How Gipe Auto Color Improved Team Efficiency with Vacation Tracker
Gipe Auto Color is a multi-location auto paint and supply distributor with nine stores and 45 employees. Laura Shipp, the Director of Operations, oversees all store operations, including managing employee leave. Laura is responsible for ensuring smooth day-to-day operations, which includes handling time-off requests, optimizing workflows, and supporting store managers across locations.
Company Snapshot
| Industry | Motor Vehicle Manufacturing |
| Location | United States |
| Team Size | 45 employees |
The Challenge: A Manual, Overwhelming Leave Tracking Process
When Laura stepped into her role, she inherited a time-off tracking system based on spreadsheets. The previous process was cumbersome and inefficient. Each leave request required multiple manual steps:
- Employees filled out paper request forms.
- Store managers signed the forms and scanned them.
- Laura had to review, sign, and scan the forms before returning them.
- Approved requests were manually added to a shared calendar.
The process of signing and emailing 130 pieces of paper took an entire day, making it clear to Laura that the system was far from efficient.
Visibility was another major issue. Only store managers knew who was on leave, and the information wasn’t accessible to others who needed it for planning. The shared calendar helped, but Laura had to manually update it, which was time-consuming and prone to errors.
The Solution: Vacation Tracker
Laura discovered Vacation Tracker through the Microsoft Teams app store. The integration with Teams was a significant factor in her decision, as the company already used the platform for communication.
Vacation Tracker provided a centralized, accessible solution for leave management across all nine stores. With features like automated notifications, real-time leave balances, and customizable department structures, the team could now handle requests with ease.
Even team members who were initially skeptical of technology found the system easy to use after being introduced to a simple five-step process.
The New Process: Simple, Transparent, and Efficient
With Vacation Tracker in place, the leave management process is now straightforward:
- Employees request leave directly through Vacation Tracker, whether at work or from home.
- Managers receive instant notifications and can approve requests in a few clicks.
- Leave balances update automatically, and everyone can check their remaining days without delays.
- The system automatically updates shared calendars, eliminating the need for manual data entry.
The ability to request leave from anywhere improved accessibility, while the centralized system enhanced communication across locations.
Key Benefits for Gipe Auto Color
- Time Savings: The entire approval and tracking process is now automated, saving Laura and the managers significant time.
- Increased Transparency: All team members can see who is on leave, improving planning and reducing confusion.
- Improved Accessibility: Employees no longer need to be in the office to request time off.
- User-Friendly Interface: Even team members with limited tech skills adapted easily to the new system.
- Better Reporting: Managers find the reporting tools intuitive and helpful.
The new system significantly reduced the time employees had to wait to find out how many days off they had left, providing immediate clarity and improving satisfaction.
Conclusion
By switching to Vacation Tracker, Gipe Auto Color streamlined their leave management process and empowered employees to manage their own time off. The integration with Microsoft Teams, along with the user-friendly interface, made the transition smooth and successful.
The changes didn’t just simplify leave tracking—they contributed to better communication, improved efficiency, and a more organized, self-sufficient team.