How CrossnoKaye Made Unlimited Leave Management Easy with Vacation Tracker
CrossnoKaye is a fast-growing startup specializing in industrial control software for the food and beverage industry. They modernize outdated, locally stored software by transitioning it to cloud-connected solutions, enabling business owners and industry experts to optimize operations. One of their key achievements includesreducing energy consumption of facilities by up to 47%.
Company Snapshot
| Industry | Software Development |
| Location | Santa Barbara, California |
| Company Size | 51-200 employees |
The Challenge: Outgrowing Google Calendar
As CrossnoKaye expanded from a small team to a workforce of 80 employees, their existing leave management system—Google Calendar—became unsustainable. Kathryn Whitten, an Executive Business Partner who also handles some HR functions, recalls the difficulties:
"It has gotten very overwhelming. It was more of a distraction than it was actually helping."
Employees struggled to track time off accurately, and there was no way to make sure managers had approved leave requests. Team members would assume their leave was approved simply by adding it to the calendar, often forgetting to request formal approval.
“Employees would occasionally put leave on the calendar and later realize they hadn’t checked with their manager.”
Additionally, employees had trouble remembering when their teammates were out of office. Some were overwhelmed with excessive information, viewing leave details for colleagues whose schedules didn’t impact their own work.
Finding the Right Solution
Crossnokaye discovered Vacation Tracker through the Slack App Marketplace. The integration into Slack and the ability to customize leave tracking made it the perfect fit for their needs.
"This was the clear winner with the features we needed." - Kathryn Whitten, Executive Business Partner
Implementation was smooth, starting with a rollout to managers for testing, which proved to be a success. The team quickly adapted, appreciating the ability to request and cancel leave without ever leaving Slack.
Key Benefits of Vacation Tracker
- Improved Visibility and Customization
Vacation Tracker allows employees to access leave data in a way that suits their workflow. Some prefer seeing certain teams on their calendar, while others rely on Slack notifications.
"It is easy to see who is out, which employees’ leaves overlap, and it's nice to have an accountability trail of approvals.'" - Kathryn Whitten, Executive Business Partner
Managers now have a clear record of approvals, eliminating the risk of forgetting leave requests.
- Efficient Work Scheduling
With a team that frequently travels, Crossnokaye created a unique leave type—‘No Travel’—indicating employees who are working but unable to travel. This feature helps managers plan schedules effectively.
- Simplified Unlimited PTO Tracking
While Crossnokaye uses an HRIS, it couldn't handle unlimited PTO, requiring an exact number of leave days. This led to confusion about how much leave employees could actually take. With Vacation Tracker, unlimited PTO is now manageable, and employees feel greater flexibility.
Conclusion
By implementing Vacation Tracker, Crossnokaye eliminated the inefficiencies of their previous system, improved team visibility, and made leave management seamless. Managers no longer miss requests, employees have a clear approval trail, and scheduling travel is more efficient than ever.
For growing companies like Crossnokaye, where rapid scaling introduces new challenges, Vacation Tracker proves to be a simple yet powerful solution to keep operations running smoothly.