Workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ paid annual leave per leave year, although many companies offer additional holiday. Ryanair have recently found themselves in a position where they have had to cancel hundreds of flights because they have “messed up” pilots’ holidays and do not have enough pilots available to fly planes.
It can be difficult for employers to manage holiday requests and leave around their business needs. Having enough staff available to maintain operations and service levels is key to the success of the business. There are a number of pointers that your clients can consider:
- Remind workers periodically about their remaining holiday leave entitlement and encourage them to plan their leave in. This will ensure staff are not building up a large amount of leave to take late on in the leave year. It will also allow the business to have an early indication of when staff are going to be off so they can make plans.
- Have a clear holiday policy setting out the notice periods for requesting leave, the maximum amount of time to be taken in one leave period and the cap for how many staff can be off at the same time. This cap should specify whether it applies across the whole business or if it is set at different levels per team or department. Clearly setting out the rules will make it easier for your clients to turn down requests where the cap is reached or insufficient notice is given.
- The holiday policy can also identify periods when staff cannot take leave and any requests will be declined. This is usually during consistently busy periods of the year or at the time when, for example, a large order falls every year. This will ensure staffing is sufficient over these periods and there can be no complaints of unfairly declining requests.
- The holiday policy may also identify periods that staff have to take leave. This is usually for company wide shut down periods, such as over the Christmas holidays, and will ensure that staff are notified that they must save enough holiday leave to use for this.
Your clients should review and manage holiday leave on an ongoing proactive basis to ensure the needs of their business can be met. For example, if the holiday caps aren’t sufficient, or a new busy period is identified, then managers should take steps to amend the policy. It is possible to cancel leave once approved, however, this is likely to cause tensions within the workplace. Instead, your clients should assess all their options and consider making some compensation for any financial loss if they have to cancel leave.
