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The first day of summer is within touching distance. A time for ice-cream, festivals, outdoor movies, cosy drinks on your patio and even the boss doesn’t look so stern wearing a short-sleeved shirt. And let’s not forget the long-awaited summer holiday!
As employees head off to the sun for a week or two during the 6-week school break their employers are faced with an arduous challenge. Obviously, organisations want to accommodate everyone’s annual leave request, but they also have to think about staffing levels and the impact to customers. It can be a tough time if not handled well.
Ensure you have a detailed policy in place
For complete transparency and to make the annual leave system fair you need to have a detailed policy in place. The content should provide clarity and avoid any confusion by including:
The approval process - is there a form, how to submit it and who to submit it to.
Whether your company works on a first come – first served basis.
The advance notice required.
The maximum number of consecutive days an employee can take at any one time.
Detail if there is a limit to the amount of single days an employee can request to take off (to prevent someone booking off every Friday!).
Calculations to allow everyone including part-time employees to easily work out their annual holiday entitlement.
Periods of time when annual leave will be limited to a certain number of staff.
If necessary, state how many employees can be off at any one time per team or department.
Detail if your company has a ‘shut down’ period where staff need to use part of their annual leave allocation.
State whether your organisation allows any holiday entitlement to be carried over to the next year, if so, is there a limit?
Inform whether holiday entitlement increases with length of service.
Create a shared schedule
Most employees will have an idea of the week or weeks they would like to take off over the summer. It makes it easier for your staff to find a time to suit both themselves and the company if they can see when others have requested time off.
This has the added benefit of employees more likely to sort out any possible conflict themselves without the need for management to get involved.
Plan ahead
Managing annual leave requests during busy spells is always going to be a challenge; if you fail to plan you could end up upsetting staff and hurting your business. Here’s what we suggest you do to keep a happy medium this summer:
Before the holiday season begins communicate your policy to all employees with a reminder to put their requests in as soon as they are able.
If you have a shared schedule, ensure all staff know where to find this and check for suitable dates.
If your company has a quiet period over the summer, then shutting down for a couple of weeks and giving all employees the same time off is good practice.
Alternatively, if your organisation is busy over this period limit the number of staff who can be off at any given time.
Asking for advance notice is crucial if you need to arrange cover from other departments or relocate workloads.
If it is likely that you will be running on skeleton staff over the summer do not plan in extra project work or events during this time.
Ask employees to create a handover document prior to their annual leave.
What to do if conflict arises
There will always be instances when an employee is not able to take the days off they would like. A company should recognise this sacrifice by offering a reward; this could be giving priority to next summer’s holidays or let them leave early on a less busy day to say thank you.
Consider Seasonal hiring
If your company sees an increase in customer volume during the summer it may be wise to consider seasonal hiring.
Prepare to hire extra staff at least 6 months in advance. By looking at past trends evaluate the number of staff required and the skillset needed.
Train the seasonal staff with the easier, less complicated tasks. This will reduce the time needed to train them.
Allocate the more complex tasks to the experienced staff.
Ice-creams and ice-lollies
To motivate staff working in a hot office while their colleagues are posting pictures of themselves on a beach on Instagram is great for engagement – consider providing ice-lollies or even a visit from an ice-cream van. You never know, the ones remaining in the office may post pictures of them with their free treats to show that they are being well-looked after. What better way to showcase your workplace culture!
How we can help you
If you’d like to discuss any of the issues detailed in this blog, get in touch with us today. We’re here to help.
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