How to Choose a Leave Management System in Singapore

Managing leave requires careful balancing. On one hand, employees need it to recharge, stay productive, and maintain well-being. On the other hand, manual systems, a lack of real-time visibility, and the pressure to keep the company running smoothly can create inefficiencies for HR teams.

In strict business climates like Singapore, where companies often juggle multiple employee leave types, these challenges are even more pronounced. When poorly managed, leave can quickly spiral into scheduling conflicts, operational disruptions, and employee frustrations. An XpertHR survey found that leave and absences are a top challenge for 67% of HR managers. 

Fortunately, a leave management system Singapore offers a better way. These tools automate leave tracking and approval, featuring mobile access and self-service portals. In this article, we'll compare the top online leave management systems in Singapore and highlight must-have features to look out for before choosing one for your team.

Read next: What is a Leave Management System? Why Every Business Needs One

Key Features of a Great Leave Management System in Singapore

A great online leave management system Singapore should make it easy to track leave balances and approve requests in a few clicks. Here are key features to consider:

Mobile access

A modern leave management system Singapore shouldn’t be limited to desktop use. It should also offer mobile access so employees and HR teams can easily log in, check leave balances, and submit or approve requests anytime, anywhere, even outside the office.

Employee experience

An intuitive leave management system Singapore should improve the employee experience through self-service features. This empowers employees to manage their time off promptly and efficiently, thereby reducing HR workload. 

Look for a system that allows employees to:

• Submit and track leave requests without unnecessary back-and-forth.
• View leave balances.
• Notify their colleagues and managers about upcoming time off.
• Check team availability to plan leave without disrupting operations.

Additional reading: HR’s Annual Leave Planner Template

Compliance

Your chosen leave management system Singapore must support compliance with the country’s statutory leave laws. This includes annual leave, sick leave, childcare leave, maternity leave, and other entitlements mandated by the Ministry of Manpower (MoM). The system must also calculate leave entitlements for all employment types, including full-time, part-time, temporary, and probationary employees, while following MOM’s requirements to the letter.

Automation

A good leave management system Singapore should automate processes to eliminate manual input from HR teams, saving time and boosting efficiency. It should handle different leave calculations, including daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly accruals. The tool should also send automated alerts to managers when there’s a new leave request so they can take prompt action. Likewise, it should inform employees when their requests are approved, declined, or when their unused balances are about to expire.

Integration with HR and payroll

A modern leave management system Singapore should seamlessly integrate with your existing payroll and HR tools to maintain accurate records. This eliminates data silos, ensures uniformity across systems, and prevents discrepancies or data loss. For example, once an employee’s leave request is approved, the system should automatically update their leave balance in the HR records and adjust the salary and Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions in payroll for unpaid leave.

Check out our free CPF calculator

This unified approach reduces manual inputs, prevents errors, and gives HR teams a full overview of leave, attendance, and payroll accuracy without juggling multiple tools.

Read next: Leave and Attendance Management Systems in APAC

Comparing the Top Leave Management Solutions in Singapore

Omni HR: Best All-in-One Leave Management System for Growing Enterprises

Omni is an all-in-one HR platform with an integrated online leave management system Singapore built for growing teams and enterprises seeking deep regional compliance in Singapore. We offer seamless payroll integration, attendance-tracking, and a mobile-friendly self-service portal that enables employees to manage their leave balances independently. 

Compliance-ready since day one

Omni comes pre-loaded with Singapore’s statutory requirements, such as public holiday calendars, parental leave types, and TOIL, plus the ability to set country-specific leave policies that suit your needs. No more manually updating policy spreadsheets when regulations or company policies change.

Custom policies

Whether you need standard annual leave or company-specific time-off rules, Omni’s automation calculates accruals in real time and applies them consistently across teams, locations, and employment types. 

Self-service portals for instant approvals

Omni’s self-service portal empowers employees to request leave via the platform, through their mobile app, or directly from their favourite tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams. Employees can easily view real-time balance and track approval status without the extra step of contacting HR. Managers, on the other hand, can approve time off requests with a single click, right from Slack, email, or their phone.

Clear visibility and accurate payroll

At-a-glance scheduling shows who’s in and out directly on Google Calendar, Slack, or Microsoft Teams with Omni’s integrations, helping managers plan workloads. Approved leave data automatically syncs with payroll and attendance, eliminating the risk of overpayment or missed deductions.

"Managers can now easily view who is on leave within Omni. The system has made it so much easier to communicate things rather than the HR team contacting managers manually to update an employee's leave status."
— Rhoanne Therese Jamelo, HR Generalist at ScaleForge

While Omni’s leave module can transform how you track and approve time-off, we’re more than just leave management. Our all-in-one HR platform unifies payroll, attendance, onboarding, performance management, and compliance, removing the need for multiple disparate tools. This means: 

• Leave data flows directly into payroll and reporting, eliminating the need for double entry and manual errors.
• All employee records and schedules are stored within one system, forming the source of truth.
• Built for scale as Omni allows you to manage employees in 190+ countries and up to 10+ languages.
• Award-winning, easy-to-use interface with local support that works within your time zone.

