Managing Employee Time Off Requests & How to Craft a Successful Policy

Preventing employee burnout is crucial. According to a Pew Research study, more than one in four US employees (46%) don’t use their vacation days. This data paints a troubling picture of America’s work culture. According to the BLS, time off policy hasn’t changed. Among full-time workers in the private sector, almost all (96%) have paid vacation time, even though there are no federal laws guaranteeing vacation time for US employees.

So, what changed?

In many companies, it’s up to HR professionals to solve this and other challenges when people request paid time off. For example, how can you build a company culture that encourages employees to take time to recharge? And on the other end of the spectrum, how much time off is too much? And when is it okay to deny an employee’s time off request? In this guide, we put together best practices and questions to guide your time off policy.

Once you’ve created a time off request policy, you’ll need to implement it with your team. BambooHR’s award-winning, intuitive HR software allows you to customize your time off policy, manage time off requests, and access real-time people analytics so you’ll always know how your company’s time off is trending.

3 best practices for managing a time off policy

This guide will offer best practice ideas and cover the importance of having a clear time off policy. Some things to consider are:

1. Establish an intentional culture around time off policy

Your time off policy may say one thing, but how you act as a manager will ultimately determine your employees’ expectations regarding time off requests. For example, if time off requests are approved 99.9% of the time, and the policy appears flexible as a result, you may find yourself in trouble if you decide to deny a request based on a reason found within the policy.

2. Communicate your time off policy

Clearly define your employee time off policy to avoid ‘winging it’ during emergencies or unexpected requests. A clear policy can make decisions and fair treatment easier.

For example, if an employee requests extended, unplanned time off during peak season, a well-defined policy provides managers with the framework to make informed decisions, balancing employee needs with business demands.

Detail your time off policy in a written employee handbook. Ensure managers and employees are familiar with it and review it during onboarding. Fairness and understanding of the rules become much simpler.

3. Treat employees with respect

When managing employee time off requests becomes unclear, prioritize respect for employees. Treat each request with consideration, recognizing its importance to the individual. Resolving unusual requests is complex, as respect can be shown in conflicting ways (bending rules vs. fairness).

Carefully consider each situation, using good judgment and understanding the implications for the organization. If denial is necessary, respectfully explain the reasoning. Time off is a valuable benefit, so it’s important you manage it well. Make difficult conversations easy with our handy guide.

10 tips for creating an effective paid time off policy

Clear rules help prevent misinterpretation, which can remove the need for difficult conversations altogether. The following tips will help you establish basic rules for time off requests.

1. Establish how many days your time off policy offers

Work out how many vacation days you want to allocate to your employees. Look to strike the ideal balance between fostering a healthy work-life balance for your workers and maintaining business productivity. Have a look at what the norm is in your industry and assess your workload capacity. Will your business be able to cope when people are off? How many team members can be off at the same time? Decide if this applies to specific teams.

2. Work out your accrual process

Work out how your employees can accrue time for their paid days off. Is it earned time by pay period? Is it monthly? Or yearly? Perhaps you might consider an unlimited paid time off option. Will employees be able to have more time added to their holiday the longer they’re employed at your organization?

3. Check who doesn’t request much paid time off

Many who don’t use all their holidays feel they don’t need more time off (52%), worry about falling behind (49%), or feel guilty about burdening coworkers (43%), according to Pew Research Center.

Simply put, this refusal to take a break is bad for employees. It can take a toll on their health and happiness, as well as their job performance. So, talking to them about time off, and ensuring they know its benefits, can help in preventing employee burnout.

If push comes to shove, you might consider insisting employees take a vacation. Now, force rarely leads to mutual respect, so use it only as a last resort. When managing PTO effectively, work to persuade employees to take time off both through one-on-ones and by building a culture where time off is encouraged. As difficult as it may be for some to accept, ultimately everybody will be better off when employees are taking time off appropriately.

4. Establish a minimum advance notice policy for time off requests

This depends on how much paid time off employees request. Two weeks’ notice might be enough for a few days off, while a two-week vacation may require more advance notice.

5. Have a standardized paid time off request form

While a casual atmosphere might be good for company culture, being too casual in how time off is requested may not be. A formal, yet simple, system is best.

6. Make it clear when employees can’t request paid time off

Certain times of the year are likely in higher demand for time off, like the holiday season, school breaks, or during the summer. If your company must block certain dates with no or limited time off, make that clear to existing and potential employees, and use blackout dates sparingly. This is up to the company, but there are certain seasons when many firms are busier, which can make management of the time off request policy a bit trickier.

7. Clarify how often employees can request time off

If you have a strict time off policy about frequency, make sure that it is also clear to employees. Maybe they can only request time off a certain number of times per month, per quarter, or per year.

8. Determine how to handle overlaps

It’s going to happen. More than one employee will ask for the same time off and you can’t grant all the requests. When this occurs, you’ll be grateful to have a system for managing employee time off requests.

Popular systems include:

• First Come, First Served: First to request gets the time off
• Reason-Based: Weigh and prioritize the reasons for the time off requests
• Prior Request History: Those who have taken less time off get first dibs
• Seniority-Based: Whoever has been at the company longer gets priority.

9. Have a central calendar all employees can access

This allows people to see when others are off so there’s less risk of them requesting the same days and causing conflict. Managing PTO becomes easy because all employees have a visible overview of when other people are off. This might even give them a sense of control.

