We’re being inundated with holiday adverts just now. I am personally dreaming of warm sunny climes! And starting to plan. Not everyone loves holidays. I know, I know, but it’s true.
With that in mind, what happens with that one person in your team who doesn’t ever take all their holidays. Do you just pay them? Nooooooooooo.
Burn out, tiredness and stress are real things. Breaks form work are super important.
Minimum rights to hols are governed by Working Time Regulations in the UK. Working Time Regs is basically a health and safety law and you can’t sign or agree away your rights to health and safety requirements at work. You wouldn’t let an employee use a chain saw without PPE just because they wanted to, would you? It’s fundamentally the same with holidays (and, in my view, just as health-critical).
As an employer, you have a legal responsibility to make sure your employees can take the holiday they’re entitled to. By law, employees can carry over holiday if the employer either does not let them take all their holiday or, more importantly, does not encourage you to take it all.
Allocating holidays
If that person just isn’t keen on taking the time off, what can you do? Well, if you cant encourage them to take the time off, you should allocate holiday.
This usually happens during a period of closure, for example over Christmas and New Year.
To allocate holidays, Working Time Regs say you must tell the employee by giving at least twice as many days’ notice as the days you need them to take. So for a week’s leave, give at least 2 weeks’ notice that it is being allocated.,
Cancelling holidays
Did you know you can refuse or cancel holiday, but must let an employee know beforehand by at least the same amount of time as the amount they requested?Here
