If you asked people what things are fundamentally important in their working lives, getting paid and taking leave are bound to be at the top of the list.
Earning money is the basic premise for going to work and, by law, all employees must be paid at least the minimum wage for their labour. If a person isn't paid the right amount or doesn't get it when they should, then they are going to get disgruntled with their employer pretty fast.
The same goes for taking time off. The ability to take leave is enshrined in employment law because it helps give employees a balance between work and other aspects of their lives. Time away from work – whether it is for a holiday, family reasons, or just to recuperate – is vital to everyone's health. It keeps people fresh and focused, reduces stress, and improves morale and productivity.
Most businesses understand how important these things are and they invest a lot of time and resources in managing leave and payroll. But despite the attention, it's not always easy to get them right. Payroll involves a lot of data: keeping record of the hours each employee works, calculating how much they should be paid, what deductions to make for tax or other payments, and ensuring they get the money they've earned when they should.
Leave similarly takes a lot of processing, marrying up leave requests with leave balances and legal entitlements, handling requests, then making the right calculations for payments (over to payroll again).
At every step, there's the potential for errors – especially if any parts of the process are handled manually – and mistakes can cost a lot more than ge