The employee experience your company provides its workforce encompasses much more than office perks and fringe benefits. It’s instead defined by how workers feel about their jobs during significant life events, from illnesses and new babies to mental health crises and caregiving emergencies.
When employers show meaningful support during these moments, employees are far more likely to think positively about their workplace. It follows that an employer’s indifference or neglect can do serious damage to the employee-employer relationship.
If you want to know how to improve employee experience at your company, look to your leave and accommodations programs. Enhancing leave and accommodations management is one of the most direct, measurable levers HR can use to better the employee experience overall.
In this article, you’ll learn how to provide leave and accommodations that bolster the employee experience and offer meaningful support to your workforce.
What “Employee Experience” Actually Means
“Employee experience” is a broad term, drawing on every interaction an employee has with their employer. The employee experience includes the early exchanges between potential employer and job seeker. But it also extends to the final moments of the employee journey: resignations, terminations, retirements.
When companies set out to define or improve the employee experience, most focus their efforts on similarly broad initiatives, like company culture or employee engagement. Other organizations may invest in better onboarding or enhance their learning and development programming.
The Role of Leave and Accommodations in Improving the Employee Experience
It’s not often easy to draw a clean line between employee experience and how organizations manage leave and accommodations. For employees, how employers respond when an employee requests leaves of absence and job accommodations has a profound impact on the employee experience.
Consider how an organization’s leave programs shape the employee experience before an employee’s first day. Leave is strongly valued by job seekers. According to AbsenceSoft research, 86% of job seekers are more likely to apply to a job that clearly lists paid leave benefits. Forty-two percent said they wouldn’t even apply to a job that doesn’t offer paid leave.
These findings illustrate that leave isn’t an afterthought for employees. When a company offers robust leave and accommodation policies, candidates are assured that a job will support them through life’s toughest moments.
Defining Moments for the Employee Experience
When an employee requests a leave of absence or accommodation, they’re often going through a difficult time in life. They may need time off to receive treatment for an illness or heal from an injury. A loved one may need their care. Or they may need specific supports just to get through the work day.
At these moments, employees are incredibly vulnerable. An employer’s response determines how they’ll get through the hard season or major life change they’re facing. If their employer responds generously and compassionately, they’ll feel supported. If their employer ignores their request, creates problems in providing support, or responds carelessly, then work is just another challenge weighing them down.
Unfortunately, many employees encounter the latter experience. According to AbsenceSoft’s latest Leave and Accommodations Employee Experience Report, 44% of employees had issues with paperwork and deadlines during leave. Another 39% said the process was unclear or confusing, and 16% reported losing hours, being demoted, or being let go.
These frustrations are significant for the employer-employee relationship. AbsenceSoft research has found that a poor leave experience causes more than a third of employees to look for new work. And 14% of respondents reported quitting outright.
Poor accommodations experiences cause similar problems. Our 2026 report found that a quarter of respondents waited longer than expected for their accommodation. Another 18% said they worried about retaliation after asking for support. Fourteen percent were so worried they didn’t ask for support at all. Of employees who had these kinds of experiences, 40% decided to start looking for a new job or quit their position entirely.
These moments are where employee experience is defined. For millions of employees each year, the way they’re treated when asking for leave or accommodations will color how they see their employer for years to come, and whether they’ll stay in their position or take their talents elsewhere.
How to Drive Employee Experience with Better Leave Management
Too many employees endure frustration, delays, and confusion when they need to take leave or apply for an accommodation. Employers can provide a better experience with a few simple changes to the way they approach leave management.
Make the Process Clear from Day One
Confusing or unclear processes have been the top driver of poor leave experiences in AbsenceSoft surveys for many years. This consistency sends a clear message to employers: make your leave processes easy and accessible.
Employees shouldn’t have to face a maze of paperwork and to-do lists when they need a leave of absence or accommodation. Requesting support or time away from work should be a simple, intuitive task. When employers use self-service technology, employees are just a few clicks away from submitting their request. This makes it easy to ask for help amid a crisis.
