Struggling to manage who’s off on annual leave – and when?
Smooth Operators
Having a great system and clear guidelines on requesting time off in place can streamline your process, lessen the burden on time-off approvers, and enhance the experience for employees booking their holidays.
A good system will also log all the days taken, allowing for easy reporting on balances, provide a good visual overview of who is out and when, and work in tandem with wider HR software functionality.
This is especially vital in small businesses where time is more at a premium and compliance obligations have a higher relative cost.
Staff Holiday Planner System
A solid staff holiday planner system will instantly save time and money and lower tension amongst your team.
That said, good policy is still required, so here are some tips on implementing smart staff time-off procedures:
Publish an Annual Leave Policy
Whatever you do, be fair and consistent and carefully investigate working time regulations (WTR) or similar legislation in your country. Be clear on whether any compulsory cover involves extra pay or overtime rates and how such cover would rotate fairly.
Clarify pay conditions relating to regular hours for paid leave. And the maximum period of time off, for example, 2 weeks, unless otherwise approved.
Confirm your policy regarding time off in Lieu(TOIL), and carrying over annual leave from year to year.
Everyone deserves regular, stress-free breaks to maintain their appetite and satisfaction levels, and ultimately, their productivity. If you're unsure of your current policies or are creating new ones, carefully examine the law and your existing contracts. Check and clarify procedures for holidays not taken in the previous year due to sick or maternity leave.
Make Your Staff Holiday Planner Visible – Share Time-off Requests
Having an easy-to-view outlook of who’s off and when can smooth operations without the need for tedious, complicated spreadsheets and give the team an overview of the year ahead without guesswork or the need for subterfuge and illicit conversation at the water cooler to gather intelligence about who’s planning to be away during busy times.
- A visible-to-all holiday schedule lets your team make informed decisions about when to book their annual leave.
- A shared staff holiday planner will shift a lot of the onus onto employees, so they take responsibility for avoiding clashes with colleagues, enabling smoother planning.
- A transparent overview also allows managers to have a fair overview when approaching time off requests.
Plan Ahead For Staff Cover
With some notice from a good system offering a clear overview, you can plan ahead for part-time staff to cover busy times and hopefully save the significant costs of last-minute cover.
But make sure to:
- Plan backup for your backups!
- Consider flexible working arrangements, even if they are temporary, where possible, to allow for some work-life balance with family for those who get the short straw to cover during a busy period.
- If you must, offer incentives to employees to volunteer to cover.
