HO HO HOLIDAYS... DON'T PANIC!

What are your plans for this Christmas? In order to enjoy the family and the holidays well, you should plan a few things first.

At work, we must also plan everything when we go on vacation. We know that the HR department has more work to do than Santa Claus these days, managing and processing an endless number of vacation requests every day. Can you imagine that you could manage everything in one click?

Taking into account that in Spain there are three major vacation periods (Easter, Summer and Christmas), it is most likely that each employee will manage at least three requests for absence per year, which must be approved and processed by HR, department heads...

These efforts are just one of the reasons that force us to invest too much time in administrative tasks. If your company still manages staff leave and holidays with paper forms, emails or spreadsheets, the chances of having problems resulting from this management are high. They can cause a shortage of human resources in the company on certain dates, errors in payroll due to not taking into account vacation days that have not been properly reported, or even legal complications.

The good news is that automation can help with this process, and we'll explain how to do it.

1. Management of absences and holidays, all in a single control panel

For the first time in working history, we live together four generations sharing the same space. Each one with its own habits and customs at the work level. This difference can affect the use of tools and communication in each age group and that is why it is important to offer a way to request holidays in accordance with the way in which each one performs their functions. We forgot the email, which is probably saturated. This is where automation comes in as a formula for freeing up each employee's already overloaded to-do lists. We recommend having an employee portal and app, which includes among its functionalities the management and request of leave and holidays, as it simplifies management. It allows the worker to request holidays or permits from their mobile phone and the person in charge of approving or denying the permissions to do so in the same way.

It is important that it is multiplatform, meaning that you can access information and manage your work team's holidays and permissions from one place, whether it's your phone or computer, wherever you are.

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2. Check remaining holidays

Any company needs to have real, up-to-date data about days off to make the right decisions and protect the well-being of its employees. Without this type of information, it is impossible, for example, to know if a worker may be overworked and has enough time to disconnect. In the same way, it will be difficult for them to check how many vacation days they still have available, so they are forced to wait for HR to report the item individually and in traditional and slower ways.

On the other hand, thanks to Artificial Intelligence, they will be able to know perfectly well how many vacation days workers have and when they can take them and thus avoid uncomfortable conversations. From the same panel, you can keep an orderly record of absences and days enjoyed.

3. Approval of online applications

Using a management system allows each worker to plan and request their days off and simply wait for approval from the person in charge.

In this way, processes can be streamlined with the help of automatic notifications of requests and approvals.

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4. Automatically update status in instant messaging

The pandemic has blurred the boundaries on when it is acceptable or not to contact a worker for a work issue. However, the Law in Spain is clear and has established the right to digital disconnection in article 88 of Organic Law 3/2018, of December 5, where it grants employees this right, which guarantees such disconnection outside working hours, on their permits and on their holidays.

In order not to have to answer when they write to us in instant messaging apps, it is essential to remember that you are not available at the time they write to you, so once your days off are approved, your status in the messaging apps changes automatically, going to “Unavailable” for the entire time of your absence.

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5. Remind teammates of the day

In many cases, absences are requested and approved months in advance. Suddenly, the team discovers that a partner they need is not available, leading to a stressful situation. In the absence of a standard, the reminder that someone is going to be absent usually comes from the mouth of the person involved.

In an automation process, teams are automatically notified with an instant message from the system that someone will be absent certain days, as are bosses, who also receive reminders with the upcoming absences of their employees.

6. Urgent need for personnel

Unexpected absences due to sick leave or a high volume of work that was not available, can result in an urgent need for personnel.

We already know how long and tedious a selection process can be and on these types of occasions we tend to do a quick and usually inefficient filter to fill those vacancies.

Having a database with candidates already pre-interviewed can be our lifesaver, especially on dates like these. Thanks to Artificial Intelligence and chatbots, such as those from hr bot factory, contracts are made up to 9 times faster, avoiding biases when it comes to recruiting the best professionals. In addition, virtual assistants take care of the candidate's experience and provide them with continuous feedback throughout the selection process.

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