Train Managers as Your First Line of Defense
44% & 36% → employees who request leave and accommodations from their managers, respectively.
When employees need support, many of them go straight to their managers. This isn’t a problem when managers have received proper training. Managers who are familiar with leave and accommodations know to point employees to HR or a self-service portal, if available.
When managers lack this training, the consequences can be significant: 41% of HR leaders say managers don’t understand how to handle accommodations requests, according to our recent report. Untrained managers create compliance mishaps and erode trust. They may ignore or dismiss requests, follow up with the wrong next steps, or treat employees inconsistently.
Get Pay and Benefits Right
Pay errors are among the most common causes of poor leave experiences. According to AbsenceSoft’s 2025 report, nearly a third of employees said pay mistakes contributed to their poor leave experience. With the right platform, employers can avoid pay problems and ensure their employees are among the 53% who cite accurate pay as a key reason they had a positive leave experience.
Contact Employees the Right Amount
33% → employees who said being contacted too much contributed to their poor leave experience.
Employees who go on leave step away from work for a reason: They need to pull their focus away from work to heal, to rest, to care for loved ones. When managers and colleagues ping employees on leave, this focus gets interrupted.
Overcommunication can also be a compliance risk. When managers check in too frequently with employees on leave, they can run afoul of laws like the Family and Medical Leave Act, which prohibits employers from discouraging or restraining employees from exercising their leave rights.
However, some employees like to hear from their workplace on occasion in the right moments. It’s important that HR teams and managers ask how much contact an employee would like to have before they go on leave.
Have a Plan for an Employee’s Return to Work
Employers need to remember that an employee’s time away from work is only one part of the leave experience, which also encompasses their return to work. The return-to-work process deserves attention to ensure an employee has everything they need when they get back to their desks. But only 19% of returning employees were asked if they needed accommodations, according to AbsenceSoft’s Leave and Accommodations Employee Experience Report. This finding means the vast majority of employees return to work without the support they need.
How to Improve Employee Experience with Better Accommodations Management
Any improvements you make to the leave management process will improve your organization’s approach to accommodations. Below, we explore a few steps you can take to enhance accommodations management, specifically.
Respond Quickly
If an employee needs an accommodation, it’s likely they would benefit from having it sooner rather than later. Many employees get prompt attention; According to recent AbsenceSoft research, 74% of employees got their accommodation within two weeks. But the 26% who had to wait longer reported significantly worse experiences.
It’s worth noting that certain statutes, like the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, require employers to provide accommodations without hesitation. Guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is clear that unnecessary delays can constitute a violation.
Keep Information Private
Employers are required by law to keep employees’ medical information private. It’s shocking, then, that 1 in 10 respondents in an AbsenceSoft survey said their medical information was shared too widely. When employers treat medical information properly, employees can trust that their privacy will be respected. In fact, 37% of employees who had a positive accommodations experience cited privacy protection as a key reason.
Acknowledge That Mental Health is a Real and Growing Driver
The reasons employees need accommodations may vary widely, but it can be helpful to recognize the trends driving requests. Mental health is the No. 1 reason employees request accommodations. Fifty-four percent of HR leaders reported it as a top driver of accommodations in our 2026 report. Mental health is a particularly strong concern among certain generations: 31% of Gen Z respondents cited mental health as the top reason for their accommodations.
When an employee asks for mental health support, it’s important that employers respond promptly and empathetically. Nearly one in 10 employees said their employer seemed skeptical that a mental health condition would qualify them for an accommodation. Employers can build trust with employees by treating mental health requests with the same importance as those related to physical conditions. After all, the law treats them equally, so why shouldn’t employers?
Complete the Interactive Process Every Time
In a prior AbsenceSoft survey, 45% of employees who requested accommodations did not fully complete the interactive process. Nearly 20% didn’t go through it at all. While simple accommodations can be provided without much back-and-forth communication, incomplete interactive processes often make room for compliance errors and ADA complaints.
