The Benefits of Automating PTO Accrual Management for the Public Sector

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Shoestring budgets are all too familiar for those who oversee or work public sector jobs — but the expectation of consistent, high quality service remains.

These organizations are often faced with the challenge of making do with the resources available, a lot of which depends on the efforts of hardworking staff. Yet, these important players need and deserve every bit of self-care their benefits allow in hard-earned PTO.

Managing vacation, sick-time, family leave and more comes with its own costs, but efficiency and accuracy can save organizations a lot of strife. No employee wants the anxiety of not knowing their time-off balance. No manager wants to be left shorthanded due to uninformed approvals. HR professionals would be much happier building up the workplace instead of answering one-off requests for individuals’ PTO accruals.  Budget managers would rather avoid any unforeseen penalties from unused PTO resulting in noncompliance with labor laws.

Automation Minimizes Labor Cost Volatility

Financial leaders who work to make every dollar count need the ability to prevent unexpected costs before they happen. With accrual management solutions, such as the Accruals module available for Kronos Workforce Ready — trusted by many public sector organizations for essential workforce management — people in leadership roles can gain instant visibility into the PTO usage of employees with real-time accuracy. This allows managers to encourage employees to use their PTO at regular intervals (better for overall engagement and wellness) instead of hoarding hours and rolling too many over at the end of the year (potentially jeopardizing the organization’s overall compliance).

Accruals also gives organizations a lot of flexibility to structure their policy on PTO earnings and enforcement.  Automation of these responsibilities helps eliminate costly errors resulting in unhappy employees and a struggling bottom line. With accurate individual balances down to the hour or minute, managers have exactly what they need to approve time-off requests in a breeze.

Workers Benefit from Automation Too

As an added benefit to faster approvals on time-off requests, employees are also relieved of the hassle of hounding their managers for a follow-up. Workforce Ready Accruals also helps cut out the back and forth between staff and HR benefits managers trying to figure out how much sick time or vacation time they have left. With personal balances tied to the timekeeping and payroll systems they already use, employees gain upfront access to their usage and balance, either in their online employee portals, remotely via an accessible app, or even printed directly on their pay stub. This level of transparency helps alleviate many of the otherwise persistent uncertainties and doubts that may challenge their overall engagement. With regular policies in place and upheld automatically, public sector employers can ensure accuracy and equal treatment of employees at every level.