15 Best Leave/Absence Management Software & Platforms

Leave management software is an excellent productivity tool for managers.

It provides an online system to implement your company leave policies and delivers tracking options to handle PTO requests with ease.

With a proper leave management system, managers can reduce their administration load and improve their workflows.

What is A Leave Management System, and What Apps Are Best for You?

Leave management system is a software product that digitalizes the leave application process and automates time off and overtime calculations.

It enables employees to submit time off requests remotely and allows managers to oversee their staff leave schedules.

Top Features to Look for In Leave Management Software;

• Leave policy implementation.
• Time off request tracking.
• Approval workflows.
• Self-service portals for employees.

Here are some of the top leave and absence management software products. The list features their core functions and estimated rates to help you make a better purchase decision.

1. Timetastic

Timetastic is a planner and management software. It provides a shared calendar for employees to book holidays and submit leave requests.

The shared wall works both as a management and monitoring tool. Managers can easily see who’s currently available, who has taken a leave of absence, and who might need time off.

You can set up departments and create work schedules for distributed teams. Each member gets a personal calendar to book vacations.

Core Features

• Staff holiday planner.
• Leave allocation and management.
• Shared calendar.
• Approvals and restrictions.
• Absence insights.
• Burnout alerts.
• Global coverage.
• Mobile app.
• Integrations.

Price

Timetastic charges $1.50 to $2.50 per month. You can take a 30-day free trial.

2. Deputy

Deputy sells workforce management products to shift-based service businesses.

One of its products is a leave management software that allows you to track absence and handle leave requests.

You can set up custom time off policies per your company’s requirements and automate the tracking. Via the central dashboard, you can monitor workers’ availability, approve PTO requests, and swap shifts.

You can also reserve dates for compulsory attendance.

Deputy comes with both Android and iOS apps and can be integrated with major payroll and HR software products.

Core Features

• Shift-based model.
• Employee scheduling.
• Leave tracking.
• Availability management.
• Approvals.
• Customization.
• Reporting.
• Integrations.
• Mobile apps.

Price

Deputy prices start from $4.50.  You can take a free trial.

3. Edays

Edays is a comprehensive absence management software. You can use it to track your employees’ billable hours, handle overtime, manage sick leave, and oversee staff holidays.

Calendars are shared by employees for transparency, and managers get dashboards for monitoring. With self-service mobile apps, employees can log time, submit overtime, request leave, and book holidays.

Tracking and reporting are Edays’ core areas. You can administer multiple locations from one place and consolidate your global workforce leave data. You can also apply restrictions to control data visibility.

Core Features

• Leave and holidays management.
• Overtime and TOIL.
• Time tracking.
• Multi-location.
• Employee directory.
• Customization.
• Absence clash alerts.
• Reporting and insights.
• Mobile app.

Price

Edays shares prices on request. Book a demo to learn more.

4. Calamari

Next on the list is Calamari. It’s a time and attendance software that offers core HR and leave management products.

You’ll get calendar and Slack integration for time off requests and approval workflows for leave of absence. You can set days and hours for time off, giving your staff the autonomy to manage their own balances.

Via a centralized calendar, you can view all your staff leave and plan their availability.

For overseas teams, Calamari has time zones and language options. You can apply different policies for distributed teams and set up time off restrictions.

Core Features

• Employee directory.
• Document management.
• Leave calendar.
• Attendance and time tracking.
• Approval workflows.
• Rules and permissions.
• Global coverage.
• Reports.
• Integrations.
• Mobile app. 

Price

Calamari’s Time Off product costs $2.5 per employee.  For attendance, it charges $3 per employee. 

5. AttandenceBot

Attandencebot is designed for Slack and Teams.  You can invite the bot to your Slack channel and manage staff leave from there.

Core capabilities of Attendancebot are time-tracking, shift scheduling, absence management, and overtime calculation. Your employees can send holiday requests to managers via AttandenceBot and get time off on approval.

You can add flexible working hours for remote teams and let your staff take a day off for overtime. You can also set up different types of leave and create a quota for each employee.

