A new survey finds that rising requests and shaky compliance confidence are putting pressure on teams managing leave and accommodations. 

Requests for leave and workplace accommodations are climbing, and HR teams are struggling to keep up. Most HR professionals (60%) say accommodation cases fall behind schedule or miss deadlines at least occasionally, according to a new report from leave and accommodations management provider AbsenceSoft. 

AbsenceSoft’s Business Impact Report surveyed 1,200 U.S. HR professionals at organizations with 500 or more employees. Of those surveyed, 64% report a rise in accommodation requests over the past two years, and 57% say the same for leave. Meanwhile, the PWFA, evolving ADA guidance, and a growing list of state paid leave laws have raised expectations for how employers comply, and how quickly. 

On top of that, just 42% of HR professionals feel very confident they understand the legal and financial risk of mishandling accommodations.  

Seth Turner, founder and senior advisor at AbsenceSoft, says, “This isn’t just a compliance issue. When employees don’t get the support they need to stay and contribute, they may simply quit. Replacing an employee can cost far more than providing the accommodation in the first place.” 

The numbers back that up. Half of organizations believe they have lost employees who might have stayed with a better accommodations experience, yet 29% still don’t formally track employee satisfaction afterward. More than a quarter of employers spend over $1,500 a week to backfill a role during leave, and 21% aren’t tracking that expense at all. 

The report also found that: 

• 53% of HR leaders feel very confident about their leave compliance risk, compared with 42% for accommodations; 

• 66% say the leave experience plays a meaningful role in employee retention; and 

• 77% of organizations plan to increase investment in accommodations over the next 12 months, and 78% plan to do so for leave, with retention topping the list of expected returns. 

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