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Employee call-off software that notifies supervisors automatically

By the AbsentEase team · Updated

AbsentEase is an automated employee call-off system. Employees text one company number in any language. The message is logged word for word with a timestamp, the supervisors of that employee’s department are alerted by text and email within minutes, and your attendance policy and PTO rules apply on their own. No hotline operator, no phone tree, no app to install, and a flat monthly price by headcount.

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AbsentEase dashboard showing today’s employee call-offs, supervisor alerts, and PTO balances

What “automated” means here

A call-off hotline takes the report and hands it to a person. An automated call-off system takes the report, records it, tells the people who have to cover the shift, and updates attendance and PTO, with nobody in the middle. The employee’s text is the record.

  • Logged verbatim with a timestamp, in the employee’s own words
  • Supervisors alerted by text and email, routed by department
  • Excused or unexcused, points or occurrences, PTO drawn: all by your rules
  • Works in English, Spanish, Arabic, Bengali, Bosnian and French

How it works, step by step

From the employee’s text to the supervisor’s alert, this is the whole process.

  1. 1

    The employee texts the company call-off number

    “Can’t make it in today, fever, back Thursday.” Any phone, any hour, any language. There is no app to open, no login, and no phone tree. An employee who calls the number instead hears a short greeting asking them to text it, and the call is logged.

  2. 2

    AbsentEase reads the message and books the right entry

    The message is matched to the employee by phone number and read in their own words: a sick day, a full-day absence, a late start, or an early leave, with the hours involved and the date the text refers to. A question such as “how much PTO do I have left?” is answered instead of being booked as an absence.

  3. 3

    The employee gets a confirmation

    A reply in the employee’s own language confirms the absence was recorded, so there is never a dispute about whether the text went through.

  4. 4

    The right supervisors are notified

    The supervisors assigned to that employee’s department are alerted by text and email within minutes, with the message verbatim and its timestamp. Anyone set to receive every message, such as an office manager or HR, hears about all of them. Each alert is logged per recipient with its delivery status.

  5. 5

    Your attendance policy and PTO apply on their own

    The absence is marked excused or unexcused by your rules, scored against your points or occurrence ladder, and drawn from PTO or the sick bank. The dashboard, the call-off log, and the reports update without anyone retyping anything.

A text-based system versus a hotline, an IVR line, and an app

Every option below gets the absence reported. They differ on who is told, what gets recorded, what happens next, and whether employees will actually use it at 5 a.m.

Text-based system (AbsentEase) Staffed answering service (call-off hotline) Automated phone line (IVR) Scheduling or HR mobile app
How employees report Texts a dedicated company number in their own words, at any hour. Calls a 24/7 number; a live operator takes the details. Calls a number and keys in or speaks an ID, a reason code and a date through a menu. Opens the app, finds the absence feature, submits the request.
Who is notified, and when The supervisors of that employee’s department, by text and email, automatically within minutes; backups and HR as you choose. The operator relays it by call, text or email per your script, usually within minutes. Supervisors by email or a morning report, if the system is set up to send one. A push notification to the manager, if notifications are on.
The record The employee’s exact words with a server timestamp, kept in one searchable log. The operator’s notes, not the employee’s words. Whatever the menu captured: codes and a timestamp, sometimes a recording. A structured entry with a timestamp inside that platform.
Attendance policy and PTO Applied automatically: excused or unexcused, points or occurrences, PTO or sick time drawn. No; the notes are relayed to HR for manual entry. Rarely; the export usually goes to HR for manual entry. Sometimes, inside that platform only.
App or login needed No. Any phone that can text. No. No. Yes: installed, updated and signed in.
Languages Any. The employee is answered in their own language. Bilingual operators on some plans; others through an interpreter line. Only the languages recorded into the menu. Whatever the app ships with.
Pricing model Flat monthly rate by headcount; AbsentEase from $99/mo billed annually. Plan fee of roughly $39–$649/mo plus per-call or per-minute usage. Per line or per seat, usually by quote; cheap to run once built. Per user per month on top of the platform.

The full six-way comparison, including web forms and group chat, is in alternatives to a phone call-in line; the vendors on each side are in the best employee call-off hotline systems.

Who gets notified

Routing is set once. Each supervisor is assigned to one or more departments, so the assembly lead hears about assembly and the maintenance lead hears about maintenance. Anyone who needs every call-off company-wide, an office manager or HR, is set to receive all messages. Alerts go by email and, for supervisors who opt in, by text.