Overall, it’s a user-friendly tool for leave management.

Core Features

• Slack and Teams integration.
• Attendance tracking.
• Time off request.
• Hybrid policies.
• Approval system.
• Shift scheduling.
• Announcements and reminders.
• Reports.

Price

Attendancebot’s prices start from $6. You can try it for free.

6. Pause 

Pause is another app you can try to manage staff leave from Slack. You can organize departments, assign approvers, allocate leave quota, and integrate the calendar.

You’ll get the flexibility to set up custom working days for your team and add multiple leave types per your company’s policies. You can also lock some dates for compulsory attendance and vice versa.

Employees can apply for time off and check their colleagues’ status before submitting the request.

There’s also an option for short breaks for remote teams. They can alert their manager if they plan to take a few hours off.

Core Features

• Leave management app for Slack.
• Custom policies
• Short breaks.
• Carry forward option.
• Public holidays and leave overlaps.
• Approvals.
• Notifications.
• Global coverage.
• Desktop and mobile app.

Price

Pause charges $1 per employee. You can take a 30-day free trial.

7. Day Off

Day Off is a mobile-friendly PTO tracker. Via this tool, you can manage your staff’s time off, vacations, and leave of absence.

The app is user-friendly and comes with custom options. You can set different settings for each team and include working days and leave balances. To manage requests, you can create a one-step or two-step approval process.

For ad-hoc official holidays, Day Off provides an announcement feature. With a single click, you can send your message to all employees at once.

Core Features

• Calendar.
• Leave balances and working days.
• Public holidays.
• Global coverage.
• Approval workflow.
• Announcement tool.
• Notifications.
• Reports.
• Mobile app.
• Integrations.

Price

You can get started on Day Off for free. For the premium subscription, it charges $1 per employee.

8. Leaveboard

Leaveboard delivers all the essential tools to manage employees’ leave. You can centralize and manage your staff’s PTO, vacations, and sick leave.

Some of its notable functions are employee data recording, attendance tracking, monitoring, and reporting. You can set up a work schedule with leave accruals to let your staff manage their own PTO.

For Managers, Leaveboard has approval workflows. They receive alerts if more than two employees submit leave requests, and can approve/decline at their convenience.

You can integrate Leaveboard with Google and Slack.

Core Features

• Leave management.
• Attendance tracker.
• Calendar.
• Approval workflows.
• Customization.
• Clash alerts.
• Employee database.
• Reporting.
• Integrations.

Price

Leaveboard’s basic plan is free and the premium subscription costs $1.35 per user.

You can ask for the enterprise package.

9. Timetac

Timetac offers attendance, project tracking, and leave management tools. You can buy its leave management as a standalone product or purchase the bundle pack.

The software provides flexible features and multi-device support. You can track your employees’ billable hours and absences via the web and smartphones.

Clock-in machines are also available for in-person attendance. You can connect it with your time-tracking software and centralize your employees’ records.

For PTO tracking, you can allocate leave balances to employees and set up approval workflows.

Timetac automatically tracks vacations and transfers unused leave to next year’s balance.

Timetac has both Android and iOS apps.

Core Features

• Leave and absence management.
• Clock-in machines.
• Approval workflows.
• Vacation planning.
• Time tracking.
• Global coverage.
• Integration and API.
• Mobile apps.

Price

Timetac sells three modules separately. Its base price is €20.

10. Planleave

Planleave allows you to manage time off from your Google Calendar. The app offers a support system to help you optimize your workflows.

You can add flexible leave policies, set a limit on PTO, and create accruals. For approvals, you can organize teams and assign authority to managers.

Your staff can check each other schedules and submit time off requests from their mobile phones. If you have dedicated team members who rarely take vacations, you can turn on burnout alerts to keep an eye on them.

Dashboard view and reporting are also included in the package.

Core Features

• Calendar and Slack integration.
• Leave policies and accruals.
• Shared view.
• Burnout alerts.
• Approvals.
• Reporting.
• Mobile-friendly.

