Managing Holidays: Balancing time off with business needs

As the summer hits its peak, employees will be eyeing up their calendars looking to catch a bit of the UK sun. For employers, this raises an important question in terms of how to balance the smooth running of the business whilst allowing employees to take some well-earned time off. The solution is a clear and unambiguous Holiday Policy.

Common issues with holidays in employment
There are multiple challenges that can arise in practice when it comes to annual leave. This can range from holiday requests being submitted on very short notice, multiple employees requesting leave during the same period, and issues could even go so far as employees making holiday arrangements, only to find that their leave has subsequently been refused – leaving them in a tricky situation.

As such, the more information an employer can provide to its employees in terms of booking annual leave, the better.

What is the solution?
Whilst a policy on annual leave is not mandatory, it is a sensible idea for organisations of all sizes to clearly set out the Company’s position. The policy should remain non-contractual, allowing the business to amend this in line with business needs and to reflect any changing circumstances, i.e. the employer deciding they now wish for a shutdown over Christmas.

It is important to ensure that the holiday policy does not conflict with provisions about holidays in employees’ contracts, as the contract of employment will override this.

A holiday policy should ensure that it captures the following:

• Refer employees to their individual contracts of employment which clearly detail their holiday entitlement
• Set out how to request annual leave, including the relevant form, who to submit requests to, and detailing provisions such as how much notice is required and how much leave can be taken in a single block
• Be clear as to the pay which the employee will receive whilst on annual leave, and alert to the fact that payments such as regular overtime, bonuses and commission might need to be taken into account in holiday pay, so that employees are not worse off when taking leave
• Detail the Company’s position on the carry over of annual leave. Will you allow carry over of holidays (other than where required in line with legislation), or will you implement the ‘use it or lose it’ principle (again, subject to legislative carry over)? In any event, you will need to actively encourage employees to use their entitlement
• Set out any need to reserve holidays to cover periods where the business might not operate and remind employees of this early in the holiday year, if this is not automatically deducted
• If the business knows that there is a particularly busy period and wants to ensure staffing levels are met, detail this and that the Company will not accept requests during that period
• Include the employer’s discretion to decline a request on a reasonable basis, taking into account the needs of the business and staffing levels – and ensure that employees understand not to make holiday arrangements before requests have been approved, as it is not guaranteed

If you have any questions in relation to annual leave or a holiday policy, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the AfterAthena team (part of the Napthens Group) who are able to offer 30 minutes of free advice to QCS members.