Presents have yet to be bought, the number of people coming round for dinner still hasn’t been confirmed and some people won’t have got there tree up, but you can be sure that you have people in your office are plotting their strategy for getting the leave they want for Christmas 2020!
Allocating Christmas Leave can be nightmare for bosses, HR teams and Line Managers across the country, so here are our Top 5 Tips to negotiating the scramble for time off NEXT Christmas:
Make sure that you have a clear procedure of how employees can book time off. It can feature in a staff handbook, on an intranet or be displayed on a noticeboard in a staff room, but it must be accessible to everyone in the company.
If your business needs to restrict leave taken over the Christmas period, this must be stated in your employment contracts.
Some companies nominate dates to close the business which staff are expected to take as annual leave, while others allocate a certain number of individuals who can be off at any one time over the festive season.
If your company uses the latter, you must…
If your company can only allow a certain number of employees to take annual leave at Christmas, keep a record of who had time off one year and state in your policy that those who didn’t will be given priority the next year.
If your business is one that is busy over the festive period, employees should be well aware of this, but a few hours off to watch a son or daughter in a their Christmas show at school, or an extended lunch hour to pick up a parcel at the post office is not going to bring down the company, so try and be flexible wherever possible.
It is a common mistake for companies to give people with children priority over the festive season.
Whilst it is understandable, it is important to be fair and consistent with all staff, regardless of family status in order to avoid divisions as a result of resentment and ill-feeling.
Attendance often needs to be monitored during the festive period.
Make sure all staff are aware of the company’s sickness policy and that high levels of sickness or regular late attendance could result in formal proceedings (and if an employee is sick or absent from work the day after a work Christmas party, normal sickness policies and procedures would apply!)
Should you need any further assistance, Donnelly & Elliott’s Employment team are on hand to review contracts or advise on any issues regarding Christmas absence.
Get in touch today by emailing enqs@donnelly-elliott.co.uk or call us on 02392 50 55 00.
