• Start Ups
  • E-Commerce
  • Insurance
  • Gig Economy
  • Tech
  • Office
  • Taxes
  • Law
  • Funding
  • Marketing
  • Infographics
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
Sign in
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
Search
  • About
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
TheSelfEmployed.com TheSelfEmployed.com
Your Gig Just Got Easier TM
TheSelfEmployed.com TheSelfEmployed.com
  • Start Ups
  • E-Commerce
  • Insurance
  • Gig Economy
  • Tech
  • Office
  • Taxes
  • Law
  • Funding
  • Marketing
  • Infographics
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
Home Office Balancing business and employee needs: 5 tips for managing staff annual leave
  • Office

Balancing business and employee needs: 5 tips for managing staff annual leave

By
Mike James
-
February 6, 2018
0
  • 1share
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 1
Share via
    Balancing business and employee needs: 5 tips for managing staff annual leave

    Managing staff holidays can be tricky. In fact, the holiday rush can cause employers a major headache. The holiday months are most renowned for their impact on managers trying to balance leave requests with the needs of the business.

    And it’s not only business needs that require delicate balancing when it comes to annual leave. Manage staff holidays badly, and resentment and infighting could cause you more grief than you anticipated.

    Why not keep the staff holiday headache at bay with these 5 handy leave management tips:

    5 responsible tips for managing staff holidays

    Clearly your staff can’t all take leave at the same time. Managing leave during the winter holiday season isn’t easy. Not every employee can have first dibs. But, with careful planning you’ll hopefully avoid disgruntled staff and some of the staff holiday management pitfalls.

    1. Fairness and Consistency

    Treating all holiday requests fairly and consistently is essential for good employee relations. While it’s tempting to favour certain employees for a number of genuine reasons, preferential treatment will allow resentment to build amongst staff. And that isn’t good for your business.

    Deal with conflicting requests fairly. If two key staff members want to be off at the same time, try to negotiate at least some staggering. Sometimes a little ‘push-and-shove’ may be required on both sides.

    2. Clear policies and procedures

    Having a clear policy when it comes to annual leave will help to achieve fairness and consistency. Leave entitlement, policy and procedure should be explained to staff at the beginning of their employment, and should also be laid out in employee contracts. In addition, a staff handbook that employees can refer to should include the same.

    If necessary the annual leave policy should include restrictions. You may stipulate if only a certain number of employees in a particular role can be off at the same time. For example, if you have several delivery drivers, you won’t want them all to be away on leave at the same time. If there are certain busy times of the year or specific deadlines when you need to be fully staffed, you may want to rule out or limit those times for leave requests.

    Typical leave rules could include:

    • Procedure for approving holidays (typically done on a first-come, first-served basis)
    • Limit holidays to a maximum of 2 weeks at one time
    • Rules on carrying leave forward to the next year and if allowed how many days
    • Leave restrictions – any specifically busy times when no leave is allowed
    • The right to propose alternative dates or reschedule holidays according to business needs

    Summer holiday guidance for employers is available from The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas). It’s worth getting leave policies right to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings with staff later on.

    3. Plan ahead

    It’s wise to have a notice period for leave requests of longer than 3 or 4 days. This can be incorporated into your staff leave policy and explained clearly in the staff handbook. It encourages staff to think ahead when planning holidays and it means you’ll know in plenty of time should you need to plan cover for particular roles.

    Having a company holiday diary will help with planning and can also be used to remind staff they need to book holidays before their annual leave year expires. Tools such as the availability planner by Planday can make managing staff rotas and holidays a whole lot easier.

    Sharing holiday schedules with staff also encourages them to take responsibility and avoid holiday clashes with colleagues. Transparency helps staff to plan their leave around others in advance.

    4. Encourage staff to spread leave over the year

    Again, apart from in exceptional circumstances, it’s definitely not a good idea to allow staff take most of their leave allowance in one go. It won’t be good for your business. For a start, you’ll be hard-pushed to cover the workload without deploying other staff or getting someone else in. And secondly, from a wellbeing perspective that employee will have no significant other breaks for the rest of the year.

    Equally, don’t think it’s a plus if some employees aren’t too bothered about taking holidays. It’s not a good idea to have staff with untaken leave at the end of a leave year. Encourage staff to spread holidays over the year. You could even set a deadline for when all leave requests need to be submitted. It will help avoid the mad rush to use up holidays at the end of the leave year too.

    5. Think about temporary cover

    It may not be something you want to consider because of the cost, but arranging temporary cover at times may ultimately be best for the continuing success of your business. For example, if all of your employees in one department have school age children, you’ll undoubtedly encounter a scramble for leave requests during school holidays.

    If your staff are people you want to hang on to, you may need to make some compromises. Hiring someone on a temporary basis over the winter months could be an expense worth investing in. It could keep staff motivated and projects on track.

    Previous article Top 10 Ways to Get a Loan For Your Business
    Next article 6 things that make working from home easier
    Avatar
    Mike James
    Mike James is a UK-based writer for a few small companies and organisations, as well as numerous print and online magazines. Specialising in technology developments and business matters, Mike is best known for articles based around how best to integrate the two - particularly concerning cyber security, where he has been published in some of the leading authorities online.

    Recent articles

    5 Ways to Use Audio Marketing in Small Business
    Marketing

    5 Ways to Use Audio Marketing in Small Business

    Anna Johansson - January 25, 2021
    Content Marketing Process: Why You Need It and How to Create One

    Content Marketing Process: Why You Need It and How to Create...

    January 25, 2021
    All You Need to Know About Franchises

    All You Need to Know About Franchises

    January 25, 2021
    Top Tips For Starting An E-commerce Business

    How to Set up an Online Presence for Your Business

    January 25, 2021
    6 Ways to Financially Plan for Retirement When You’re Self-Employed

    6 Ways to Financially Plan for Retirement When You’re Self-Employed

    January 22, 2021

     

    Follow & Subscribe

    Newsletter Signup

    Signup to get weekly tips and advice to help make your self-employed journey easier!

    Thank you!

    Please check your email to confirm your subscription.

    © 2021 - The Strauss Group, Inc. All users of this site are protected by our Privacy Policy and bound by our Terms of Use