Managing Annual Leave...
Discussion
Morning,
We run our holidays Apr-Apr and put restrictions on staff taking holiday during our peak (Nov & Dec).
We have always remained very flexible with holiday booking and tried to never say no (within reason). However as we grow this is becoming harder and I feel we need to consider putting further guidelines or restrictions in place.
Im assuming this is the same for many businesses, but our main issue is Jan-Mar each year. Half of our workforce come out of Christmas and realise they have a load of holiday left and in a lot of cases take it for the sake of using it (as we dont allow carry over).
Having gone straight into business I dont have experience of adhering to holiday policies myself and as above already restrict holidays during Nov and Dec.
What can I do to help spread holiday bookings more evenly across the year to soften this Q1 rush, despite already blocking Nov & Dec.
Cheers...
We run our holidays Apr-Apr and put restrictions on staff taking holiday during our peak (Nov & Dec).
We have always remained very flexible with holiday booking and tried to never say no (within reason). However as we grow this is becoming harder and I feel we need to consider putting further guidelines or restrictions in place.
Im assuming this is the same for many businesses, but our main issue is Jan-Mar each year. Half of our workforce come out of Christmas and realise they have a load of holiday left and in a lot of cases take it for the sake of using it (as we dont allow carry over).
Having gone straight into business I dont have experience of adhering to holiday policies myself and as above already restrict holidays during Nov and Dec.
What can I do to help spread holiday bookings more evenly across the year to soften this Q1 rush, despite already blocking Nov & Dec.
Cheers...
russy01 said:
Morning,
We run our holidays Apr-Apr and put restrictions on staff taking holiday during our peak (Nov & Dec).
We have always remained very flexible with holiday booking and tried to never say no (within reason). However as we grow this is becoming harder and I feel we need to consider putting further guidelines or restrictions in place.
Im assuming this is the same for many businesses, but our main issue is Jan-Mar each year. Half of our workforce come out of Christmas and realise they have a load of holiday left and in a lot of cases take it for the sake of using it (as we dont allow carry over).
Having gone straight into business I dont have experience of adhering to holiday policies myself and as above already restrict holidays during Nov and Dec.
What can I do to help spread holiday bookings more evenly across the year to soften this Q1 rush, despite already blocking Nov & Dec.
Cheers...
Run holidays Jan - Dec for a start.We run our holidays Apr-Apr and put restrictions on staff taking holiday during our peak (Nov & Dec).
We have always remained very flexible with holiday booking and tried to never say no (within reason). However as we grow this is becoming harder and I feel we need to consider putting further guidelines or restrictions in place.
Im assuming this is the same for many businesses, but our main issue is Jan-Mar each year. Half of our workforce come out of Christmas and realise they have a load of holiday left and in a lot of cases take it for the sake of using it (as we dont allow carry over).
Having gone straight into business I dont have experience of adhering to holiday policies myself and as above already restrict holidays during Nov and Dec.
What can I do to help spread holiday bookings more evenly across the year to soften this Q1 rush, despite already blocking Nov & Dec.
Cheers...
Pretty easy. And easier for people to manage.
Our work allow us to carry 5 days over, with more in special cases (for example I have carried 8 days over this year because of project work in December meaning I couldn't take leave)
You could also allow people to trade their leave for extra pay which means if you have 2 or 3 days left over people might just take the extra money in January to cover their Xmas credit card bill.......
russy01 said:
Morning,
We run our holidays Apr-Apr and put restrictions on staff taking holiday during our peak (Nov & Dec).
We have always remained very flexible with holiday booking and tried to never say no (within reason). However as we grow this is becoming harder and I feel we need to consider putting further guidelines or restrictions in place.
Im assuming this is the same for many businesses, but our main issue is Jan-Mar each year. Half of our workforce come out of Christmas and realise they have a load of holiday left and in a lot of cases take it for the sake of using it (as we dont allow carry over).
Having gone straight into business I dont have experience of adhering to holiday policies myself and as above already restrict holidays during Nov and Dec.
