The holiday season is upon us – although we beg to differ by looking out of the window…
But it is the summer holidays, where juggling childcare is a priority for most and many of your employees are looking to take time off to jet off to sunnier climates. So how do you manage this?
For a start, we would expect most employees to have booked their annual leave already if they are looking for one or two weeks off in the summer. Employers should have a clear holiday policy in place that sets out the booking process; are holidays approved on a first come first serve basis? Does each department require a minimal number of employees to be in per day? What notice is required to be given to book annual leave?
The rest is then down to management organisation, ensuring fairness in approving holiday requests and that appropriate cover is provided.
Some industries have their busiest periods during the summer months and this can coincide with high requests for annual leave. It’s important that the Company makes clear what the expectation is at the start of the employee’s journey with them.
It’s not unusual for a company to enlist the help of temporary resources during busy periods such as agency workers or Freelancers.
Using the services of freelancers offers the business flexibility. The business is engaging with a specific skill set and whilst the freelancer typically comes at a higher rate because of this, there is no requirement for the business to put the freelancer on the headcount, reducing PAYE responsibilities.
For many businesses, the prospect of this freedom is appealing because the reality is that you only remunerate freelancers for the days they actually work.
Part-Time employees & holiday entitlement
Whilst we are on the topic of summer holidays, Employers need to ensure that if they have part-time workers, they are treated fairly and are detrimental in their holiday calculations.
All full-time employees are entitled to a minimum of 28 days paid holiday per annum including bank holidays. The same entitlement is also true of your part-time employees, although adjusted on a pro-rata basis in accordance with the days they work. We get a lot of Clients contacting us relating to holiday entitlement queries for part-time workers. Questions such as do they get the full bank holiday entitlement? They don’t work a Monday so what happens when the business is closed on a Bank Holiday? My employee works term time only, how do I calculate his entitlement? My employee works different hours on each day, how do I calculate their leave?
The gov.uk website has a handy holiday calculator but we can help with the above Holiday related questions if you prefer a more bespoke service. Simply get in touch and we can help with one headache during the summer madness at least.
Spire HR are your Employment specialist!
As your local approachable, experienced HR specialists, Spire HR are well versed in helping you create and implement employment contracts that are fair, fit for purpose, in plain English and up to date ensuring an informed, empowered and happy workforce.
Protect your company. Invest in your staff. Get in touch today on 01925 626253.
