Tillamook Saves 10 Hours a Week and Elevates the Employee Experience with AbsenceSoft

Introduction

Tillamook County Creamery Association (Tillamook), the farmer-owned co-op known for its award-winning dairy products, prides itself on craftsmanship, community, and care. That same philosophy extends to its people programs, ensuring employees feel supported through every stage of life, including when they need time away from work.

When Senior Leave Management Specialist Kandi Rosenbalm joined the team, she recognized an opportunity to modernize and streamline how the organization managed leave and accommodation requests. With hundreds of employees spread across production facilities, offices, and remote roles, Tillamook needed a reliable system that could ensure compliance, reduce manual effort, and create a better experience for both employees and managers.

Challenge

Manual tracking created inefficiencies and compliance risks.

Before AbsenceSoft, Tillamook’s leave management process was largely manual and disjointed.

The team relied heavily on Excel spreadsheets to track cases, stored forms and documentation in shared drives, and logged employee requests in multiple systems. As a result, information lived in different places, creating duplicate work, inconsistent data, and compliance risks.

At the time, the leave program was supported by just one specialist and a part-time benefits resource, managing nearly 400 leaves annually. The manual approach made it difficult to stay ahead of paperwork deadlines, monitor intermittent leave balances, and ensure timely communication with employees and managers.

Adding to the complexity, Tillamook’s workforce fluctuates between 1,000-1,500 employees as they hire seasonal workers during peak summer months. Managing leave for a workforce of this size and variability required a system that could scale efficiently.

Rosenbalm quickly saw that with the right structure and automation, Tillamook could make its leave management process not only more efficient but far more consistent and compliant.

Solution

Centralizing leave management to streamline workflows and strengthen compliance.

The first step was bringing every element of the leave process into one centralized system. Working alongside Tillamook’s Director of Total Rewards and People Systems, Rosenbalm led an effort to fully leverage AbsenceSoft, transitioning away from spreadsheets and shared drives to an entirely digital, end-to-end workflow.

Now, every leave and accommodation is opened, tracked, and closed within AbsenceSoft. Employee forms, paperwork, case notes, and communications are stored directly within each case, ensuring all activity is clearly documented and auditable.

Beyond leaves, Tillamook also brought all accommodation requests into AbsenceSoft. Previously managed separately by the People and Culture Employee Services team, consolidating both processes into one platform improved consistency and compliance across all types of employee absences.

With the platform serving as Tillamook’s central system of record and integrated with their HRIS – UKG – the leave process is more consistent across departments and easier to manage for a single specialist. Automated tasks and reminders help ensure deadlines are met, required communications are sent on time, and no details are overlooked.

Results

Greater efficiency, stronger compliance, and a better employee experience.

Rosenbalm now manages about 400 leaves per year as a team of one, saving over ten hours each week through automation and streamlined communication. Insights reporting eliminated 1-5 hours per month of manual work previously spent pulling, cleaning, and distributing reports to various stakeholders through automated scheduled report delivery.

The impact extends beyond time savings. The streamlined process has improved their compliance, strengthened documentation, and created a more reliable experience for employees. In Tillamook’s most recent Leave of Absence survey, 93% of employees reported a positive experience initiating their leave, underscoring the value of a consistent, transparent process supported by the right technology.

Starting in 2026, Tillamook expanded access to AbsenceSoft’s Employee Self-Service portal to all employees, after piloting it at their Boardman facility in 2025. Tillamook expects to see a minimum of 10% additional time savings as employees gain the ability to initiate and track their own leave requests.

For Tillamook, AbsenceSoft has become more than a platform. It is the backbone of an efficient, compliant, and employee-centered leave program that scales with the company’s growth.