Are you spending too much time on holiday pay calculations? The best solution is to digitise the process. In this article, we will be discussing the benefits of it and how to choose the right tool for the task.
There are many intricacies coming into play when we talk about holiday pay calculations. While easy in theory, the reality is usually far more complicated. And even when the process remains simple, the volumes can still make it time-consuming. All in all, there is virtually no way around spending more time on it than you’d like to. Or is there? We rush to assure you there is. The answer to making holiday pay calculations effortless and quick is digitising it. And this is our today’s topic.
In this article, we will be talking about why automating the process will serve you in a much broader way than just holiday management. In addition to that, we will share our recommendations of what kind of tool would serve the purpose the best and what to focus on when researching your options.
What Software is Used to Calculate Holiday Pay?
The tool used to calculate holiday pay is usually referred to as a holiday management system. As the name suggests, it normally offers a wider functionality than working out the correct pay. For example, some solutions deal with holiday accruals, shift scheduling and more. Different vendors usually offer different features.
One thing all these platforms have in common is that they provide a centralised view of your team’s availability. They also make it easier and more convenient to both request and accept time off.
Why Should You Digitise the Process
Digitisation is the way forward, even if sometimes it feels like it makes no difference. We assure you it does and in this section, we are going to prove it. Automating holiday pay calculations will not only save you time but also impact how the rest of your business performs. Let’s jump right into it.
It Saves Time and Reduces Human Error
Digital transformation proved to be not a fad but the next step in business evolution, and for a very good reason. Introducing digitisation to processes is vital as the demands for both completion speed and quality grow. Not to mention, with how competitive the business landscape has gotten, you need to remain capable of taking on bigger numbers of projects than before. Team expansions are great, but not every business is in a position to afford to bring new people on board. Not to mention, it takes time to train them.
Additionally, it’s not the best investment or strategy to hire new people when the key responsibilities of the role would be covering repetitive manual tasks such as data insertion. If that’s the case, employing a digital tool would be a much better approach. Digitising processes that don’t change and need to be run often will save your team heaps of time. Additionally, they minimise the inevitable risk of human error and tend to complete the tasks within minutes when a living person would require hours. And holiday pay calculations is certainly among the processes that become faster and more accurate when digitised.
It Betters Overall Team Alignment and Business Operations
You might be asking yourself what holiday pay calculation has to do with team alignment, but there is a connection. It is part of digital transformation. While there is no direct link, it feeds into the overall process, meaning it serves the purpose of improving communication and collaboration across your organisation. Every smallest bit of digitisation is a valid contribution to your long-term success moving forward.
The common mistake people make when talking of digital transformation is assuming it’s a series of drastic changes implemented within a short time frame. In reality, it’s a gradual process consisting of continuous addition of small changes. What’s more, there is no real end to that as digital transformation is a process of its own. Even if you’re not adding new layers of digitisation, you will be optimising the existing ones. But the point is, every smallest change is a contribution towards the general progress and will affect all areas of the business, even ones it has no direct link to.
The Perfect Solution
If you’re convinced you need a holiday management system now, we are happy to give you some tips on how to find the one that suits your needs the best. There are two key criteria every organisation should take on board.
Integrations with Other Tools
One of the key criteria for any software should be its integration availability with other tools. If you already have a system you strongly rely on or a digital toolbox, you should prioritise choosing the new solution that is compatible with your current setup. Also, if you plan to expand your selection of tools in the future, you naturally want to own systems that won’t make it difficult to find new software to fit in. When it comes to integrations, the more is actually the better. Just make sure to learn beforehand how these integrations work.
Sometimes, vendors don’t put up the full list of integrations available. Some have extensive options and don’t want to overcrowd the page, so they may only highlight the most popular solutions. That’s one of the reasons why if the tool you’re interested in doesn’t have the integration you’re after, it is sometimes a good idea to approach the provider directly. Some may have custom API options, and some may have the integration in development. Either way, it costs nothing to ask and you may be surprised with the answers.
Extensive Customisation Options
Gone are the days when an out-of-box solution was expected to solve all your problems. In fact, with almost every industry becoming much more competitive, businesses often need to find a niche to specialise in. They will naturally have different objectives, goals, audiences, processes and approaches. With that said, it becomes evident that there is no such thing as a one-for-all solution. And even the same solution won’t be used in the same way by different companies.
This is one of the reasons you should look for a tool you can customise to your specific needs. The solution you choose should help you build and optimise your processes by becoming an integral part of them, not make you change the said processes to accommodate the tool. Customisation also allows you to adjust the tool to your team’s workstyle, add branding and generally make it exclusive to your company. Not to mention, customisation with integrations can unlock new features and metrics.
Part of the Bigger Picture
You don’t necessarily have to get a whole new tool for holiday pay calculations. If there are more solutions you’re looking to add to your toolbox, we have some good news. Some solutions come with a holiday management module.
Module vs Digital Solution
When it comes to digitising holiday pay calculations, there are two ways to go about it. First of all, you can research the market for specialised software. These solutions focus solely on holiday management, differentiating rates, holiday booking, team availability and many more. As a rule, these tools are also relatively cheap, some are available for free. It mostly depends on what you’re looking to achieve with them.
Another one, which may save you a lot of time when looking for viable integration options, would be finding another type of tool you need that includes holiday management as a module within. For example, Timesheet Portal specialises in digital timesheets and billing, yet holiday management module is among our core features and comes with any version of the software you get. This approach will save you some costs and reduce the need to click across different tabs. Depending on the vendor, however, modules may not be as powerful as stand-alone solutions, so don’t forget to do your research and run demos.
Summary
Holiday pay calculations aren’t necessarily difficult. However, under some circumstances, they may be, and other times they simply stack up. Your best bet to combat that is through digitising the process. Not only will it claim back the time but also reduce the probability of human error. Not to mention, every process undergoing automation contributes to the overall progress of your company’s digital transformation. In other words, it indirectly affects your team’s alignment and collaboration efficiency.
There are two types of solutions available: those that stand alone and those that are modules within bigger platforms. Either way, the things you want to focus when choosing the tool is whether it can integrate with your existing setup and if it can be customised to your needs. The route you choose will depend on the extent of functionality you need, your budget and even your team’s work style. All in all, with the market being as densely populated as it is, there is a perfection solution for you out there, no matter how niche your needs are.
Could Timesheet Portal be the solution you need? Let’s find out.
