Holiday Bookings

Submitted by Mandy G on Mon, 26/09/2011 - 09:15

With Christmas drawing closer, I find that a lot of people are saving up their holidays for odd shopping days and school holidays etc. Last year it was a nightmare to try and accomodate this, and I was forced to carry over some peoples holiday allowance to the next year!

What I want to know is if I can force people to book their holidays more in advance?

Thanks

Mandy

General HR

Comments

Hi Mandy As the employer you

Submitted by RHHRAdvice on Mon, 26/09/2011 - 10:05.

Hi Mandy

As the employer you can control when your staff take their holidays and many businesses do just that.

To avoid, bad feeling across the teams I would suggest first that you send a memo to all staff requesting that their leave is booked early to avoid disappointment. You do not have to approve all requests and I would suggest that leave is granted on a first come, first served basis and make that clear in your communications.

You can, if need be enforce holiday dates, for example when business is off-peak, but you can plan for this at the beginning of the year!

As we approach the final quarter of the year, my suggestion to you in the scenario as described is to set a deadline for holiday requests to be submitted and any outstanding days for employees you can allocate yourself for each individual. Be mindful that it would be considerate to give them notice and perhaps even a further deadline for the opportunity to change the date if appropriate.

I hope this helps

RHHR Advisor