Startups can be hectic organisations. Building your company, its product, and its people from scratch is one of the biggest challenges in the corporate world. For many entrepreneurs, there is the added difficulty that you are an expert in your technology or service, but have little or no experience in running a company or employing people.
Some admin tasks are vital, and managing annual leave in your startup is one of these.
When you are seeking growth you cannot afford to fall foul of regulations, lose staff because they feel uncared for, or suffer lower productivity caused by overworked and under-rested team members. Getting a handle on annual leave management is simple though.
Here are some key tips for managing annual leave in a startup.
Keep it Agile.
It may seem that you can’t have a business conversation that lasts longer than a minute these days without hearing…
Build policy from the ground floor.
One huge advantage of running a startup is the absence of legacy. Unlike a manager at an established business, you are not stuck with the rules developed over many years, perhaps long before the technology existed to allow flexible team working or easy coordination of leave. Instead, you are in a place where you can examine your needs, best practices, and the latest research on holiday and absence management and work out an approach to annual leave management that helps your business to thrive.
Know what you need.
The first step to staying on top of annual leave in your startup is to identify your requirements. Start with legal compliance. The standards for this vary by country or region, so you will need to make sure that you meet the local requirements.
Then consider the business needs of your firm. What are your minimum staffing requirements? Are there people who cover each other’s absence, so can’t be off at the same time? How much notice will you need to make sure the holiday doesn’t affect productivity?
Thirdly, think about the role you want time off to play in the culture of your company. Will you allow last-minute‘ duvet days’? How flexible can you be to help with employees’ childcare needs? How will you encourage your team to make the best use of their leave entitlement? Will you follow Google’s lead and allow team members paid or unpaid time off to follow personal side projects?
Recognise that holiday supports your most valuable asset.
For a startup, employees are usually the most valuable asset the company has. These are the people who will help you to build your success. Annual leave is a core part of their working life, and managing it well is vital to their well-being, motivation, and productivity. By setting fair rules and making them easy to follow, you make their working lives easier. Beyond that, by establishing a culture that values holidays as important R&R, rather than regretting it as downtime, your team will stay mentally and physically fresh and better able to help you build your goals.
Managing annual leave in your startup is a key ingredient in your success. LeaveWizard makes this simple for you. The intuitive and easy-to-use interface helps you to set your rules and policies, with location-aware features that help you to comply with local laws and regulations. Desktop and mobile access allows staff to check their remaining leave and apply for holiday 24/7 wherever they are.
Managing approvals is just as simple. You can use mobile or desktop access, or even have LeaveWizard authorise them for you, based on your pre-set rules. Meanwhile, our data-rich reports give you easy access to patterns of leave and absence that help you to stay on top of productivity. At LeaveWizard we love startups, after all, we were a startup once ourselves, and that’s why we offer a free 6-month trial of our platform exclusively for startups.
All you have to do is contact us to discuss your needs, and start your free, no obligation trial.
