How Almeida & Carlson Centralized Time-Off Tracking and Empowered Their Team to Self-Manage
Almeida & Carlson is a well-established insurance agency with three offices and a team of 25 employees, along with several part-time staff members. The company provides a wide range of insurance solutions to individuals and businesses, offering personalized service and tailored coverage options. Known for their commitment to client satisfaction, the team at Almeida & Carlson prioritizes efficient internal processes to better serve their customers.
The Challenge: Time-Consuming, Error-Prone Time Off Tracking
Before adopting Vacation Tracker, Almeida & Carlson relied on Excel spreadsheets to track employee time off. Jennifer Buckley described it as an "honor system"—while employees were honest, the process was confusing. The team frequently encountered issues like broken formulas and accidental deletions, causing end-of-year discrepancies.
Jennifer explained, "We used Excel to track time off, but we don’t use Excel for anything else.” That meant people were unfamiliar with how it worked, and they would accidentally delete formulas. As a result, some employees thought they had more time off than they actually did. By the end of the year, it was always a mess. They needed a system that could show everyone how much time off they had left without all the guesswork.
These errors didn’t stem from dishonesty but from the system's complexity. The lack of visibility and manual nature of the process made time off tracking frustrating for everyone involved.
The Old Process: Manual and Inefficient
Before Vacation Tracker, the process of requesting and tracking time off was tedious and prone to human error. Employees who wanted to request time off had to go through a series of manual steps:
- Emailing Managers: Employees sent an email to their manager to request time off. There was no standardized request format, which sometimes led to incomplete or unclear requests.
- Manager Approval: Managers had to manually review each request and then reply to the email, either approving or denying the request.
- Spreadsheet Entry: If approved, the employee had to go into a shared Excel spreadsheet to record the leave. Mistakes were common, with incorrect dates or accidental formula deletions causing confusion.
- Monthly Reviews: At the end of each month, managers had to review the spreadsheet to confirm the time off taken. This process required cross-checking emails, calendar entries, and the spreadsheet.
- Calendar Updates: The team used Microsoft Calendar to maintain visibility into who was out of the office. Employees had to manually add their approved leave to the calendar.
It was a lot of back-and-forth messaging, which consumed time and energy. Managers had to approve requests, employees had to update the spreadsheet, and then managers had to double-check everything later. It took way too much time.
The Search for a Better Solution
Jennifer first came across Vacation Tracker when she saw it in action at another company. She was immediately impressed by its simplicity and ease of use, and decided it would be the perfect solution to bring into Almeida & Carlson as well.
The impact of Vacation Tracker was felt across the organization:
- Simplified Requests: Employees now submit requests directly through Vacation Tracker without emailing managers.
- Instant Notifications: Managers receive notifications immediately and can approve requests with a few clicks.
- Real-Time Balance Updates: Employees can see their remaining time off anytime without needing to contact their managers.
The team quickly noticed how much easier the process became with Vacation Tracker. Everything was consolidated into one place, eliminating the need for back-and-forth messages, manual calendar updates, and spreadsheet edits. The platform's intuitive design made it accessible for everyone.
Beyond simplifying the time off process, Vacation Tracker also improved team communication. With real-time notifications and calendar integrations, everyone could easily see who was in or out of the office. This visibility helped with workload planning and reduced misunderstandings.
Conclusion
By adopting Vacation Tracker, Almeida & Carlson replaced their confusing, manual process with a straightforward, automated system. Employees now have an accurate, real-time view of their remaining time off, while managers save time previously spent on administrative tasks.
The new system has made a noticeable impact, making processes faster, more reliable, and providing the team with much-needed visibility. Vacation Tracker has significantly improved their time-off tracking and day-to-day operations.