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What is a leave of absence?
A leave of absence is when an employee is authorized to be away from work with compensation. Employee contracts include paid-leave days compensated at normal pay or a high percentage of normal days’ pay. Leave of absence can include vacation days, sick leaves, maternity leaves, and more. Some leaves of absence are planned in advance, while others can be used for emergencies. Depending on the labor laws in our country, certain leaves are required legally while others are offered depending on the company.
Why is a leave of absence important?
A leave of absence is required for employee wellness and work-life balance. Offering leave of absence improves employee satisfaction and retention. In many countries, it is required by law for full-time workers.
Leave of absence examples:
- Holiday leave: Holidays are a time when employees want to spend time with their families. A common benefit that companies give is a week off during holidays. Of course, certain staff will still need to be on duty. Consider using employee scheduling software in order to plan in advance.
- Sick days: It is important to have sick days so that employees don’t come in sick and infect other team members. Sick days are vital for employee wellness.
- Paid vacation: Work-life balance is an important benefit to many employees. Paid vacation is standard for full-time employees and it shows respect for employee wellness.
- Paid medical leave: Emergencies happen. When team members need time to recover from illness or medical conditions, it is an important benefit for employers to offer paid medical leave.
- Paid caregiver leave: Caregivers need time to take care of family members with illness. This is an important benefit for team members with extra responsibilities.
- Paid parental leave: Team members considering starting a family in the future will take in account parental leave benefits from their employer. Parents have a higher retention rate than non-parents due to increased responsibility, which makes it worthwhile to invest in parental leave.
