How to coordinate vacation requests without any problems #
Vacation planning for your employees is an important HR process that you should organize well. It is essential to avoid staff shortages caused by too many overlapping vacation periods so that your company’s operations do not become unbalanced.
In this article, we not only take a look at useful vacation planners for effective vacation management, but also highlight the German Federal Leave Act and other legal provisions that are important for vacation planning in your company.
The Federal Leave Act briefly explained #
Your employees’ leave is clearly regulated in employment law. According to the Federal Leave Act, your employees are entitled to four weeks’ paid leave per year. With a 5-day week, this corresponds to at least 20 working days per year, with 6 working days a total of 24 working days. As an employer, you can of course stipulate additional vacation days in the employment contract over and above the statutory vacation entitlement. In Germany, 30 vacation days are now standard, i.e. 20 by law and 10 by the employer.
In many companies, however, this includes fixed company vacations during which the entire company is shut down for several days. This usually takes place from Christmas to New Year, as there are several public holidays that interrupt operations anyway. If a company announces company vacations, employees must take leave during these periods. As company leave is deducted from employees’ annual leave entitlement, they do not have the full number of vacation days at their disposal.
When your employees should apply for vacation #
In general, every employee has a legal right to vacation, but not to have it approved exactly when they want it. This is because there are operational issues and requirements to which vacation requests are subject. These can be, for example, staff shortages due to dismissals or illness, but also seasonal fluctuations in the order situation, stocktaking or other employees’ vacation that has already been approved.
For these reasons, your employees should announce their vacation at least 6 weeks in advance. Nevertheless, close coordination within the team is necessary so that not everyone wants to take vacation at the same time (e.g. during school vacations) and too much unapproved vacation remains at the end of the year.
There are various approaches to finding a fair distribution of vacation for employees over the course of the year. First come, first serve does not necessarily apply to vacation requests. For vacations that several employees want to take at the same time, you must take certain circumstances into account. These include, for example, school-age children or compromises from previous years. In such cases, the line manager will decide which employee gets priority.
From when the leave is considered approved #
When you talk to your employees about vacation, a verbal agreement is already considered an agreement. However, it is better if you record and respond to leave requests in writing or digitally so that you can provide documented evidence in case of doubt. As an employer, you have up to one month to respond to submitted leave requests; however, if it takes significantly longer or the start of the leave is imminent, the employee is free to consider the leave request as approved.
Employees and employers may only cancel leave at a later date for special reasons and in absolutely exceptional cases, for example if the business is at great risk or there are unforeseen problems. In practice, however, this only happens extremely rarely. Of course, the vacation must then be taken at another time so that all vacation days are used up by the end of the year.
Note: Take vacation days into the new year The law does not stipulate that employees can simply carry over unused vacation to the next year. In particular, vacation days granted in addition to the statutory entitlement may expire. If the employer has a special regulation on this, the vacation days should still be used up by the end of March at the latest.
The special case of unpaid leave #
Unpaid leave offers employees the opportunity to take time off work - without receiving a salary. This is a voluntary agreement between employee and employer, as there is no legal entitlement to it in Germany. While the Federal Leave Act clearly regulates the number of paid vacation days, unpaid leave is a matter for negotiation. Companies can refuse requests, especially if there are operational reasons such as staff shortages.
Employees choose to take unpaid leave for various reasons, even if there is no general entitlement to it. In employment law, however, there are specific circumstances that can give rise to an entitlement. These include caring for a suddenly ill family member or unforeseen emergencies. Unpaid leave can also be legally justified in cases of parental leave or the assumption of certain honorary positions.
One crucial point: prolonged unpaid leave can have an impact on social insurance. If the leave lasts more than one month, the employee must organize their own health and pension insurance. These consequences should be weighed up carefully before making a decision.
Why structured vacation planning makes sense #
Vacation planning is a process that can take a lot of time and lead to disagreements within the team. If an employer grants 30 vacation days per year, each employee has around 6 weeks of vacation to plan, which they can spread over individual days or periods. It is important to consider all requests promptly and coordinate them successfully.
