After one of our longest and most brutal winters, Summer is finally here – and with any luck, it’ll be a scorcher.
A whirlwind of holiday requests are now looming on the horizon for HR managers, but how can we successfully maintain organisation during this time, when keeping track of staff absences and holidays is harder than ever?
Encourage employees to book far in advance
Having to refuse a holiday can cause internal tensions & bitterness between employees, and therefore it’s a good idea to encourage employees to request their week in Spain away as soon as they can.
This responsibility is ultimately down to HR, though, because if employees aren’t aware they should be leaving notice they will feel no obligation to do so. This is why it’s a good idea to send an email or speak to employees personally to make this clear.
Ensure you will never be understaffed
Make sure that all key business functions will be covered at all times – if a full team or department are on holiday at the same time, you’re going to be left in a sticky situation. Again, this responsibility falls to HR to ensure all employees are aware of the need for them to check absence planners/rotas before they book any time away.
Support flexibility
You’d be surprised how much your employees will appreciate a bit of flexibility during the summer months, whether it be starting earlier and finishing earlier to get out and enjoy the sun, or working from home. In our office, we’ve even taken to having meetings outside on summer days – in Scotland you really have to make the most of every second of sunshine!
Use your HR system to track absences easily
All organisations will see huge benefits from a well-designed and consistent absence policy. Without it, there’s a good chance you’ll be left blind to your employees’ location, which can give the impression of a lack of care, as well as causing business-critical issues internally.
A good HR system will provide you with a graphical and visual way to view all employee absences at the same time, all in one place. This can help to ensure that all members of your team are able to communicate as well as devolving responsibility to line managers for their teams, ensuring that HR is fully supported by the efforts of managers.
The Youmanage Absence & Holidays module
Adopting Youmanage HR is the best way to ensure all absences are tracked and monitored, and to allow employees the correct summer holidays they deserve, while maintaining a good staffing level throughout the summer months.
Find out more about our intuitive absence planner here.
Did you find this article useful? Youmanage HR provides a software system which assists you fully with your needs to ensure compliance with the new GDPR rules, specifically for HR. If you’d like to find out more about how we are helping businesses worldwide comply with the GDPR, request a demo, or get in touch to ask questions.
