Best Employee Leave Management Software System for Your Small Business

A leave management system (LMS) may relieve your HR staff or manager of a lot of administrative burden by automating the leave request, approval, and scheduling processes. The most effective system for handling leaves of absence will let you designate specific days off and holidays, as well as send out automated notifications to both supervisors and workers when requests are submitted and processed. The calendar feature is handy for keeping track of vacation times and employee leave management system

Several different kinds of absence management software were researched, but only 5 stood out as clear frontrunners.

 Timetastic

 LeaveBoard

 Calamari

 WhosOff

 PlanMyLeave

Compare the best leave management systems

1. Timetastic

Developed and maintained in the United Kingdom, Timetastic is cross-platform compatible and has built-in national holidays for more than 250 nations. Timetastic is used by over 175,000 individuals, many of them are corporations that have upgraded from paper calendars or spreadsheets. Top-notch automations and PTO customizable rules are standard across all of the LMS software we reviewed.

We gave Timetastic a 4.15 out of 5 stars. Features and functionality were both rated very highly. Critics panned it because it lacked a report creator and because customers could only reach help during English business hours.

Timetastic Pricing

Timetastic’s $1.30 monthly price per user is competitive with the other leading time off management programmes. It also does not have any restrictions on the number of employees you have, making it the cheapest option for enterprises with 10 or less workers. Some varieties of British businesses are eligible for discounts

Timetastic Features

Customizable approvals: If a manager isn’t available, most of the programmes on our list will send out a notice to all other managers or submit a request to an administrator. Timetastic, on the other hand, lets you design your own procedure just for getting things approved.

Time Off in Lieu: Timetastic, like LeaveBoard and WhosOff, allows you to choose the number of hours worked and the number of hours that should be compensated in time off rather than money. To help out hourly employees, we really appreciated how this option was integrated into calendars.

Preloaded holidays: The majority of the apps we’ve selected observe local holidays. However, Timetastic brags about having the most with support for over 250 nations and 3,000 regions. The programme chooses the holidays for you based on the country and employee data you provide.

Top pick among users: As far as the quantity and quality of user evaluations go, Timetastic and Calamari are head and shoulders above the competition. Both were reviewed on more than 500 sites and averaged out to 4.69 stars overall. Users were impressed by how simple it was to use. Since we last checked in, it has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from iOS users, rising to an impressive 4.7 stars overall.

2. LeaveBoard

LeaveBoard works for multi-country teams with over 300 workers. It’s the only programme on our list with an indefinite free plan for up to nine workers. Its automated capabilities make it easier for managers to authorize leaves. It has our best reporting tools.

LeaveBoard scored 4.19 out of 5. It received flawless scores for reporting and functioning, together with Calamari and PlanMyLeave. It’s meant to be viewed on mobile via the web, so you don’t require a mobile app. Support is through contact form, and integrations are limited, which hurts its score. It has an API, like our other leave management solutions.

Pricing For Leaveboard

Its free package supports up to nine workers and includes all services except priority assistance and advanced leave. Managers and administrators are considered as employees under the Pro plan. The Enterprise package includes an account manager and unique pricing for over 80 workers. PlanMyLeave is the cheapest on our list.

Featured For Leaveboard

User-friendly: Leave Boards colorful, easy-to-use UI pleased us the most. The card-style dashboard organizes crucial data. The calendar shows lighter spots for unapproved leaves, which helps with planning.

Free version: LeaveBoard’s free edition supports up to nine users. Small firms who don’t plan to hire soon might consider it. Our other choices didn’t provide a free plan.

Reports: LeaveBoard has the finest report choices since you can generate your own reports and edit the supplied ones. For additional investigation, export to Excel.

Additional leave options: You may arrange the system to automatically approve leaves or have workers request a replacement, which helps service sectors like restaurants. Retroactively requesting leaves and setting leave intervals utilize expired leaves first. Calamari is close, but PlanMyLeave lacks the replacement function.

Overlap: LeaveBoard provides a calendar that indicates who has previously requested time off and may issue a warning if an employee requests a day off that a colleague has already taken. Managers may avoid personnel concerns. Calamari and Built for Teams allow you manually verify absences, while others give a list or calendar.

3. Calamari

Calamari is accessible in English, German, Polish, French, and Spanish. It’s good for international teams and remote employees. PlanMyLeave is cheaper for 10+ workers, but it provides more features. Timetastic is great for firms with foreign staff since it’s packed with holidays from 250+ countries, while Calamari has none.

Our rating for calamari was 4.36. It lacked a free version (only LeaveBoard has one) and had non-customizable reports. Calamari’s leave tracking capabilities, customer service, and UI are outstanding.