In small teams in particular, you should make sure that there are not too many overlaps in your employees’ vacation planning in order to ensure that operations are maintained and that the team’s workload is reasonable. In larger teams, overlaps cannot be completely avoided; vacation substitutions and handovers are commonplace, making coordination all the more important. A digital vacation planner is highly recommended to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
Practical tools for vacation planning #
Vacation planning is a process that is often structured and automated using tools, apps or programs. This saves time, enables efficient management and satisfies everyone involved thanks to fast and error-free processing. The days of creating a vacation plan in Excel are long gone. Instead, these six practical tools can help you plan absences.
SAP Fiori #
The Fiori tool is aimed at companies that use SAP. Absence management is already mapped in SAP. HR departments use SAP PA (Personnel Administration), while time administrators use TMW (Time Manager Workplace). This leaves a gap for employees, which you can close with a vacation planner in Fiori. The add-on combines all the necessary information to manage vacation planning completely in SAP from now on.
Personizer #
A more streamlined solution is Personizer. The aim of the software is to enable simple personnel management for companies. Here you will find a tool with which you can perfectly manage vacation planning and time recording. These two functions are available with different levels of licensing.
TimeTac #
TimeTac offers both a web-based solution and an app. The vacation planning app currently has rather poor ratings in the Google Play Store. However, the web solution promises a holistic system that covers the working hours, project times, vacation planner and absences modules.
timetape #
timetape also advertises with a number of medium-sized companies that already use the tool as a vacation planner or for time recording. Here you can easily manage leave requests and an automated approval process ensures the necessary transparency. Applicants and supervisors can see everything at a glance in the calendar view, which should guarantee structure and relief for your managers and employees
Timebutler #
It is said that more than 300,000 people use Timebutler’s online time tracking, vacation planner and absence management. The German company from Eltville scores with European data protection and high data security. Although Timebutler does not offer an app, you can of course open the web-based program in your browser on all end devices
SeaTable #
SeaTable is also web-based and can be operated in the cloud or on your own server. The no-code database of the German SeaTable GmbH also offers functions that enable many additional use cases. With SeaTable as an online vacation planner you get:
- Simple web forms for your employees to submit vacation requests
- Automatic notifications for new vacation requests and approvals
- A calendar overview of all vacations
- An internal overview of remaining vacation days
- A separate view for each employee
Conclusion #
There are many vacation planners for employees. However, most of them are specific stand-alone solutions that really can’t cover anything other than vacation planning and time recording. It is better to rely on a flexible solution that enables vacation planning as well as other use cases.
With SeaTable’s free template, you can manage all your employees’ vacation requests. From requesting via a web form to processing in a Kanban board - SeaTable makes the entire process more efficient.
Automatic notifications mean you never miss a request and can respond promptly to your employees’ requests. The calendar view allows you to directly identify any overlaps and quickly decide which requests you can approve or reject. You can use intelligent formulas to automatically calculate vacation days and get an overview of how many days have already been taken at a glance.
Register with SeaTable for free today and discover the numerous functions that will revolutionize your vacation planning.
Frequently asked questions #
How long is the statutory minimum vacation?
In Germany, with a 5-day week, there is a statutory (according to the Federal Vacation Act) vacation entitlement of at least 20 vacation days per year.
What does the Federal Leave Act say?
The Federal Leave Act regulates the right of employees to paid leave and stipulates the statutory minimum leave of four weeks per year.
Am I entitled to unpaid leave?
Employees should submit their vacation at least 6 weeks in advance to allow for adequate planning.
When should employees submit their vacation at the latest?
Employees should submit their vacation at least 6 weeks in advance to allow for proper planning.
When is leave considered approved?
Leave is considered approved when the employer confirms the request in writing or digitally. A verbal confirmation can also be regarded as approval. If the employer does not respond to the request within one month, the employee can consider the request approved.
How much do vacation planners for companies cost?
Some vacation planners for companies are available for free, such as SeaTable. Other providers offer their tools at a basic price and charge an additional small fee per employee.
TAGS: HR Administration