How Should Staff Leave Be Managed During the Holidays?

Christmas is a time for joy and celebration, but for many HR departments, it's also a time when issues with employee leaves recur. Nobody wants the holiday spirit to be ruined by a "Nightmare Before Christmas," but it doesn't have to! There are easy methods to make handling employee vacation time throughout the Christmas season stress-free.

Requests for leave are frequently made over the holiday season. Staff workers look for time off in more than just the traditional period between Christmas Eve and New Years. Travel is a tempting post-Yule Tide treat during the weeks leading up to the key period and the first few weeks of January.

Even if just skeleton personnel is required throughout the holiday season, HR must take into account a variety of practical and legal concerns:

• How much of this year's annual leave benefits have been used up already?
• How much of your remaining yearly leave is still owed?
• How much of the time off previously taken is attributable to other rights, such as shared parental leave, disability leave, or maternity or paternity leave?
• How many days of unscheduled leave, such as sick leave, have already been used?
  What are the minimal staffing needs for the specific company or department in question?
• What specific laws and conditions (which may sometimes include those in foreign countries) are relevant?

It takes careful cross-referencing, checking, and rechecking just to understand these issues. Today, it is essentially impossible to adequately address these issues without the aid of employee leave management software.

With IceHrm you can view each employee's leave entitlement so you can easily get answers to the above questions.

4 Tips For Managing Christmas Leave Effectively

1.Make your holiday operations transparent

To ensure that everyone is aware of how the business will run throughout the holiday season, it is crucial that boundaries be created in plenty of time. This covers the size of the employees required between Christmas and New Year's, as well as whether Christmas Eve is a half- or full-day event. If everyone is aware, there is less chance of confusion and rage.

2.Promote Early Planning

Inform the staff that late holiday requests are less likely to be granted, but give them plenty of time nonetheless. Additionally, you don't want anyone searching for their remaining 16 weeks of employee leave during the holidays.

3.Take Advantage Of Technology

As we already mentioned, technology can be very helpful in ensuring that handling requests for Christmas leave goes smoothly. One major benefit is the automatic adjustments some leave management software make, ensuring that every employee's time off is tracked accurately and preventing tumultuous situations.

4.Clear Reasoning

Any request denials must be understood by staff members in order to avoid bad feelings. Saying "No" outright is the worst thing you can do. The majority of individuals are aware that they can miss out, yet being respectful is crucial. So always be prepared with a solid justification.

IceHrm has a number of critical features that are intended to make the job of an HR manager a little bit simpler, including the ability to automatically handle a wide variety of leave kinds and customize your leave categories to fit your particular business.