What can I do to help spread holiday bookings more evenly across the year to soften this Q1 rush, despite already blocking Nov & Dec.
We run our holidays Apr-Apr and put restrictions on staff taking holiday during our peak (Nov & Dec).
We have always remained very flexible with holiday booking and tried to never say no (within reason). However as we grow this is becoming harder and I feel we need to consider putting further guidelines or restrictions in place.
Im assuming this is the same for many businesses, but our main issue is Jan-Mar each year. Half of our workforce come out of Christmas and realise they have a load of holiday left and in a lot of cases take it for the sake of using it (as we dont allow carry over).
Having gone straight into business I dont have experience of adhering to holiday policies myself and as above already restrict holidays during Nov and Dec.
What can I do to help spread holiday bookings more evenly across the year to soften this Q1 rush, despite already blocking Nov & Dec.
- Move the holiday year - say to September
- Make the holiday year run from the date of engagement
- Allow staff to cash in unused days rather than take them as leave
Why not use a carrot to encourage them to take holidays when it's suits, so for example the first 4 days holiday they take in any one quarter qualify for 1 hour additional holiday each. You might say Nov-Dec don't qualify.
That way by spreading their holiday in a way that suits the business they can get another day or two off over the year.
You can substitute whatever reward you want or the extra hours.
Whatever you do, keep it simple and easy to understand.
That way by spreading their holiday in a way that suits the business they can get another day or two off over the year.
You can substitute whatever reward you want or the extra hours.
Whatever you do, keep it simple and easy to understand.
Some good suggestion above.
Just to add something else into the mix, be careful that you consider all employees when you create any new rules. At a previous job there was a business-wide restriction on holidays in june/july/august as it was the busy time for sales. I wasn't in sales but the restriction applied to all. Unfortunately I was also not allowed to take holiday in December or January, as I designed brochures, price lists and exhibition stands etc during that time. This meant i was left with only seven months (and none of the ones when people want to take time off) to take my holidays in. I put up with this until the kids went to school, at which point i realised that i couldn't go on holiday with them, so i left.
So if you create a universal policy, just make sure that you consider how it may effect some of the specialist staff. You may need to create some exceptions.
Just to add something else into the mix, be careful that you consider all employees when you create any new rules. At a previous job there was a business-wide restriction on holidays in june/july/august as it was the busy time for sales. I wasn't in sales but the restriction applied to all. Unfortunately I was also not allowed to take holiday in December or January, as I designed brochures, price lists and exhibition stands etc during that time. This meant i was left with only seven months (and none of the ones when people want to take time off) to take my holidays in. I put up with this until the kids went to school, at which point i realised that i couldn't go on holiday with them, so i left.
So if you create a universal policy, just make sure that you consider how it may effect some of the specialist staff. You may need to create some exceptions.
boyse7en said:
Some good suggestion above.
Just to add something else into the mix, be careful that you consider all employees when you create any new rules. At a previous job there was a business-wide restriction on holidays in june/july/august as it was the busy time for sales. I wasn't in sales but the restriction applied to all. Unfortunately I was also not allowed to take holiday in December or January, as I designed brochures, price lists and exhibition stands etc during that time. This meant i was left with only seven months (and none of the ones when people want to take time off) to take my holidays in. I put up with this until the kids went to school, at which point i realised that i couldn't go on holiday with them, so i left.
So if you create a universal policy, just make sure that you consider how it may effect some of the specialist staff. You may need to create some exceptions.
Agreed some good suggestions. Ultimately we are all very busy at the same time, there is possibly scope to adjust it for a couple teams - but nothing drastic. Just to add something else into the mix, be careful that you consider all employees when you create any new rules. At a previous job there was a business-wide restriction on holidays in june/july/august as it was the busy time for sales. I wasn't in sales but the restriction applied to all. Unfortunately I was also not allowed to take holiday in December or January, as I designed brochures, price lists and exhibition stands etc during that time. This meant i was left with only seven months (and none of the ones when people want to take time off) to take my holidays in. I put up with this until the kids went to school, at which point i realised that i couldn't go on holiday with them, so i left.
