Cutting HR’s leave workload with self-service tools

Managing employee leave has become one of HR’s biggest administrative burdens—complex laws, rising requests and endless manual tracking eat away at already limited bandwidth. At SHRM 2025, Susan Stowell, Marci Cyr and Angel Bennett of the insurance company Unum argued that digital self-service portals can change that equation, reducing compliance headaches, cutting down on employee inquiries and giving HR more time to focus on strategy.