Price

Planleave charges $1.30 per employee. You can take a 14-day free trial.

11. Staffleave

Staffleave is a mobile app for small businesses. You can use it to plan your employees’ leave and manage time off requests.

The app is user-friendly and comes with a free plan. You can set leave allowance for your staff, accept and decline PTO requests, and book vacations on behalf of your employees. If you use Google Calendar for official purposes, you can sync Staffleave with your calendar.

You can download the app on Android and iPhone and add as many users as you want on the free plan. Staffleave also has a desktop version, but it’s currently available in the premium package.

Core Features

• Mobile app.
• Calendar integration.
• Leave allowance and policies.
• Approval.
• Notification.
• Vacation booking.
• Reporting.
• Desktop version. 

Price

Staffleave’s basic plan is free and the premium plan costs $1.25 per user.

12. Absence.io

Absence.io is an attendance and expense management app. Vacation tracking is its core module, and other functions are add-on features.

Top notable functions of Absence.io are team calendar view, leave request approvals, time tracking, and employee directory. You can record billable hours, short breaks, and leave of absence.

Your staff can also pick their substitute before taking time off.

The app works on multiple devices and allows third-party integrations. You can also scale your package and translate your content into seven languages.

Core Features

• Team calendar.
• Time and attendance.
• Leave tracking.
• Approval.
• Digital files.
• Expense management add-on.
• Reporting.
• Multilingual.
• Integrations.
• Mobile app.

Price

Absence.io charges €2 for the core module. For add-ons, you may have to pay extra charges.

You can try it for free.

13. Jibble

Jibble is a tracking app that delivers Time& Attendance features for leave management.

Here, you can plan work and holiday schedules and set up a location-based attendance system. You can implement your company’s leave policies and build approval workflows for PTO requests.

Self-service portal will be available to your employees for attendance and time off requests. Via notifications, you can stay updated and monitor pending requests.

Other interesting features of Jibble are OT calculation, timesheet generation, and integrations.

Core Features

• Time& attendance.
• Leave policies.
• GPS tracking.
• Approvals.
• Mobile and kiosk attendance.
• Overtime tracker.
• Time sheets.
• Integrations.
• Desktop and mobile apps.

Price

Jibble is free to use.

14. WorkFeed 

If you need a little more versatile app, try WorkFeed. It’s a scheduling software that centralizes your employees’ shifts, attendance, and absence.

You can use this tool to combine your work and leave schedule. Workfeed automatically records billable hours, tracks overtime, and shows PTO booking.

You can create different leave types and add extra allowance for those who work on holidays.

Via smartphones, your workers can check their leave balances and submit time off requests. You can also let them swap shifts.

Core Features

• Shift scheduling.
• PTO management.
• Overtime tracking.
• Attendance recording.
• Leave policies.
• Communication tools.
• Reports.
• Integrations.
• Mobile app.

Price

WorkFeed prices range between $3 and $6.      

15. LeaveDates

LeaveDates provides a collaborative system for absence management. The app delivers a shared wall to all employees and managers, allowing them to keep track of annual and sick leave.

Staff members can check their annual leave entitlement and request time off. Managers gain visibility into their staff schedules and approve or decline requests.

You can connect your calendars with LeaveDates and also integrate your Slack account. The app also works on multiple devices and comes with Android and iOS apps.

One more thing. LeaveDates has global coverage and a built-in public holiday option. With these tools, you can plan your overseas team’s availability and leave schedules.

Core Features

• Shared wall.
• Time off and OT requests.
• Approval system.
• Customization.
• Global coverage.
• Reports.
• Integration.
• Mobile app.

Price

LeaveDates charges $1 per employee. You can add up to 200 users.

The first five users are free.

Conclusion

Leave management system is crucial for a growing company. It automates not only manual workflows but also centralizes your data, making it easier to maintain employees’ leave schedules.

If you are looking for good options, the above list can give you some ideas to get started.

Compare their pricing packages and take free trials to explore the features. Good luck!