So if you create a universal policy, just make sure that you consider how it may effect some of the specialist staff. You may need to create some exceptions.
Bring out a minimum staff policy for any given day and then only allow time off requests after a certain date and 1st come 1st served. After that time off will have to be on a mutual swap basis. That should even things out and if you offer to buy back any unused days leave your staff won't feel obliged to use it or lose it.
Far Cough said:
Bring out a minimum staff policy for any given day and then only allow time off requests after a certain date and 1st come 1st served. After that time off will have to be on a mutual swap basis. That should even things out and if you offer to buy back any unused days leave your staff won't feel obliged to use it or lose it.
As soon as you do that you're into the rabbit warren of rewarding people who can plan their leave and penalising those that can't. It's a slippery slope that easily ends in an indirect discrimination claim and people arguing for exemptions for reasons that you can't reasonably check.Buying back leave is restricted to anything above the Statutory minimum, so may not be a great deal of help either.
I would start by keeping an eye on leave accrual rates vs time remaining and communicate with the staff regularly about this so they realise they're not using their leave quickly enough.
You can guillotine the leave and deny leave requests where there's a business need, such that someone loses the leave they haven't used. It's not simply the case that you're forced to let them have it. So next step would be to get an employment law specialist to draft a policy around that so leave is lost to create an incentive to take leave.
If you have staff that need an emergency leave facility (carers for example) then it might be worth combining the above with the ability to take leave early so that next year's leave is available in emergencies.
paulrockliffe said:
You can guillotine the leave and deny leave requests where there's a business need, such that someone loses the leave they haven't used. It's not simply the case that you're forced to let them have it. So next step would be to get an employment law specialist to draft a policy around that so leave is lost to create an incentive to take leave.
Now I'm not a lawyer but if I put in a leave request, and it's denied because of a "business need" , but then I am not allowed to carry holiday over and do not get paid in lieu of holiday, I would certainly not be very happy.Remember a happy workforce is a productive one.
get rid of holiday entitlement as it stands and replace with a reasonable use policy ? (just not core months).
If people are coming to the end of the hol year, with time left over - ask why is this ? Do they feel they can't take holiday because they are needed ?
Lots of places seem to be getting rid of the X days allowance and basicaly just saying take it off, but don't take the usual .... seems to work, you'll get an initial novelty factor but then it calms down and people seem to take less.
If people are coming to the end of the hol year, with time left over - ask why is this ? Do they feel they can't take holiday because they are needed ?
Lots of places seem to be getting rid of the X days allowance and basicaly just saying take it off, but don't take the usual .... seems to work, you'll get an initial novelty factor but then it calms down and people seem to take less.
Paul's solution requires the least active monitoring (but the most passive).
I think if you are going to embargo leave (for business reasons or whatever) then you need a carrot to go with the stick.
My current engagement has a very flexible policy with regards to leave - I juggle the business needs and what I want (Our quietest three months are June, July and August), but tend not to take any protracted holiday Jan-May.
I think if you are going to embargo leave (for business reasons or whatever) then you need a carrot to go with the stick.
My current engagement has a very flexible policy with regards to leave - I juggle the business needs and what I want (Our quietest three months are June, July and August), but tend not to take any protracted holiday Jan-May.
Previous company I worked at moved to 'unlimted holidays' policy to avoid staff panic using their remaining allocation all at the same times at the end of the year.
It actually worked really well and was implemented on the instruction that it was up to the managers discretion to allow or deny and staff are not to take the mickey ie: give plenty of notice and not to take more than 2 weeks at a time.
What was brilliant was being able to take a half day for deliveries at home, doctor appts etc and not have to log bits n pieces. Most staff used less than their previous allocation anyway and there were far less people off at the end of the year when typically many would be off for the sake of using the remainder of their allocation.
It actually worked really well and was implemented on the instruction that it was up to the managers discretion to allow or deny and staff are not to take the mickey ie: give plenty of notice and not to take more than 2 weeks at a time.