10. Provide incentives for employees to work during busier periods

Providing incentives when managing employee time off requests is particularly helpful for seasonal businesses. Think Christmas tree sellers, hospitality staff during tourist season, barbers at the end of the school break and the like. Tax accountants may also fall into this category, as certain times of the year are much busier than others. Or holiday firms, wedding organizers, and much more. This could be in the form of overtime, for example.

Paid time off request form template

It doesn’t take much effort to standardize your paid time off policy so each of your employees gets consistent treatment. And while each business is different, most organizations will need to know similar information from their staff to authorize their leave.

Here’s a basic time off request form template that you can use and adapt to your policy as necessary:

How do employees submit PTO requests?

Before finalizing your time off policy, you’ll need to think about how employees submit requests too—this helps you handle each of the requests in a timely and consistent way.

A few methods could include:

• Email: A good way to keep hold of requests in one place. You could even set up a specific inbox for requests if needed
• Forms: There are lots of different digital forms that can send results straight to an inbox, or into a tracking app. Print is also an option if you prefer an old-fashioned or more formal approach.
• Management systems: An easier and more efficient approach. These will allow you to handle requests and track PTO levels from a single touchpoint.

4 valid reasons for denying PTO requests

Although not ideal, there are times when denying PTO requests is a necessity. Below are some scenarios which may bring this about, and steps that show how to manage time off requests fairly in these situations.

The request violates the time off policy

Sometimes a request comes through that doesn’t align with your policy. In this case:

• Be consistent with company policies on employee time off. This ensures your time off culture stays in tune with your organization’s actual guidelines
• Don’t make exceptions the rule. Just as the introduction of an invasive species can destroy an ecosystem, unwarranted exceptions to company policies can erode an organization’s culture
• When it goes against your time off policy, talk. Have a conversation and document it. Whether you approve or not, documenting it helps you stay consistent down the road and may even help if someone questions a similar decision in the future

Their absence negatively impacts operations

If an employee having time off negatively affects your business and how it operates, you may need to reject the request.

• Consider denying time off during critical periods. Make sure you’re prepared to explain the reason for your denial. It might be cumbersome to quantify the opportunity cost to the organization when an employee wants to take time off at an inconvenient time, but it’s necessary

They request excessive amounts of time off

It’s important that time off is fair to everyone and one way of managing this is the number of days people can take. Of course, there are exceptional circumstances to consider but if an employee is requesting excessive amounts of time off then you may need to reject their request.

• If it’s too long, discuss a leave of absence. Sometimes there are acceptable reasons for an extended absence, but you’ll want to make sure that’s the case with your employee
• Consider effects on the team. Long absences can put a heavy workload on others in the organization, weighing them down and diminishing their ability to perform. When extended absences lead to poor performance, the previous point about business pain comes into play
• Consider effects on the employee. Harvard Business Review suggests that people who take time off more regularly are less likely to leave your organization

Too little notice given

Employees need to be mindful of giving enough notice before time off requests, so if you’re dealing with a request that has been submitted late in the day:

• Determine the validity of the reason given. Frequent, last-minute time off can burden teammates and appear unprofessional
• Explain the effects of sudden absences if it becomes a habit. Discuss the impact of spontaneous absences with the employee. They might sometimes need to get away, but issues arise when it becomes routine and burdens colleagues

Managing employee time off requests

Even if you’re managing employee time off requests properly, you may inadvertently be granting excessive time off to the same employees and alienating some who feel they are always carrying the extra load.

The right software can make tracking time off simple. With it, you can see where capacity gaps are and monitor when employees have logged PTO.

Here are some things to consider:

• Communicate clearly from the start. Make sure your employees know the rules of your policy when they request time off upon first joining.
• Set deadlines. Establish deadlines for busy periods by announcing the news to all employees at the same time. Be fair, with first come first served, for example. Or look to implement a rotation. Look at software first to make decisions, rather than deciding on the spot.
• Reward working at peak times. Incentivize, don’t punish employment during busy periods. Maybe offer overtime, reduced hours on future working days, or easier shifts. These can help to balance requests. For conflicting requests, consider the reasons and come to a fair decision. Avoid favoritism, and be as objective as you can, taking everything into consideration.
• Be flexible. Be open to shift swaps, to handle spontaneous emergencies. Scheduling software can make this easy to manage. Balance structure with flexibility to ensure there is a fair distribution of vacation days.
• Rotate. Using rotating schedules can offset things like favoritism. Scheduling tools can automate the rotations, which can reduce the likelihood of human error.
• Track requests. Record when, why, and how often employees take time off to track nobody is abusing the time off policy. This allows you to notice patterns of behavior. Are some people overusing it? Maybe some are the opposite, and underuse it.
• Use discretion wisely. Apply a judgment based on workload, hours, and employee well-being. Rules are rules, but too rigid ones aren’t good either. Be flexible so you’re contributing to preventing employee burnout.

Next steps: manage your policy and keep your team happy

Now that you know managing employee time off requests is key to preventing employee burnout, it’s time to put a system in place that makes managing PTO a breeze. Get those clear PTO policies in place, and then systemize them with BambooHR’s time off tracking software to make payroll and capacity planning an easier process.