Many businesses have a holiday year which starts in January, so they are now around three-quarters of the way through. If this is the case in your business, it’s time for a quick holiday check-in.
Start by giving this year’s holiday records a quick review. If all looks well, fantastic, it’s one less thing on your mind. If you notice any issues, in many cases you’re likely to be in a good time to take action to get things back on track. With this in mind, we take a quick look below at some common HR headaches that can get uncovered when doing a holiday check-in and how to tackle them.
We focus on ‘full year fixed hour employees’, so if you have a part-year employee or an irregular hours employee, please bear in mind that the law is different, so get in touch for help if you have concerns in these areas.
- An employee who has a significant amount of un-booked holiday
- An employee who feels unable to take their holiday
- An employee who wishes to be paid for their holiday rather than taking it
- An employee who has already taken all their holiday but should have saved some to cover a period around Christmas, when your business will be closed
An employee who has a significant amount of un-booked holiday
The first steps to tackling this one will be to raise it with the employee, make them aware of how much holiday they have outstanding and that they need to make holiday requests to start getting it booked in. It’s a good idea to let them know what proportion of the holiday you would like to see being requested and by when, and to let them know that if they have any concerns/issues regarding this, they should inform you. If you think it would be helpful, you may also wish to remind them of any rules around booking holiday e.g minimum notice requirements / maximum amount that can be taken in a single block, etc. In most cases, this gentle nudge will be enough to get things back on track.
If not, please get in touch for specific advice on the situation in your business. Likewise, if you have an employee who is on, about to go on or has returned from family leave, such as maternity leave, or who is or has been on long-term sickness absence, as the rights of such employees can differ when it comes to holiday.
An employee who feels unable to take their holiday
Sometimes employees don’t feel like they can take all the holiday they are entitled to; there can be many reasons for this, but one of the most common is that an employee feels they are too busy. If this is raised as an issue in your business or you think this could be the case, it’s important to take steps to address the situation. Depending on the circumstances, this could include:
- Effective monitoring and assessment of workloads to identify and address issues such as ‘overloading’ early on, so this can be tackled
- Ensuring workplace culture is such that taking a holiday is seen as ‘normal’ and positive, and employees are clear about workplace expectations
- Identifying and taking appropriate supportive measures to remove barriers to employees/an employee taking a holiday, e.g providing reassurance that the holiday can and should be taken, how work will be managed during an absence, in some cases, considering whether additional staffing is required, generally
Whilst there may be times when you are unable to accommodate a particular holiday request for good business reasons, e.g it would leave you below minimum staffing levels to operate effectively, employees should not be prevented from taking their statutory holiday within the holiday year.
Remember, not only do employees have a right to take a holiday which employers are reasonably expected to facilitate, but it’s important for your people to have a period of rest and relaxation away from work. Not only does this benefit them personally, but it can be good for your business too, with employees coming back recharged and able to perform at their best.
An employee who wishes to be paid for their holiday rather than taking it
Businesses are not allowed to pay a full-year fixed-hour employee in lieu of any portion of their minimum 5.6 weeks’ holiday entitlement whilst they remain employed. This should be explained to the employee, and that they need to take their holiday entitlement.
Bear in mind that if you do pay in lieu of statutory minimum holiday whilst the employee is in employment, you will be in breach of the Working Time Regulations. Only once an employee ceases to be employed for any reason are you required to pay them in lieu of any holiday they have accrued but not taken.
An employee who has already taken all their holiday but should have saved some to cover a period around Christmas, when your business will be closed
This can be a tricky issue for businesses, and one best avoided by careful management and consideration of holiday requests where a ‘Christmas shutdown’ is usual.
Absent special circumstances, in such a situation, businesses will usually need to discuss and agree a way forward with the employee, such as a period of unpaid leave being taken or if it is possible/desirable, the employee working from home. It’s important to bear in mind that if employees are only entitled to a statutory minimum holiday, you shouldn’t take holiday from the next year’s entitlement to cover the ‘shutdown period’ in this one. Whilst the approach may seem logical and fair, it would result in the employee having an insufficient amount of holiday for the next leave year, which isn’t permitted under the Working Time Regulations.
If your business finds itself in a situation where an employee has ‘run out of holiday’, please get in touch for advice on the circumstances of your case.
If you have an HR issue your business would like assistance with, please contact us as we are here to help.