How can you manage Annual Leave during the Festive Period

How can you manage Annual Leave during the Festive Period

 

The festive period should be a joyous and busy time, people often want annual leave for shopping, school parties, or just to go out for the day with friends and socialise. But at the same time, your business needs to have adequate cover; business continuity is crucial. Employees can become quite precious about their need to attend arrangements and, on occasion, if leave is rejected morale can be low.

 

In this article we take a look at Annual Leave, and how to manage this, we also refer to our recent article which covers the upcoming sporting events which you may find useful.

 

Should I manage Annual Leave or is it my Employees responsibility?

It is important to manage annual leave correctly, in a way that supports everyone in the workplace and reacts to business needs. As an employer, it is of course best practice to ensure that your Employees have a healthy work/life/home balance.

 

What is Annual Leave entitlement and how do I know I am offering the correct amount?

 

It is worth remembering that statutory holiday entitlement for an employee working 5 days / full time is 20 days, along with usual bank / public holidays of 8. This means their full entitlement for the year would be 28 days (or 5.6 weeks).

As an Employer, you can provide contractual holiday entitlement (remember if an Employee works part-time their entitlement would be on a prorated basis which is based on their hours’ work/days of work). In the eventuality that Employees have not used their full annual leave entitlement and as the end of the year approaches, they rush to use holidays before they lose them.

In the current climate, where many workplaces are understaffed, we are acutely aware that in the run-up to the festive period there are a number of sporting events not to mention the World Cup which runs from 20 November 2022 through to 18 December 2022, these will also cause havoc for businesses and their operations.

A survey by Just Eat for Business has found that a third of UK office workers won’t be able to use annual leave between now and Christmas, major staffing shortages are meaning requests for leave are being denied. When it is also considered that recent findings have found that 21% of office workers are having leave requests rejected due to staff absence/staff shortages and that 16% are repeatedly having leave requests rejected to accommodate excessive workloads then this is all building toward a large “burnout cocktail”.

Employee leave not only promotes well-being it is important for Employers to recognise that rejecting leave (especially during the Festive Period) can lead to low morale, a reduction in productivity, and an increase in absence and attrition. The period should be joyous and a positive time for individuals and for businesses alike.

 

 

How can we help?

At HR and You Ltd we have a team of highly experienced HR Consultants who can assist, support, and manage any HR and Employment Law matter, why not contact us for a confidential no obligation chat. 0333 006 9489 or email us at [email protected]

We look forward to bringing out the absolute best in your people.

 

 

 

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