As a CEO of a time tracking software company I need to know what my competitors are up to. That means I’m often researching about and/or playing around with their products, you know, it’s part of the job. I also know which of our competitors are highly-regarded in the industry as people talk, word gets around. Here, I share some findings of my research or conversations, giving credit to those competitors where credit is due. I hope it helps you make the right decision.
Overview
Whilst I have already covered our Top 6 Attendance Trackers for 2023 in a separate article, it’s important that I also talk about the 6 Best Absence Tracking Software that will help you say goodbye to the challenges that come with manual absence tracking and inefficient leave management.
An absence tracker specifically focuses on tracking and managing employee absences or time off from work. Although attendance trackers and absence trackers both involve tracking employee time, they serve different purposes.
Thankfully, there are absence tracker software solutions available that can simplify this process and enhance productivity. However, choosing the right absence tracker can be a daunting task. This is why I have extensively reviewed and analyzed top absence tracker software options available. I know what you need to look at. Pricing, UI, stability, customer support, integrations, and, perhaps most importantly, how it all comes together for a user or team. Ok, so let’s get cracking…
What are the 6 Best Absence Tracking Software in 2023?
The definitive list
1. Jibble
Yep, you guessed it – I’m shamelessly recommending my own software, Jibble! Now, I may be cheeky, but trust me, I’ve got good reason. Jibble is the ultimate solution to all your attendance and absence headaches, and I will justify why. Jibble is a comprehensive absence tracker software that simplifies the process of recording and tracking employee absences. With its suite of features and cutting-edge technology, Jibble takes the hassle out of recording and tracking employee time off, making it a breeze for companies of all sizes. Get ready for a new level of convenience as Jibble allows employees to clock in and out using their cell phones or PCs. But that’s not all! Jibble goes above and beyond with its advanced features. Imagine real-time GPS tracking and geolocation monitoring, ensuring you have complete visibility over your mobile workforce, no matter where they are. The face recognition attendance feature adds an extra layer of security and efficiency to your time tracking process. The mobile app enables attendance recording from any location, even offline, with subsequent synchronization to the database. Jibble doesn’t stop at time tracking – it also offers powerful leave management capabilities, making the process of requesting, approving, and tracking employee absences simpler than ever.
Did I mention Jibble’s exceptional customer service? Our dedicated team is there to support you every step of the way, ensuring a smooth and pleasant experience. And the best part is that Jibble offers flexible pricing options, including a fully functional free edition. So, what are you waiting for? Step into the future of absence tracking with Jibble and unleash the full potential of your workforce.
Sure, Jibble is our product, but independently it is actually the highest-rated app according to the aggregate of reviews on sites such as Capterra, GetApp, G2, App store, and Play store.
What Do Users Like about Jibble?
- Free
- Easy to use
- Affordable with a stacked free version
- Accurate time-tracking due to facial recognition and GPS tracking
- Excellent customer support
- Feature-rich software
What Do Users Not Like about Jibble?
- This unfamiliar and bewildering sensation from the sudden surge in employees’ productivity
What are Jibble’s Key Features?
- Attendance kiosk makes punctual attendance a habit
- Entry settings
- RFID attendance tracker and NFC attendance system
- Extensive reports and analysis
- Facial recognition and GPS tracking eliminates buddy punching
- Automated timesheets and reports
- Automated alerts
- Mobile access
Ratings
- PlayStore: 4.6/5
- Software Advice: 5/5
- AppStore: 4.8/5
- Capterra: 4.8/5
- GetApp: 4.8/5
2. Vacation Tracker
Vacation Tracker is a great leave management tool that offers a range of features to simplify and streamline your vacation planning. With real-time visibility, you can access up-to-date information on your team’s leave activity, empowering you to make informed decisions and plan ahead. Their employee self-service reduces administrative tasks for HR, because all team members can easily manage their time off on a single platform.
Vacation Tracker can integrate with popular platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, and email. This eliminates the need to switch between multiple tools, which I think is great! The system simplifies leave requests and approvals and it provides instant updates on the status of the request across all platforms. Vacation Tracker can be integrated with a calendar of your choice, keeping track of all your leave activity in one place.