Experience Omni’s leave management system Singapore without the risks. Start your 7-day free trial today and see how easy it can be, starting at just US$3 per employee.

Find the pricing plan that fits your business

LeaveBoard: Free Online Leave Management for Small Teams

LeaveBoard is a free online leave management system Singapore for small teams. It automates HR processes, tracks employee time off, centralizes workforce data, and supports accurate reporting for businesses. 

This free leave system offers a variety of features, including:

• Automated leave requests, tracking, and notifications for quick approvals or rejections.
• Create custom time-off policies that accrue automatically for multiple PTO policies and leave types. 
• Self-service portals that empower employees to request and manage their leave balances, freeing up HR teams to focus on more strategic tasks.
• Centralize employee data in one place according to your company’s organizational chart.
• Gain valuable insights into your workforce productivity with smart reports about employee attendance.
• Easily track employee attendance to confirm availability, vacation calendar, and custom work schedules.
• Free accounts are available for up to nine employees. Once you add your tenth employee, the account switches to paid.

Freshteam: Freemium HR Software with Leave Features

Fresh service is a cloud-based leave management system Singapore that helps businesses automate, streamline, and manage time off requests across all departments. 

It provides AI-powered employee experiences, secure workspaces, and easy workflow automations with features such as:

• Empowers employees to apply for leave, track request status, view leave balances, and check team calendars, all through the web or mobile app.
• Create and configure different leave types with custom eligibility criteria, accruals, and carry-forward rules.
• Easily confirm team availability through the dashboard and assign makeshift duties if needed.
• Set up holiday calendars based on regional locations for teams located in different parts of Singapore or other countries.

Swingvy: Localised HR Software for SMEs

Swingvy is a leave management system Singapore that tracks employee time off to sync with your calendar. The software enables employees to apply for leave online while and managers approve or reject applications in a few clicks. 

Its features include:

• Seamlessly integrates with your calendar tools, including Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, or Apple iCal.
• Import approved unpaid leave directly into payroll to automatically calculate and deduct employees’ salaries.
• Update multiple leave balances across the company with the bulk upload feature. 
• Create customizable leave entitlements or policies by employee groups or individuals, and allow workers to book leave in hourly or day blocks.

Carbonate HR: Simple Interface, Local Features

Carbonate is an online leave management system helping businesses across Singapore reduce conflicting leaves within the same department or company. 

Its features include:

• Automatically calculate employee leave quota.
• Create holiday calendars for your employees based on your company's requirements.
• Set up different leave types, such as annual, sick, or childcare leave, and customize how much leave employees get based on their role.
• Upload existing leave data and download leave reports for payroll or compliance reviews.
• Real-time dashboard to view and track leave applications, upcoming absences, documents, and approvals.

Is a Free Leave System Right for You?

To answer this, let’s weigh the pros and cons of a free leave system.

Ultimately, the right choice depends on your business needs, budget, and team size. For small businesses, a free leave management system Singapore is ideal until your team scales. But if your company is large, only use the free version for testing, then upgrading to a paid plan can be a good choice once you are confident in its features.

Picking the Right Leave System for Your Team

When choosing a leave management system Singapore, consider these questions to assess whether it is the right choice for you:

• Can it customize leave policies for all employee types?
• Does the system support all MoM statutory leave types?
• Does the system integrate with your existing HR and payroll tools?
• Is the platform mobile-friendly so employees and managers can track leave requests at their convenience?
• Can the tool export data in various formats like CSV, PDF, or Excel?
• Does the tool safeguard employee data in compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act?
• Is customer support available for free plans, paid plans or both?
• Can the system scale and grow with your company as your team expands?

Switch to Omni HR’s Leave Management System Today

Traditional leave tracking methods often involve grueling paperwork, manual errors, and unnecessary back-and-forth. But with a leave management system Singapore like Omni, managing absences and attendance becomes a walk in the park.

Omni offers a comprehensive HR platform built for regional compliance. It combines employee experience, local compliance, payroll, and automated workflows into one unified system, helping you promote employee well-being while keeping your business running. 

What’s more? We also offer fast setups, free trials, and localized support for businesses across Singapore and the APAC region. Take ScaleForge, for example. Before Omni, the team relied on manual processes and fragmented tools, making it difficult to track who was on leave and coordinate workflows efficiently. 

After switching to Omni, ScaleForge experienced

• 100% real-time visibility into time-off schedules across the company.
• Centralized reporting that eliminated the need for multiple tracking systems.
• Improved communication between HR, managers, and employees, reducing delays in time off approvals.
• Stress-free leave planning across the entire organization.

"We're now able to see all requests and scheduled time off in one place and can generate real-time reports.”
— Rhoanne Therese Jamelo, HR Generalist at ScaleForge

See how: ScaleForge Achieved Full Visibility on Colleagues’ Time Off

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