The basic method of monitoring and controlling leave applications is to do them manually with perhaps a spreadsheet program to assist you. However, if the number of employees should reach a critical size, this manual method may not be useful to the Leave Administrator. You may then wish to invest in a dedicated Leave Management system that can help you track leave seamlessly from application to approval.

Having a Leave Management solution alone, however, will not solve any practical issue that may arise. It is important that you should have firmed up your policy on leave applications, have the policy documented and then tailor the software to work according to your policy.

Administrative practices will vary from company to company. Some companies monitor and control their employees’ leave applications at the Human Resource level, while some others leave it to each department’s manager or the employee’s immediate supervisor to do so.

Regardless of the practice, most human resource practitioners agree that the responsibility of managing an employees’ own leave applications should be left to the employee himself. But in order to avoid any misunderstanding or issue that may arise, it is important that all staff be informed in advance of the company’s Leave Policy. Having done that, he should be answerable to any abuse of this benefit.