Custom notifications keep you updated on team members’ time off and you can also customize options for leave types, policies, and quotas. With features like hourly PTO tracking, automated accruals, and brought forward day management, Vacation Tracker offers you great flexibility. Their reporting features and user roles, such as administrators, approvers, and users, ensure smooth operations and help you manage absences and leave with ease. With Vacation Tracker, you can say goodbye to the hassle of manual leave tracking and enjoy a well-deserved vacation with a peace of mind.
What Do Users Like about Vacation Tracker?
- Ease of use
- Value for money
- Good customer service
- Great visibility and accountability for leave taken
- Integration with Slack and other software
- Flexible pricing
What Do Users Not Like about Vacation Tracker?
- Insufficient options for customizing messages to users when submitting leave
- Settings for your team can be a little hard to find
- No option to generate a custom report with a certain timeframe
- Could use more flexibility in leave policies
What are Vacation Tracker’s Key Features?
- FMLA administration
- Employee self-service
- Calendar integration
- Ability to receive custom notifications
Ratings
- GetApp: 4.7/5
- Software Advice: 4.73/5
- Capterra: 4.7/5
- G2: 4.2/5
3. e-days
e-days is a comprehensive leave management solution that makes complex global leave compliance easier while also integrating with your HR system. Since there are different rules around sickness and holiday entitlement in every country and region, e-days helps you to automate the process, which can save you valuable time. You’ll have access to automated reporting and can receive weekly absence and leave reports. These reports will give you accurate insights to identify issues and to reduce absenteeism.
e-days can even give you a customizable sickness journey. With clear oversight of who is sick and when, you can monitor sickness logging, set triggers, and receive alerts to manage sickness entitlement for teams and individuals. What’s also great is that managers and HR teams will benefit from a user-friendly manager dashboard and calendars, which offers concise reporting tools to track and report on holidays. Custom dashboards and absence trigger alerts keep you informed and in control.
With e-days’ mobile app, your employees can book leave no matter where they are as the app allows them to create leave requests with just a tap. It’s the perfect tool to enable positive and hassle-free leave management on the go for everyone using it. e-days has comprehensive features and a user-friendly interface, which will allow you to focus on what really matters.
What Do Users Like about e-days?
- Simple and user-friendly interface
- Clear visual display and easy navigation
- Great customer support
- Allows to see patterns for absence at a glance
- Mobile access
What Do Users Not Like about e-days?
- Occasional long loading times for leave submission and group calendar viewing
- Not always intuitive when something doesn’t work
- The admin end can feel a little clunky
What are e-days’ Key Features?
- Employee profiles and self-service
- Alerts/notifications
- Customizable reports
- Reminders
Ratings
- GetApp: 4.6/5
- Software Advice: 4.59/5
- Capterra: 4.6/5
- G2: 4.3/5
- AppStore: 4.9/5
4. Open Time Clock
Open Time Clock offers a range of features that simplify your time tracking and employee management. With Face Recognition, employees can easily clock in and out using biometric technology. The system also supports Barcode, RFID, and QR CODE for convenient clocking options.
With their GPS and Google Map integration, you can track employees’ clock in/out locations on maps. The software has a user-friendly interface, which means you need no technical background or training to use the software. You can also easily assign and track employee shifts with their shift and schedule management features allowing you to track tardiness or early departures.
Paid Time Off Auto Accruals automatically calculate vacation balances based on set rules, assisting in making informed decisions on time-off requests.
What I found to be a really interesting feature is that employees can clock in via a toll-free number when internet access is unavailable at remote job sites.
The system provides over 30 pre-defined reports in various formats for easy data analysis. Their customer support includes phone, live chat, email, and tickets so you should be in good hands whenever you need assistance. Based on my research, I found that Open Time Clock empowers you to efficiently manage time tracking, employee scheduling, and leave requests, all while providing excellent support and seamless integration options.
What Do Users Like about Open Time Clock?
