Absence Management Software
Absence management software
Take the stress out of absence management and improve employee productivity with PeopleHR’s online absence management software. It’s intuitive, clean and easy to use, giving you a holistic understanding of employee absence.
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What is absence management software?
Absence management software tracks every employee absence in one place and reports on the patterns behind it. Employees request time off through self-service, managers approve leave, and HR acts early. Read our guide on what is absence management for a fuller definition.
- Keep absence records complete and current
- Use tracking to spot unplanned absence trends
- Let staff book time off through self-service
What are the benefits of our absence management software?
PeopleHR’s software delivers efficient absence management solutions so you don’t have to. All employee absences will be in one secure place, so you can manage staff and solve problems effortlessly.
Whether you’re a growing enterprise or a small business, our software is built to suit you. If you're managing a larger workforce, read our guide on effective absence management at scale. We have countless integrations, insights into your employee behaviour and sick leave, as well as built-in Bradford Factor scoring.
Absence management software key features
Our employee absence management solutions will transform the way your business handles all kinds of leave. It supports accurate absence tracking, automated management tasks, compliance with HR legislation and much, much more.
Easy-to-use Absence Planner
Automated timesheets & absences
Automate all of your timekeeping procedures, from automated data capturing to easy to set up absence ‘approval rules.’ You’ll be able to closely monitor absences whilst also saving time.
Customisable absence reasons
Create a list of reasons for absence so it's quick and easy to record them. You can even run detailed reports on ‘absence types’ including holidays, sickness, and TOIL etc.
Compliant return to work procedures
Make an employee’s return to work easy. Our absence management software guides you and your employees through fit notes, return to work interviews, self-isolation and more.
Absence heat maps
Absence heat maps are a powerful, visual way to start conversations with employees about their absences. Together, you can then create a plan to improve their attendance and timekeeping.
Types of absence you can manage
Each absence type sits on the same employee record, so tracking stays consistent, and your absence policy sets the rules for it. Time off requests follow the same route.
|
Absence type |
Example |
How it is recorded |
|
Sickness |
Three days off with flu |
Employees can report it through self-service. Record the dates and reason, and add. Managers or HR admins can upload any fit noteupload fit notes. |
|
Annual leave |
Five days for a summer holiday |
Employee requests through self-service, and the manager approves. |
|
TOIL |
Half a day back for overtime |
Record the day taken as a TOIL absence. |
|
Parental |
Leave after a birth or adoption |
Record the dates against the matching absence reason. |
|
Compassionate |
A day off after a bereavement |
Record the date against the matching absence reason. |
|
Unauthorised |
Absence with no approval |
Record the date and absence reason. Your absence policy sets how it is handled. |
For the process behind unplanned absence, read our guide on unauthorised absence.
How the absence management process works
Every absence follows the same four steps.
Time off is requested by employee
Employees request time off through self-service, and managers approve it.
The absence is recorded
Each absence is saved to the employee’s record, so reporting covers it with every other absence.
Managers monitor patterns and triggers
Bradford Factor scores show when short, frequent absences reach a trigger point, so teams can check on wellbeing early.
Return to work is guided and supported
The software guides managers and employees through fit notes and return to work interviews, supporting wellbeing.
Easily approve time-off & manage your busy periods
Our absence management software enables employees to submit their holiday request from anywhere, on any device. Any leave requests are instantly sent to managers for approval, along with insights as to other clashing planned absences for that day.
At PeopleHR, we know how crucial busy periods are to productivity and profitability. With our absence management solutions you can lock days to prevent any problems arising. And you can create rules to automate holiday requests, giving you more time to focus on other essential HR tasks.
Get full absence visibility with the PeopleHR Planner
The first screen of our absence management software gives you all the essential information you need at a glance. Our intuitive dashboard lets administrators and managers see:
- Each employee’s planned absences, including existing staff booked holidays and leave of absence requests.
- When their absences occurred and why.
- How many unplanned absences have occurred.
Integrate Rota Tools with Our Attendance Management Software
Our absence management software is designed to automate time-consuming manual HR tasks. Which is why we have made it easy for you to integrate it with your rota management software. Meaning you can easily update and manage shifts around planned absences, so you no longer have to update two different systems. Reducing the risk of mistakes and unhappy employees.
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Stay HR Compliant with Our HR Leave Management Software
It’s important that you track sickness, manage how it impacts your business, and comply with HR legislation. Our leave of absence software helps by:
- Giving managers a smart way to manage all types of absence.
- Letting managers and HR admins upload fit notes.
- Guiding all parties through the return to work process in compliance with your HR procedures.
