In recognition of my weeks holiday, and that of many workers taking a break for the school half term, it seems like a great time to talk annual leave and holidays. If you run your holiday year from January to December, it’s also a good time to start planning for 2019.

The law

In the UK all employees are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks holiday every year including bank holidays, for most full time workers this means 28 days, pro rata for part time workers. In England and Wales, we usually have 8 bank holidays which for most leaves 20 days to be agreed between you and your team.

Of course, many businesses decide to give their teams more than this and some allow their employees to purchase additional leave or take unpaid leave for time in excess of this. As an employer, you should be seen to encourage your teams to take their annual leave entitlement, and usually this means not offering to pay extra time instead.

Is time off good for business?

In short – yes! Over the past 20 years a lot of research has been conducted around well-being, time off and productivity, some of the benefits of holiday are;

• Increased productivity
• Increased creativity
• Reduced stress levels
• Reduction in sickness absence
• Reduced employee turnover

Unfortunately, according to the Glassdoor Annual Leave survey, on average employees will take just 77% of their holiday – based on the minimum thats 6.5 days every year, and without holiday all those benefits can turn into big issues.

How do I ensure the team take holiday?

Following these simple tips can be the beginning of a new attitude to annual leave for your team:

• Make sure everyone knows their entitlement & how to book
• Be a role-model, take your holiday too and make sure to tell the team
• Have a switching-off policy – no emails or office contact during holiday
• “Use it or lose it” – unless theres an exception, don’t allow carry over leave

Holiday and Other Leave

This is an area which can feel complex and often confusing, if an employee is on long-term sickness absence or family leave – they will continue to accrue and be entitled to holiday during this period. When the leave is planned, in the case of family leave employees can be encouraged to take their holiday before their leave starters. For sickness / unplanned absence, they have the right to carry forward at least 20 days for a minimum 15 months following the end of the leave year.

If this is a situation you are stuck with, give us a call and we can discuss the specifics of the case to come up with a recommended solution.

HR system

I couldn’t finish this guidance without saying all of this is much easier and takes far less involvement if you have a HR system to do it for you! We can provide you with a HR system to calculate entitlements, manage requests and your team calendar with minimal administration and direct access for both employees and managers.

Contact us today to discuss how your process can be improved and say goodbye to admin burdens!