Encouraging employees to take a break throughout the year remains a priority. Whether you’re at the start of your holiday year or haven’t got around to thinking it through, we’d suggest addressing annual leave early.
Sooner rather than later – communicate early how you’d like employees to approach their holiday throughout the year. It may well be the case that employees are saving holidays for a time when travel is possible and hospitality is open – addressing early how you expect your employees to manage their holiday is vital.
Reluctant holiday-makers – you have the right to require employees to take holidays (by giving them twice as much notice as the holiday you require them to take – or whatever is in their contract).
Holiday during furlough – although the flexible furlough scheme can’t be used solely to fund employee’s holidays, if the employee is already furloughed there is nothing wrong in ensuring employees are still taking holidays (and you can use the furlough scheme to fund them in part).
Buy-back – if you have a generous holiday scheme meaning it’s even more of a struggle for everyone to fit in their holidays, you could always offer to buy back holidays (provided that in doing so you don’t take the employee below statutory minimum holidays of 5.6 weeks).
Don’t forget that however busy you are as well as holidays giving employees the opportunity to recharge, they are a health and safety requirement under the Working Time Regulations, so regular holiday reminders are essential on lots of levels. Get in touch if you have any questions.