Pricing Of Calamari

Calamari’s leave management software costs $2 per person monthly ($1.70 yearly). $20 monthly minimum. LeaveBoard’s free plan is appropriate for businesses with less than 10 workers.

Calamari no longer offers bespoke pricing for big enterprises. Nonprofits may get a discount; contact the supplier.

Calamari Features

Doc. Attachment: Only Calamari allowed attachments. This is useful for FMLA and internal leave requests. PlanMyLeave and Timetastic enable this; others simply have notes.

Employee-manager communication: Our leave management software lets workers remark. Some communicate using Slack or Microsoft Teams. Calamari’s built-in communications tools let administrators debate leave requests with employees or other supervisors. It’s Slack-compatible.

Widespread workforce: Calamari’s leave management application tracks remote employees and allows in-app communication. It’s available in English, French, German, Spanish, and Polish and contains holiday tools for 100 countries. International teams may use Timetastic, LeaveBoard, and PlanMyLeave.

Mobile Application: Calamari’s Android and iPhone applications have 3.6 and 4.4 ratings, respectively. Built for Teams and Timetastic scored better.

WhosOff has been around since 2006. It’s predominantly sold in the UK but also works in the US, Australia, Canada, and Europe. Its versatility and usefulness amazed us. While not the highest-rated app on our list (Timetastic is), it’s by far the most popular.

WhosOff beat Built for Teams with a 3.79 score. It scored well in cost, taking a little blow for the monthly minimum (which Timetastic lacks) and no free plan like LeaveBoard. It earned near-perfect scores for features and operation, but lacked other messaging methods. It’s not as popular or well-rated as our list, but nonetheless well respected and simple to use.

Price For Whosoff

WhosOff is marketed in Britain for English Pounds. They rely on exchange rates to establish prices for other currencies. Prices may differ if you’re not British. £1.50 per person, minimum of 10. At current writing, that’s $20.15 per month or $2 per person each month. This price matches Calamari’s.

Features For Whosoff

Customizations: Create your own leave kinds, including overtime (TOIL). Then choose who can view the choice, who needs permission, and who can take the leave. Others on our list allow setting various leave kinds for groups.

Flexible sick leave: WhosOff is the only absence management software that enables coworkers to seek sick leave. This manual option only works for one-day requests, but allows a close-knit team flexibility.

Customizing approval: WhosOff lets you choose who should authorize leave, unlike Built for Teams. Automatic approval rules need no signature. This is a LeaveBoard-only feature that’s perfect for medical visits.

Mobile Apps: WhosOff’s iOS app is the most popular we evaluated. Managers and staff may use the app.

5. PlanMyLeave

PlanMyLeave has the cheapest per-person premium plan. It also offers onboarding, employment histories, document management, and employee appreciation. This saves money by handling certain HR requirements. Automatically handle comp time.

PlanMyLeave scored 4.01 out of 5. It had good pricing, features, and usefulness, but no custom reports. Not as popular and no mobile app. It gives greater flexibility for leave requests and approvals than our other tools.

Planmyleave Pricing

PlanMyLeave is the cheapest per-user leave management solution. LeaveBoard, Timetastic, WhosOff, or Calamari may provide better discounts based on your workforce count. After 23 users, it’s cheaper. It provides free HR courses to save money. Our other hotels don’t provide as many features. PlanMyLeave offers savings to organizations, schools, and corporations with 300+ workers.

Planmyleave Features

Comp Time: PlanMyLeave, like Timetastic and LeaveBoard, can compute TOIL time but also encashed time (such as time-and-a-half for working holidays). Our listmates don’t do this.

Bonus Modules: PlanMyLeave also tracks skills, job history, documentation, onboarding and offboarding routines, travel requests, and employee gratitude. Our other LMSs don’t provide these things. PlanMyLeave may help small businesses without complete HRIS software.

Customizable language: PlanMyLeave says it’s multilingual. English, French, German, Chinese, and Turkish are listed. It can add any language for free. Calamari has several languages, but not this freedom.

Integrations: PlanMyLeave works with Xero, QuickBooks, and ADP. It interacts with Slack, HipCat, Google Drive, and Dropbox. Built for Teams integrates more.

How Did We Select the Best Leave Management Systems?

Online leave management systems that were only available as part of larger time and attendance or human resources administration suites were excluded from consideration. The remaining options provided a high quality baseline, with minor differences arising from the finer points. Several minor adjustments were made in this revision, including the inclusion of free trials, the addition of time off in lieu of overtime pay (TOIL) monitoring, and the verification of new and improved functionality.

Yet again, calamari was the most popular item. We found that it provided virtually all of the features we needed and that its user-friendly design was well received.