You can’t avoid it, and life gets in the way from time to time. Whether you’ve just had a baby, someone close to you has died, or for various reasons, chances are you, or an employee will need time off at some point.

Organizations worldwide offer employees different types of paid, partially paid, and unpaid leave. They, by law, are required to provide some of these types of leaves, and they provide others at their discretion. A strong understanding of these types of leave is vital to stay compliant as an organization and provide your employees with competitive benefits and a good experience when unexpected life events occur.

Here are some of the most common (and not so common) types of leave from work.

A worker is entitled to annual leave of at least six working days with a full salary. The annual leave is increased to at least twelve working days for young workers (under sixteen) including apprentices. A worker must have worked for at least twelve months to qualify for annual leave. Annual leave must be taken at the end of the year in which it is earned however it can be deferred by mutual agreement provided that the holiday earning period must not exceed twenty-four months and the earned and deferred leave must be taken within 24 months. 

N.B this varies from company to company

A paid leave arrangement for employees who need to take time off to study for and/or take an examination. An employee shall be entitled to leave with pay to attend compulsory examinations in courses of study that are relevant to the employee’s job. 

The amount of paid leave granted to an employee should be reasonable, and such to enable the employee to travel to and from the examinations.

From taking care of the newborn to recovering from the delivery, maternity leave is an important time for new mothers. Ensure you have accommodated this type of leave in your policy to help employees not worry about their work while they are busy with their newborns. 

Maternity leave is provided to the new mother for a period of 7 to 17 weeks, depending on the country in which the company is based. Ideally, 14 weeks is a good amount of time to be given to the mother, allowing them to take care of their newborn for the first 3 months.

You should also be open to providing extra leave days in case of any postnatal complications.

Paternity leave is granted to new fathers, husbands, or partners of a pregnant woman, surrogate parent, or someone who adopted a child to take care of their newborns without any worry.

Unlike maternity leaves, new fathers usually get 2 weeks of leave to take care of their child post-delivery. Some countries mandate 1 to 2 weeks of paternity leave for new fathers.

Companies rarely provide paternity leave for the birth of their child since such leaves are not mandatory by law. However, HRs must recognize the stresses of adjusting to the newborn and taking care of the child in their first few days.

Sick leave is time off given by the company to allow employees to recover from an illness and take care of their health. Sick leaves are crucial to allow employees to get the rest they need without worrying about losing pay. Sick leave is a mandatory requirement in many countries to ensure the well-being of the employee. 

Companies must provide 15 days of sick leave in a year to their employees. However, you must also be flexible with your sick leaves and allow employees to take longer ones if they have severe health issues. 

In many companies, any sick leaves that have not been taken by the end of the year can be carried forward to the next year. However, you must ask your employees to take the day off if they are sick.

Casual leave is taken by an employee for travel, vacation, rest, and family events. Such leaves are given to allow the employee to take time off for any life events they have like traveling to another country or weddings they have to attend. Giving employees paid casual leave will allow them to prioritize their private life when required, making them feel appreciated in the company.

In most companies, employees can take a maximum of 8 to 15 days of casual leave in a year.

Christmas, Eid, and Easter, your employee is sure to place importance on religious holidays that they celebrate and would want the day off to spend time with their family and observe the festival. You must accommodate these holidays they have by providing them with the option to take leave on the day of the festival.

Losing a loved one is an unavoidable situation and in such events, employees take sudden leave. As HR, you need to have a bereavement leave policy that provides the employee with the time to grieve their loss, manage any responsibilities they may have due to the death, and allow them to ask for a bereavement leave without any hassle. 

Most HRs give their employees 3 to 7 days of bereavement leave, depending on the closeness of the relative.

Employees who have clocked in more hours than they were required to can be eligible for compensatory days off. Ensure that any employee who has put in more time is given a compensatory day off.

Compensatory time-off must be automatically recorded within your backend and employees must be informed that they have an extra day of leave for the time they put in.

Given the sheer amount of absence types, how do you keep track of them all while still prizing employee data and accuracy? The answer may be found in SwiftaHR software.

SwiftaHR, for instance, offers a calendar view of all the types of leaves, when employees are in the office, when they’re not, and which types of leaves are being taken at any given moment.

In addition, your company can even define unique types of leave that can be tracked from the comfort of the SwiftaHR dashboard.

Finally, your team can also instantly generate leave reports. You can track it across departments, and build an accurate picture of potential absenteeism in your org.

Let employees record their working times with a click, and request leaves almost as easily, so you can manage them effectively and painlessly. 

If you’re interested, take advantage of the Free 30-day trial now!  If you have more enquiries, please email sales@swifta.com.