Bradford Factor Scoring gives you complete control of unplanned absences
Short, frequent and unplanned absences can be very disruptive to a company, especially a small business. Our absence management system has a built-in Bradford Factor scoring mechanism to help you automatically calculate these kinds of absences. Keeping you aware of employees’ unplanned absence trends as they develop, letting you know if occupational health support is required.
Manage Excessive Absences with Reporting in Our Absence Management System
People HR’s absence management solutions gives you the power to look for trends in attendance and time-keeping behaviour. With our software you’ll gain a custom report writer that helps tell you the story of:
- Each employee’s pattern of absence.
- The impact of absences on the business.
- How managers are dealing with absences.
- Which managers are failing to follow-up effectively.
See PeopleHR in action
Start your free trial of PeopleHR today and get 14 days of access. See how one simple platform can take the admin out of everyday HR, so you can spend more time supporting your people.
Absence management software FAQs
What is absence management software?
Absence management software allows you to automatically record, monitor and report on trends in every employee’s attendance behaviour. The best absence management software will also:
- Allow your employees to self-serve on leave-related issues
- Identify excessive absenteeism and persistent issues with time-keeping
- Support managers to use absence data analysis to improve outcomes for employees and the business
- Ensure the business remains HR and GDPR compliant.
Is absence management the same as leave management?
Holiday planning covers planned time off. Absence management covers planned and unplanned absence, including sickness, and its reporting shows trends across all of it. Your absence policy decides which absences count.
Why is absence management important?
If left unmanaged, the operational and financial costs of staff absences could spiral out of control. Developing processes and procedures for planned absences such as holidays or doctors' appointments will help your business maintain its necessary productivity levels whilst ensuring employees do not burn out. However, the way your company manages unplanned absences can make or break your business. Particularly in the post-pandemic world. In 2025, UK workers lost an average of 4.4 days each to sickness or injury, according to the Office for National Statistics.So keeping track of all types of unplanned absences is important to help safeguard your business.
What is the difference between absence and attendance management?
Attendance management tracks hours worked, including late arrivals and breaks. Absence management tracks time away from work. Our time and attendance software covers both, with reporting on each.
What is the difference between absence and TOIL?
TOIL is one type of absence. Employees earn it by working overtime and take it as time off instead of extra pay, and absence management records it alongside sickness and holiday.
How does Bradford Factor scoring work?
The score is spells squared, multiplied by days lost, so frequent short absences score higher. PeopleHR calculates it automatically from your tracking data, and your absence policy sets the trigger points. A high score prompts a wellbeing review of the case before any action is taken.
Can employees upload fit notes for long-term sickness?
Managers or HR admins can upload fit notes. The software also guides managers and employees through fit notes.
What is employee absence management?
Employees take time off work for all sorts of reasons. From annual holiday entitlement to short-term illness, or sometimes for longer-term health-related requirements. Managing these absences is essential to ensure your business doesn’t stop when employees are not at work. It’s also important that in the case of sick leave, your business is compliant with HR law whilst supporting employees’ health needs.
Absence management is your company’s approach to avoiding disruption and reducing absenteeism. HR software can help you deliver a consistent, automated approach to the processes and procedures required to manage staff absences effectively.
Does absence data feed through to payroll?
Yes. Employee and absence data now feeds through from HR to payroll, giving you joined-up employee and pay data with our payroll software.
What are the key benefits of using software for absence management?
Absence management software will help you significantly reduce absence-related administration through automation. Other benefits include:
- Simplifying absence management tasks to further reduce management overheads
- Calculating the true cost of absences to the business
- Reporting absence trends that need to be addressed
- Reducing absence-related payroll errors
- Rescheduling rotas and workloads efficiently
- Supporting employee health and wellbeing
- Reducing negativity towards absent colleagues
- Demonstrating fairness and compliance as an employer
Which companies use your absence management software?
Cost-effective and accessible, People HR software is specifically built for small and growing businesses. But it’s wide functionality and built-in HR expert guidance makes it a suitable Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) for much larger organisations in a range of sectors. From manufacturing to retail, to not-for-profits and ICT providers, Our, customer base is over 7000 companies strong and growing daily.
Is cloud-based HR software safe?
Yes. At People HR, we know that our customers rely on us as an important part of their record keeping and business processes. We recognise the need for tight security at a very technical level. In virtually all deployments, our cloud-based HR software improves client’s data security and helps them achieve compliance with their mandated risk management frameworks.
How much does absence management software cost?
Pricing is per employee, per month. Starter is £4 and includes absence tracking. Core is £6.25, Pro is £9.25 and Elite+ is £11. Annual customers can get a discount, and you can start with a free 14 day trial.
How do I get started with PeopleHR software?
To get started with our People HR software, check out our 4 minute video tour. It will guide you through some of the most powerful and useful features of our HR software and mobile HR app. Then start your free trial and see for yourself how easy it is to use. No credit card required.
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