Annual leave is an integral part of any workplace which is why it should be taken, monitored and booked correctly.
As with all HR issues, annual leave is not always simple and straightforward.Some complications that you can encounter include:
- Employees who don’t follow procedure or take leave without permission
- Multiple employees requesting the same day(s) leaving your business understaffed
- Employees who are not using all of their annual leave
- Inaccurate recording processes
If you are facing any annual leave headaches and need some external HR support, we are here to help. Our HR consultants can:
- Advise you on how to manage difficult situations surrounding annual leave
- Create and implement the best annual leave policy for your business
- Support you through disciplinary processes when annual leave procedures are not followed
- Keep you updated on any employment law changes including those made to holiday entitlement
How much annual leave are your employees entitled to?
The minimum annual leave for full-time workers is set at 5.6 weeks (equating to 28 days), including the 8 bank holidays we have in the UK. Whereas, part-time workers are entitled to the same amount of leave on a pro rota basis. For example, an employee who works two days a week would get 2/5 of the 28 days’ holiday which equates to 11.2 days holiday a year, and seeing as part days should be rounded up to the nearest half, this would be 11.5 days.
It is up to the employer as to when the holiday year starts and ends and whether to use an accrual system for employees’ first year of employment.
What should your policy say about annual leave?
Your annual leave policy should clearly state how much holiday entitlement employees have, including any business closures and bank holidays. You have complete authority as to whether you will give your employees more annual leave than what is legally expected.
You are also free to decide whether or not annual leave can be carried over at the end of each year and whether extra days of annual leave can be bought/earned by the employees. Your policy should also detail the booking procedure (i.e. who needs to authorise your annual leave, how it is recorded, how much notice must be given, any limitations on how much leave can be taken at one time etc.).
When it comes to requesting holiday, the process is very much down to the employer and what is most practical for the business. Typically, employees are asked to seek authorisation from their supervisors with a written request for annual leave i.e. an email or completing a form, if granted this is then recorded and logged on an online system.
Be sure to make the booking process for holidays clear to employees along with reasons as to why they may not be able to request leave on certain days of the year. Keep your record of all holiday employees secure and easily accessible so that you and your workers are aware of how much annual leave they have left.
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