Keep track of overtime, vacation, and absence

The unpleasant surprises in HR rarely come out of nowhere. An employee exceeds their overtime limit because no one noticed it was approaching. Vacation days “disappear” because no one kept track of the balance. Absences become a pattern before anyone notices. The common denominator is the same: no one was paying attention. Here’s how you do it – without doing the math yourself.

Overtime: watch the limit approaching

The Working Environment Act’s overtime limits apply over rolling periods – one week, four weeks, and an entire year. This makes them difficult to keep track of mentally. The system calculates it for you and shows, for each employee, how close they are to their limit within the relevant windows. The key is timing: you want to know that someone is approaching the limit before you schedule them for yet another overtime shift, not when the accounts are settled.

Vacation: a balance that always adds up

Vacation balance is more than “25 days minus what has been used.” It consists of this year’s entitlement, plus what was carried over from last year, minus what has been taken – and the rules for carryover are not trivial. Unused statutory vacation days must, according to the Holiday Act §7(3), be carried over regardless; they do not disappear. Extra contractual days follow the company’s own carryover policy, often with a cap. The system keeps these separate and shows each employee a balance that actually adds up – accrual, carryover, usage, and remaining days, each accounted for individually.

Absence: patterns you can act on

Self-certified sick leave, doctor’s notes, and other absences are recorded together, so you see the bigger picture instead of isolated messages. It’s not about monitoring, but about detecting – a recurring absence, a department with a pattern – early enough to have a conversation instead of being caught off guard.

Down to the individual

All statistics have a story behind them, and sometimes you need to see it. For each employee, you’ll find their history: the hours they’ve worked, the shifts they’ve had, their balances. When an employee asks, “How many vacation days do I have left?” or “How many hours did I work in May?”, the answer is one click away – not an exercise in spreadsheet archaeology.

Employees see their own data

Transparency halves the number of questions. When employees can see their own hours, shifts, and vacation balance, you no longer have to answer the same thing over and over – and they no longer have to wonder. The same numbers, accessible to both parties, builds trust that it’s correct.

In short

Track overtime against the rolling legal limits, maintain a vacation balance that correctly separates statutory and contractual entitlements, and view absences collectively instead of piecemeal. With the numbers updated in real time – and visible to employees as well – the expensive surprises turn into small adjustments you make in time.