- Ease of use on mobile device is straightforward without distractions
- You can add notes to your clock times
- Easy to set up users and managers
- Nice mobile app
What Do Users Not Like about Open Time Clock?
- The free version doesn’t get you priority support
- Occasional clunkiness and difficulty logging and clocking in
- Free version doesn’t include reporting or web-camera functionality
What are Open Time Clock’s Key Features?
- Sickness tracking
- Mobile access
- Timesheet management
- Biometric recognition
Ratings
- GetApp: 4.5/5
- Software Advice: 4.52/5
- Capterra: 4.5/5
- G2: 4.1/5
- AppStore: 5/5
5. Buddy Punch
Buddy Punch is highly praised for its ability to function as an effective absence tracker software. The cloud-based software offers features such as facial recognition for accurate clock-ins, geofencing to set clock-in locations, and push notifications to keep employees informed.
The software’s scheduling features allow managers to plan shifts, handle time-off requests, and receive automated alerts. Buddy Punch’s intuitive layout simplifies team management and provides configurable reporting options. It also integrates with payroll software and offers GPS and facial recognition time tracking. (Which is so good, I added the software in our top 6 face recognition time tracking software too!)
Buddy Punch is a widely recognized cloud-based solution that excels in time tracking and workforce management. Its comprehensive feature set, including PTO tracking and employee scheduling, makes it a valuable tool for businesses seeking efficient absence tracking capabilities.
What Do Users Like about Buddy Punch?
- Great customer service
- Easy-to-use software
- Facial recognition
- Smooth functioning web version
- Helpful features for on-the-move teams
Find more about what users love about Buddy Punch.
What Do Users Not Like about Buddy Punch?
- Mobile app is limited
- Punching out difficulties
- Time-card step is time consuming
Find more about what users hate about Buddy Punch.
What are Buddy Punch’s Key Features?
- Time tracking and facial recognition
- Geofences
- Department codes
- Zapier integration
Ratings
- GetApp: 4.8/5
- Software Advice: 4.81/5
- Capterra: 4.8/5
- G2: 4.8/5
- Play Store: 4.5/5 (in the US)
- App Store: 4.9/5 (in the US)
6. Timetastic
Timetastic is a great absence tracker software that revolutionizes the way you manage employee time off. It provides a modern and streamlined solution for your team and their managers. With Timetastic, each team member gets their own personal calendar and annual summary, which allows them to track their absences and plan ahead. The software integrates with the employees’ regular work calendars, ensuring all absences are instantly updated and visible.
The app and email notifications make absence management a breeze. Users can easily request time off through the desktop or mobile app, while managers can approve or decline requests directly from their email. Everything is instantly tracked and summarized on the calendars, providing a clear and up-to-date overview of who’s off and when. Timetastic also has an interactive wall chart, which provides an at-a-glance view of current absences. This helps you plan better, ensure coverage during busy periods, and avoid scheduling conflicts.
Timetastic has a user-friendly interface, mobile accessibility and automated notifications. If you choose Timetastic as your absence tracker software, you can say goodbye to paperwork and spreadsheets and focus on efficiently managing employee time off.
What Do Users Like about Timetastic?
- Straightforward to setup users and approvers for each department
- Easy-to-use software
- Visibility of team members’ absences which helps the time-off planning
- Provides a clear picture on why an absence occurred and when it happened
What Do Users Not Like about Timetastic?
- The user interface is plain
- No option to set a secondary approver for times when the first approver is off or away
- The calendar layout and wall view overview could use an update for more flexibility
- Unable to edit time-off requests, requiring users to delete and resubmit the entire request
- No option to add notes to employee’s leave request
What are Timetastic’s Key Features?
- Integration with Google Calendar, G Suite, Slack, and Outlook Calendar
- Timetastic offers an API
- Public holidays from more than 20 countries are preloaded into Timetastic
- Alerts/notifications
Ratings
- GetApp: 4.5/5
- Software Advice: 4.74/5
- Capterra: 4.7/5
- G2: 4.6/5
- AppStore: 4.8/5
