We are fast approaching the end of October and for those who have a holiday year running January to December, if you haven’t already it is time to communicate to your employees what they can or cannot do with their remaining holiday entitlement.
It is important for employees to take a break from work regularly to rest and re-energise and should be encouraged by all businesses. Employees who take holidays are generally more motivated, perform more effectively and are less likely to suffer from stress and have periods of sickness.
However, this year the coronavirus pandemic has meant holidays and getaways have been cancelled, weddings and celebrations have been postponed and for long periods even browsing around a garden centre or museum, going to the gym or eating out, was something we were unable to do and many people either chose to continue working, if they were able to or if not and were placed on furlough, felt there was little point taking a day’s holiday if they were not working anyway.
While it is understandable that most people tried to delay taking holidays until there was more places open and things to do, this has had a knock on affect to many businesses who now find themselves in a position of either trying to encourage employees to take their holidays before the end of the year or allowing them to carry them over to the next entitlement year.
To help businesses out the UK Government has introduced a new law which allows employees to carry over holiday not taken because of coronavirus, for example if:
- They were self-isolating or too sick to take a holiday before the end of their leave year
- They had to continue working due to work demands and could not take paid holiday
- They had been furloughed and cannot use their holiday within the current year
If an employer already has carry-over rules in place, this law will not affect those in any way. Nonetheless, employees will need to know what the company rules are and fully understand what they can do with the annual leave entitlement that they have remaining. These rules should be communicated to them in a clear and concise manner to avoid any confusion and could include:
- The maximum number of days to be carried over
- The date in which the carried over days are to be used by
- Spreading the days out across a specific period of time with stricter rules on how many days can be taken off at any one time
Only by having a fully functional HR software system will you be able to set and apply your desired entitlement carry-over rules. Many organisations have a need to apply different rules to different employees, which is why we have built Youmanage with the capability for each of our clients to be able to set various maximum carry over days and expiry periods. In-built and automatic notifications can also be switched on and configured to suit each client’s requirements to let employees know what remaining balance they have. To see more of what Youmanage and the absence module can do for your business, please download the Youmanage brochure. Get in touch with us today to find out more or try out our functionality free of charge by claiming your 30-day trial.
