Updated May 9, 2023
Does your company still do PTO tracking with spreadsheets? How’s it working for you?
When spreadsheets became available, they offered many advantages over hand calculation. They provided a nifty way to store the data. They automated some of the calculations. You didn’t need quite the same level of business math acumen.
For many reasons, spreadsheets became a staple for business management. It’s no wonder Microsoft Excel has dominated the business world for over 30 years.
PTO Tracker Software
In contrast, employee time tracking software didn’t become mainstream until decades after Excel was introduced. On-premise, custom-built legacy solutions were expensive. They didn’t always play well with other software. For these reasons and others, the adoption rate has lagged behind other types of business software.
But now employee timekeeping software with PTO (Paid Time Off) tracking is accessible, web-based, and cost effective. It’s as easy to use as any phone app. Most systems are easier to use than Excel or Google Docs. PTO tracker software makes accruals much easier than tracking on spreadsheets.
We don’t want to disparage spreadsheets. They have proved their value. But today, they aren’t the best choice for tracking PTO.
Allow us to explain.
First, let’s break down what PTO involves.
Why Track Paid Time Off?
Paid time off (PTO) is a valuable benefit companies offer to employees. Employees rank paid vacation time as their second most-valued benefit after health insurance. Additionally, employees who believe their organization encourages vacation report higher job satisfaction.
But failing to track accrued time off can create issues. Companies that don’t have an absence management plan are losing an average of $775 per employee, per year. Time off management is even more critical in times of workplace disruption.
Employees who care are productive, motivated and engaged. Engaged employees avoid unnecessary absences, and that’s good for business. Better attendance tracking and PTO management avoids destructive employee absenteeism.
How Do You Manage PTO?
Your company’s PTO management policy might include the following steps:
- Create and document your PTO policy in your employee handbook
- Train managers on your PTO approval system
- Track employee time
- Calculate employee balances
- Allow for year-end rollover if applicable
- Adjust for tenure if applicable
- Answer employee questions about their PTO
- Notify employees of soon-to-expire earned leave
But when you use spreadsheets instead of a PTO tracker, everything in this process is manual. You have to enter employee hours, set up the formula, and make sure it works like it should. Even a minor error in PTO tracking can lead to a major payroll mistake that costs money.
How Can PTO Tracker Software Help in Managing Remote Workers?
As long as you have employees who work outside a manager’s workspace for some fraction of their hours, you need to consider how you track their paid time off (PTO). If your company qualifies for government assistance, you may also need to track sick leave and emergency family leave as separate PTO categories to get this benefit.
Spreadsheets Can’t Easily Handle PTO Accruals
Perhaps it’s more accurate to say, spreadsheet users can’t easily make the spreadsheet calculate PTO. As mentioned, Excel is great for many tasks. But it was not designed for managing PTO policies.
That doesn’t mean people don’t use it for PTO. Many HR directors do it. A lot of small business owners do it. But it’s time-consuming and doesn’t have a mechanism to alert you to errors. Even basic PTO policies require a moderate level of Excel know-how.
Here is an example of a question about PTO formulas on an Excel forum:
The employee was hired 11/14/11, and accrues 1 day monthly from 1/1/12 to 11/14/12, so DATEDIF(1.1.12,11.14.12,”m”)*accrual rate of 1 day per month. On 11/14/12, she begins to accrue 1.25 days a month until 1/1/13. I just can’t figure out how to take this number, and then add it to what accrues at the different rate from 1/1/12-11/14/12, or how to construct a formula that encompasses both date ranges and accrual rates. Perhaps I should also be using units in days vs. months? I don’t see where to attach a file.
Huh? How many people want to learn formulas like that? Kudos to you if you know how to do it. But even if you do, is that a good use of your time? Or your HR director’s time?
Are you prepared to perform frequent audits to make sure it’s working right? What if you change your PTO policy? Do you want to dive back into those formulas?
A Better Way to Track PTO
Spreadsheets don’t make sense when PTO tracking software exists. Cloud-based solutions are basically plug-and-play. Or, more accurately, sign up and play.
Here is how a Software as a Service (SaaS) PTO tracking system works:
- Choose a workforce management provider
- Create an account
- Enter your employees
- Choose your PTO structure from pre-programmed defaults
- Enter your settings—for example, your company might allow PTO to roll over
- Make sure employees clock in with the time tracking module
- Let the PTO tracking magic begin
- Start sleeping better at night
Okay, that last item might be a stretch, but if PTO tracking does keep you up at night, this could be the solution your company needs. It only takes a few minutes to set up. Then your software takes over.
PTO accruals sync directly with employee timekeeping. As employees clock in and out, the PTO tracker performs calculations in real time with no Excel expertise required. PTO tracking software turns any business owner or HR director into a PTO pro.
Employee PTO Monitoring
Your team members will love the employee-facing PTO interface. They can view their balance any time. Cloud-based systems can be accessed from any connected device, day or night. This feature alone saves the HR team a lot of time checking balances for employees.
Time Off Requests
Employees also request time off through the same system. This step keeps everything organized and prevents requests from slipping through the cracks. It helps managers plan ahead for scheduling and ensures fair treatment when it comes to vacations.
For example, let’s suppose you have a first-come, first-served vacation policy. You can rely on the system to record the dates of all vacation time requests and approvals.
Busy managers don’t need to worry about forgetting a verbal vacation request. The system is objective and transparent. It lets managers outsource their memory to an infallible system, providing a benefit that’s very important to employees.
PTO Synced to Scheduling
When an employee vacation request is approved, the PTO tracker sends the dates to the schedule builder. If you try to schedule the employee during approved time off, it will give an alert.
This is just one example of how cross-module syncing works. Consider all the connections between timekeeping, scheduling, and accruals. The level of efficiency and accuracy as compared to spreadsheets is profound.
Bottom line? You can automate 90% of PTO tracking while simplifying the management process.
Turnkey PTO Tracking
Some companies offer self-provisioning or turnkey solutions. As with the vendor-supported systems, PTO syncs with employee timekeeping and scheduling. But the sign-up process is a lot quicker. You can sign up online any time. There’s no need to work with an account representative.
When you’re researching turnkey PTO tracking systems, make sure they accommodate the number of employees on your staff. You might want an ’employee aware’ feature that prevents punch mistakes. See if the templates work for you. Look for free trials and take a test drive. Compare features and ease-of-use.
WorkforceHub PTO Tracking Software
WorkforceHub handles PTO tracking and much more. The configurable workforce management platform helps small businesses track sick time, vacation time, and other employee absences. It’s user-friendly interface allows for quick balance tracking and checks, while data flows throughout the system for accuracy and automation. Learn more about how WorkforceHub can help you go from spreadsheets to PTO tracking software.