What was brilliant was being able to take a half day for deliveries at home, doctor appts etc and not have to log bits n pieces. Most staff used less than their previous allocation anyway and there were far less people off at the end of the year when typically many would be off for the sake of using the remainder of their allocation.
croissant said:
Previous company I worked at moved to 'unlimted holidays' policy to avoid staff panic using their remaining allocation all at the same times at the end of the year.
It actually worked really well and was implemented on the instruction that it was up to the managers discretion to allow or deny and staff are not to take the mickey ie: give plenty of notice and not to take more than 2 weeks at a time.
What was brilliant was being able to take a half day for deliveries at home, doctor appts etc and not have to log bits n pieces. Most staff used less than their previous allocation anyway and there were far less people off at the end of the year when typically many would be off for the sake of using the remainder of their allocation.
Are employees compensated for not using the equivalent of their full allocation? It actually worked really well and was implemented on the instruction that it was up to the managers discretion to allow or deny and staff are not to take the mickey ie: give plenty of notice and not to take more than 2 weeks at a time.
What was brilliant was being able to take a half day for deliveries at home, doctor appts etc and not have to log bits n pieces. Most staff used less than their previous allocation anyway and there were far less people off at the end of the year when typically many would be off for the sake of using the remainder of their allocation.
It is the confusion of the system where people lose track and don't want to be seen as taking advantage?
Just about everyone I know makes sure they can take every bit of annual leave they are entitled to. Rightly so too.
Taking time off work to wait on a courier to arrive seems like a waste of my annual leave to me. We get paid time off for medical appointments appointments.
I also like more than two weeks off at times.
Driver101 said:
Are employees compensated for not using the equivalent of their full allocation?
It is the confusion of the system where people lose track and don't want to be seen as taking advantage?
Just about everyone I know makes sure they can take every bit of annual leave they are entitled to. Rightly so too.
Taking time off work to wait on a courier to arrive seems like a waste of my annual leave to me. We get paid time off for medical appointments appointments.
I also like more than two weeks off at times.
Do you organise the courier to come when you are not at work?It is the confusion of the system where people lose track and don't want to be seen as taking advantage?
Just about everyone I know makes sure they can take every bit of annual leave they are entitled to. Rightly so too.
Taking time off work to wait on a courier to arrive seems like a waste of my annual leave to me. We get paid time off for medical appointments appointments.
I also like more than two weeks off at times.
R.Sole said:
Do you organise the courier to come when you are not at work?
If I know in advance I'm going to be at work I'll get the courier to come to deliver to my work. Sometimes I will pick the parcel up from the depot or collection point. The courier I get the most, which still isn't that much, always delivers dinner time once I'm home from work.
I wouldn't/couldn't plan my online orders to booking annual leave from work with notice.
There are some great suggestions here, I will consider implementing a couple.
However it sounds that some of the suggestions (especially the uber flexible options) are within relatively large businesses - where the loss of a couple staff members would go unnoticed. In my position in a considerably smaller business you typically know if a couple people are out as ultimately you could be covering one or some of their tasks! Because of this I dont think unlimited would work - Im not too keen on the idea just yet anyway.
I think we should consider a change in dates, basic change to Jan-Dec makes it more simple for people to understand for starters.
Reasons for people not using holiday isnt due to pressure for not taking - quite a few of our staff are young and single. Thus dont book scheduled holidays with the kids and most likely forget to take it! Most are also saving for houses or cars...
However it sounds that some of the suggestions (especially the uber flexible options) are within relatively large businesses - where the loss of a couple staff members would go unnoticed. In my position in a considerably smaller business you typically know if a couple people are out as ultimately you could be covering one or some of their tasks! Because of this I dont think unlimited would work - Im not too keen on the idea just yet anyway.
I think we should consider a change in dates, basic change to Jan-Dec makes it more simple for people to understand for starters.
Reasons for people not using holiday isnt due to pressure for not taking - quite a few of our staff are young and single. Thus dont book scheduled holidays with the kids and most likely forget to take it! Most are also saving for houses or cars...
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