Resources for teams managing leave in-house

Whether you manage leaves of absence internally or outsource them; use spreadsheets, third-party reps, or software—the most important thing is that you have some sort of system in place that works for People Ops and leave-takers. We think the best approach automates the tough stuff—like pay calculations and ever-changing leave laws—while still giving People teams and leave-takers visibility and control (which we know is biased, because this is Cocoon’s approach). However, we know that not every team and company might be ready to bring in a software solution, and that’s okay. That’s why we’ve created a dynamic leave tracking spreadsheet template for you, along with some of our best free tools and guides to ensure that no matter how you manage leaves, you’re doing the best you can.

Pros and cons to managing leave internally

There are various approaches to administering a leave. Some teams choose to outsource it completely to a third-party provider, which means all decisions and paperwork generally stay between an employee and their assigned rep. Other teams work with leave management solution partners like Cocoon that provide software, tools, and automation to simplify and streamline so employers can focus on their employees. Others choose to manage it in-house, with a designated “expert” or multiple teammates handling the different parts of leave. 

Managing leave internally is often seen as a cost savings measure—especially for smaller companies that might not have many leaves to manage. Doing things in-house without support can also be easier if your company doesn’t operate in multiple states (or states with mandatory leave laws) which cuts down on compliance complexity. It also gives People Ops teams the opportunity to tailor their approach, ensuring they can control the process for an employee experience that aligns with their company culture. 

Regardless of whether you insource or outsource, there are still many responsibilities employers need to stay on top of and the perceived cost-savings of managing it in-house can go out the window as People teams try to:

• Understand and keep up with changing state leave laws and federal/FMLA regulations.
• Track time and leave entitlements accurately to calculate pay properly.
• Effectively support employees before, during, and after a leave.
• Manage different leave types and concurrent leaves, and reconcile them with various laws and internal policies.

Best practices for managing leave internally

Though the challenges above can be tough, People Ops teams can implement these best practices to meet challenges head-on and be proactive:

Periodic actions to take

1. Review and update your policies at regular intervals. What worked two years ago might not work now.
2. Set a regular communication cadence to keep employees in the know about any updates, general reminders of what your policies are, and what’s available to them.
3. Conduct periodic audits of leave data to understand how employees are using your leave benefits (or not) and to benchmark yourself against others in your industry.
4. Take time to catch up on legal changes that have happened or that might be in the works.

Have an established process

1. Establish clear leave policies that stand up to legal reviews and are competitive with companies similar to yours. 
2. Set up a tracking system so you can manage and monitor upcoming leaves, as well as those in progress.
3. Train HR teammates and managers on your policies, and how to appropriately communicate with and support leave-takers.
4. Provide a clear process for requesting and approving leave. (Check out our free leave planning tool to get an idea of the information you’ll need to ask an employee.)
5. Ensure you are staying compliant, with the correct documentation throughout the process with a detailed checklist.

While it’s easy to write this list, it’s much harder to carry it out effectively—but that’s why Cocoon was founded in the first place, and why we like to give employers and employees as many tools as they can to plan and manage leave to the best of their abilities. Many of them are linked above (and on one page here), while below you can get a more in-depth explanation of how to use the tracking template.

Simplify leave tracking with our template

Here’s how in-house teams can better track leaves with our dynamic and customizable tool:

1. Make a copy of the Google Sheet.
2. Head to the Company leave policies tab and fill out the information based on what your company offers.
3. For each new leave, head to the Master tracking sheet and fill out:some text
   1. Employee name
   2. Leave type
   3. Leave leg start and end dates
   4. FMLA eligibility
4. We’ll reconcile that with the info you provided in step two to calculate the rest for you.
5. To see all planned, current, and upcoming leaves in a sleeker timeline view, head to the Employee leave summary view.

A caveat here is that this tracker is only one step of the process. For example, it won’t calculate pay for you. The full Cocoon experience goes beyond basic calculations to automate the most complex parts of a leave like compliance, payroll, claims, reporting, and more.

Signs you may need more than a home-grown solution

If things are going swimmingly between your own processes and our free dynamic planning and tracking tools, excellent. But there are a few indicators that might mean you should start the search for a more robust leave management solution sooner rather than later:

• You have missed compliance notices or had a compliance violation.
• Leave-takers consistently don’t file claims on time, or at all.
• You’re unsure if your company is taking advantage of state and private benefits.
• Your company is growing quickly or expanding operations in other states.
• You see higher turnover or tension with leave-takers.
• Your team spends too much time administering each leave at the cost of other objectives.
• Your team struggles with pay coordination across all benefits, causing issues with leave-takers and Finance.

The future of better leave management is now

Though there are stellar People Ops teams who are proactive, knowledgeable, and supportive when it comes to managing leaves, there are many more who are struggling to simply get through it. For some teams, our free tools will be a huge step up, but our larger vision is to evolve how technology is leveraged to automate, calculate, and plan the most complex parts of leave—which go far beyond mere spreadsheets. Ultimately, that’s what will give leave-takers the peace of mind they need to put their focus on the reason for their leave, while giving employers the opportunity to better support them with less effort and risk. So whether you’re just handling your first leave or are looking to really scale up and shape up your approach, Cocoon is excited to be your dedicated partner.