?? Career Show Awards 2023. Our all-in-one HR management solution, part of our #Hydrogen platform, won the bronze in the prestigious awards. You can read more about this achievement in our blog post.

1.?????? How do you manage employee vacations and all other types of absences? Are there any challenges for the HR department?

Efficiently managing both paid and unpaid leave, as well as various sick day scenarios for our employees would be quite challenging if we did not have a streamlined platform for simplification and automation. Ever since we adopted the Hydrogen HR application, our team's capabilities in this domain have significantly improved. This enhancement has provided my colleagues and me with time to address more critical aspects concerning the well-being of our employees. ??

In Hydrogen, we manage all types of leaves, including:

·???????? Regular annual leave

·???????? Unpaid leave

·???????? Additional annual leave

·???????? Absence due to general illness

·???????? Sick days to take care of family or during quarantine

·???????? Maternity and childbirth-related leave

·???????? Childcare leave up to 2 years

The process of requesting regular annual leave has been streamlined through #Hydrogen, ensuring efficiency and convenience. Employees can swiftly select their manager or supervisor from the "Approver" dropdown menu. This triggers an automated email notification, prompting the manager to approve or deny the leave with a single click. Similarly, the employee receives automatic notifications about the status of their leave request.

Unpaid leave can also be requested through Hydrogen. Additional #annualleave, such as for instance #paternity leave, which is initiated by the employee and supported by an appropriate official note, is efficiently entered into the system by our #HR department.

For situations involving unfortunate circumstances like health issues or taking care of an ill family member, #employees can personally input the relevant details into Hydrogen along with a medical certificate. Alternatively, colleagues can inform our #HRdepartment, and we subsequently log the period in the system. Similar procedures apply to absences related to #maternity, #childbirth, and #childcare, with all details being clearly documented.

2.?????? It sounds like an easy and organized approach. What is the process for coordinating and tracking employee work hours?

We manage this smoothly in Hydrogen as well. The periods through which employee #workschedules and hours are input and recorded include the following:

·???????? Alternative work hours

·???????? Additional hours worked per day

·???????? 4-hour workday

·???????? Split shift combining day and night work hours

·???????? Work on official holidays

·???????? Weekend work

Let me give a few examples. ?? At TSD, we have created various periods for "Work on Official Holidays" tailored to our colleagues’ #shifts and schedules for clients. For employees on summarized work time calculation, we have established various periods combining day and night work hours based on their shifts for a client. This process ensures that the recorded day and night hours align accurately with Form 76. Hydrogen greatly simplifies this process since all the necessary information is centralized.

"Alternative Work Hours" are entered by employees in cases where their work hours for a specific day are expected to be different from the standard.

The "Overview" section of Hydrogen provides convenience to the employees since everyone can track their plus/minus balance of worked hours and work these hours off during the month or take time off.

3.?????? How about working from home? Is it still frequently used as an option by employees, and how is it managed and tracked?

Employees still frequently take advantage of the work-from-home option, not only at TSD but across the board. It is one of the benefits employees value the most. The process for requesting, tracking, and documenting #remotework is easy and effective with Hydrogen. This type of period is input by the employee into the platform, with a brief description of the current need to work outside the office. Once the period is approved, it becomes visible in Hydrogen's General Calendar, where it automatically syncs and displays all information about leaves, sick days, remote work, work from another #office, etc., for all employees. This is a useful feature both for our colleagues and for us in the Human Resources department.

4.?????? Do you use Hydrogen for entering and tracking #businesstrips or any other types of periods not mentioned so far?

Hydrogen covers this aspect as well. Business trips can be entered by HR or employees themselves. Exact dates, reason for the trip, and all relevant details are entered. Approval from the department #manager or higher authority is necessary.

Other types of periods that we at TSD find equally easy to input and document in the platform include "Training" and "Work from a Different Office."

?? Read the full interview here and learn what are the three most valuable features of Hydrogen for managing leaves and work hours. ??

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