I know it’s only October, but with the C word (Christmas) just around the corner, now is the time to think about your Holiday request system.
Over the winter months, you might find several key employees fighting for coveted time off. With Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year’s so closely bunched together, there are only so many holiday days up for grabs if you have a business that operates year-round.
Even if you work in an office environment that closes for the festive period, shopping days, hangovers or more office sickness can occur during November and December. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
So, to help you get through the festive minefield, here are our top Holiday tips:
Create a process
Pieces of paper with important dates can get lost. Text messages and emails are a nightmare to track. Conversations and verbal agreements can be forgotten.
Any of the above sound familiar? With a Workforce Management system your employees will have one clear place to request holiday and see their remaining holiday allowance and approved dates.
By having such a process, it means that the task of approving or denying holiday can be done by several people. This eliminates situations where one person is the ‘gate keeper’.
Manage demand
Make sure that you have an integrated Workforce Management system that can show you quickly who has requested time off and most importantly, who else this will clash with.
Allow requests based on work needs in a fair manner and be upfront with employees by approving or denying requests quickly.
Work collaboratively
Any time off request should be worked out in a way that fixes both the employer’s and employee’s needs.
According to a Mercer study only 20%, of employees in the UK currently work with their managers and colleagues to arrange their holiday leave. This is one of the lowest collaborative numbers in Europe.
Make it easy
If you want a holiday system that ensures no more spreadsheets, paper requests or endless interruptions then take a look at WFM by Chronologic.