  • Every alert is logged per recipient with its channel and delivery status.
  • A supervisor coverage report flags any department nobody covers.
  • Texts in a burst from one employee are held briefly and sent as a single alert, so a three-text explanation does not become three pages.

What the record looks like

The call-off log keeps the employee’s exact words, the time the text arrived in your time zone, the category it was booked as, the hours, and whether it was excused. It filters by date, department and employee, prints, and exports to CSV. Trends, patterns, absenteeism by employee and department, and supervisor coverage are built in. See the reports and dashboards.

Pricing

Flat monthly plans by employee count. Every plan includes every feature; plans differ only by how many employees you have. Billed annually, or month to month at the higher rate.

Basic

$99/mo billed annually

Up to 100 employees · $115/mo month to month

Standard

$230/mo billed annually

Up to 500 employees · $275/mo month to month

Enterprise

$499/mo billed annually

Unlimited employees · $599/mo month to month

One-time $2 setup fee at signup, a 14-day trial before the first plan charge, cancel anytime. Full pricing details.

Integrations

The roster stays current without re-keying. AbsentEase reads employees, departments and managers from Workyard, QuickBooks Online, UKG Ready, Workday, Rippling and Paychex, brings approved time off onto the attendance calendar where the provider offers it, and uses worked hours for hours-based PTO accrual. Nothing is written back. Single sign-on works with any OpenID Connect provider. What each integration syncs.

Built for hourly crews

Small manufacturers and plants, machine shops, HVAC and electrical contractors, cleaning companies and restoration crews: teams that start before the office opens, do not sit at a computer, and need the supervisor to know before the van leaves the lot or the line starts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Employee call-off software such as AbsentEase does both. Employees text a dedicated company number; the system logs the message verbatim with a timestamp, books it as a sick day, absence, late start or early leave, notifies the supervisors of that employee’s department by text and email within minutes, and applies the attendance policy and PTO automatically. Staffed hotlines and IVR phone lines take the report but still rely on a person to relay it and retype it. AbsentEase is priced flat by headcount from $99 per month billed annually.

By routing rules you set once. Each supervisor is assigned to one or more departments, and a call-off goes to the supervisors of that employee’s department by email and, for supervisors who opt in, by text. Anyone who needs every call-off company-wide, such as an office manager or HR, can be set to receive all messages. Every alert is logged per recipient with its channel and delivery status, and a supervisor coverage report flags any department nobody covers.

No. AbsentEase runs on ordinary text messaging, so it works on any mobile phone with nothing to install, no login and no training. Employees save the company call-off number as a contact and text it the way they would text anyone.

Yes. Each call-off text is read in the employee’s own words, with no codes or keywords, and booked as a sick day, a full-day absence, a late start or an early leave with the hours involved. A shift with no report through the call-off line is a no-call, no-show under your policy, and the points or occurrence ladder scores it accordingly.

The call is answered with a short greeting asking the employee to text the same number, the call is logged so supervisors can see it on the dashboard, and the caller receives a text follow-up. Employees who genuinely cannot text can still be covered that way.

AbsentEase is a flat monthly subscription by employee count: Basic $99/mo for up to 100 employees, Standard $230/mo for up to 500, and Enterprise $499/mo for unlimited employees, each billed annually ($115, $275 and $599 month to month). Every plan includes every feature. There is a one-time $2 setup fee and a 14-day trial before the first plan charge.

Yes. Departments can map to sites, crews, lines or shifts, each with its own supervisors, and policy groups let different departments run different point weights and thresholds. One company number serves every location; routing decides who hears about which call-off.

Yes, and most companies run the two side by side for two weeks before retiring the old one. Employees are told the new number, the attendance policy names texting the call-off line as the procedure, and the hotline or voicemail box is switched off once the texts are flowing. The replacement guide on this site walks through the number, the policy language and the announcement.

Keep reading: how to set up an employee call-off line, can employees text in sick instead of calling a hotline, call-off hotline vs. text-based call-offs, how much a call-off hotline costs, or how to replace your current call-off system.

Automate your call-offs this week

Employees call off with a simple text. Supervisors know in seconds. PTO tracks itself. No app to install. Set up AbsentEase for your team today.

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