Positive Employee Experience by the Numbers
Organizations can create measurable business benefits by elevating the employee experience through leave and accommodations. When employers simplify their processes, offer manager training, and eliminate common mistakes like pay errors, communication blunders, and unnecessary delays, they can boost employee output and strengthen workplace culture.
Consider the outcomes of positive and negative leave experiences, as reported by employees in AbsenceSoft’s 2025 State of Leave and Accommodations report.
Outcomes of positive leave experiences
- 55% felt more motivated
- 50% felt more productive
- 47% reported increased workplace loyalty
- 41% said they’d encourage others to work for their employer
Outcomes of positive accommodations experiences
- 54% felt more motivated
- 60% felt more productive
- 68% felt valued and supported
- 46% said they’d encourage others to work for their employer
These findings highlight the advantages employers gain from elevating their leave and accommodations program. Our data also shows what employers risk when they ignore this element of the employee experience.
When employees encounter negative leave and accommodations experiences:
- 36% with a poor leave experience looked for a new job.
- 14% quit their position outright.
- 40% with a poor accommodations experience looked for a new job or quit their current position.
The costs extend beyond turnover. Leave and accommodation mistakes can lead to expensive legal trouble. In fact, employers spend an average of $78,000 defending against workplace lawsuits, regardless of outcome. The cost of one wrongful termination lawsuit runs an average of $335,000.
With numbers like these, it’s difficult to deny their importance. There is no neutral approach to leave and accommodations. Employers can either reap the benefits of a positive program or face the consequences of an approach that consistently disappoints.
How Leave and Accommodations Platforms Help
Delays and miscommunications. Pay errors and lost paperwork. These are just a few of the hallmarks of a poor leave or accommodations experience. HR teams are most vulnerable to them when they’re stuck managing ad hoc processes with spreadsheets, email, and calendar reminders.
To improve the employee experience, employers need to use technology built specifically for leave and accommodations, something employees appear to understand. In our recent survey, 45% said self-service, mobile-ready portals would have most improved their leave experience. And 76% would have preferred to manage some or all of their leave from their smartphone. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said the same regarding accommodations.
It appears that many employers want to provide this technology-forward experience for their workforce. In our survey, 60% of employers said they plan to invest more in leave management this year, a venture that includes upgrading their leave tools. Sixty-four percent said the same regarding accommodations.
Taking Careful Advantage of AI
As employers set out to improve their leave programs, many are taking advantage of AI. Nearly half of organizations in our survey reported using the technology in leave and accommodations. AI certainly has a place in leave management: Smart employers are deploying it to reduce administrative work and improve compliance accuracy.
Employers must use this technology carefully. Compliance-embedded AI is fundamentally different from unsanctioned, publicly available tools like ChatGPT. The latter can introduce errors, create dangerous hallucinations, and risk employees’ privacy. As employers explore this technology, they should use tools with leave-specific guardrails.
With AI and other technologies, it’s worth remembering that tools don’t replace the human support required for a great employee experience. They simply reduce the friction that prevents leave and accommodations from being a smooth, supportive experience for employees.
To Improve Employee Experience, Focus on Moments that Matter Most
What makes the employee experience? If you ask an employee this question, they won’t talk about pizza parties, ping-pong tables, or free company swag. Instead, they’ll talk about how they were treated when they most needed support.
HR leaders who treat leave and accommodations as strategic investments in the employee experience build more loyal, productive, and resilient workforces. Data from years of AbsenceSoft surveys shows that employers can unlock these advantages by investing in purposeful technology to streamline their processes, accelerate timelines, communicate more clearly, protect employees’ privacy, and more.
If you’d like to learn how AbsenceSoft can help your team deliver better leave and accommodations to improve the employee experience, schedule a demo with a CLMS-certified specialist today.