Summer is approaching. Suitcases are slowly coming out of the closet, the first bottles of sunscreen are appearing in desk drawers, and colleagues start whispering mysteriously about “those three weeks in August.” In short: it’s vacation time.
And with that comes the great vacation planning season. But how do you handle it? The traditional way, with Excel? Or do you switch to a modern tool like Teamlead?
Let’s compare them honestly.
Excel: The old, reliable (and slightly exhausting) friend
Excel is like that grandpa with his paper agenda: you respect him, he’s been around forever, but you also know… it creaks at every corner.
The charm of Excel:
Everyone knows it.
You can use colors! (Until someone ruins the file with a filter.)
You can easily email the file (and then spend half an hour finding out who last changed what).
The pitfalls of Excel:
No automatic alerts for overlapping vacations.
Nobody remembers who changed what.
One enthusiastic colleague hits ‘sort,’ and suddenly the whole team is at the beach at the same time.
Version control = inbox chaos: “VacationPlanning2024_final_reallyLastVersion.xlsx”
Excel has served its purpose, but let’s be honest: it’s a spreadsheet, not a planning solution.
Teamlead: Vacation planning the way it should be
Teamlead is designed for teams and organizations that take planning seriously. Vacation planning is no longer an obstacle course—it’s a streamlined process.
The advantages:
Real-time insight: See instantly who is away and when, without searching or calculating.
Smart conflict detection: Teamlead warns you if too many people want the same time off.
Self-service requests: Employees submit vacation requests themselves. You approve or deny in one click.
Integration with schedules: Absences automatically update your staffing plan.
Transparency for the whole team: No more Monday-morning surprises (“Was Peter on vacation?”).
And the best part? You can plan ahead.
With Teamlead, you can instantly see staffing levels for the upcoming weeks or months. You immediately know whether approving a request is sensible or if it will cause a staffing problem. No guesswork, just data-driven decisions.
The Final Verdict: Which One Do You Choose?
| Excel | Teamlead | |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | 🤯 Needs discipline | 😌 Designed for simplicity |
| Overview | 😬 Can get confusing | ✅ Always up-to-date and clear |
| Error-prone | 🚨 Very high | ✅ Strongly reduced |
| Team visibility | 🤷 “Who changed that?” | ✅ Everyone sees the current status |
| Automation | ❌ Nothing automatic | ✅ Smart alerts & actions |
| Staffing forecast | ❌ Impossible without formulas | ✅ Built-in, visual, real-time |
In conclusion
Vacation should be relaxing. Planning it should be too. If your team is still tinkering in Excel, maybe it’s time for a small revolution. No more spreadsheets, no more stress, just Teamlead.
And let’s be honest: as a manager, would you rather have your feet in the sand or your head in an Excel sheet?
