When an employee works pre-approved over time and is paid back with time off, instead of money, it is called Time off in lieu, or TOIL.
The point of TOIL is that willing employees can work overtime and “bank” hours to take off at a later date. It works for both employees looking to boost holiday allowance (or have time in the bank for emergencies) and for employers who don’t want to pay additional overtime payments.
How does TOIL work?
Firstly, you need to set out the rules of the TOIL agreement – which employees it applies to, where they can use it and for how long. You don’t want to find yourself owing your employees weeks’ worth of unauthorised TOIL.
In your TOIL agreement, you need to set a date when the days in lieu have to be used and how many TOIL days employees can collect. Remember you have the final say on when TOIL days can be used and need to ensure you always have enough team members to properly run your business.
Once both parties have agreed on the TOIL terms, you should put the offer in writing and sign. Make sure to save a copy of the signed agreement within your HR Management software.
What are the regulations around TOIL?
You don’t have to offer time off in lieu – it is not a legal requirement for UK businesses and TOIL is subject to the UK Working Time Regulations.
This means you need to take care that the National Minimum Wage requirements are met when you average out the total number of hours your employees have worked.
How can TOIL benefit your business?
Certain periods of the year are always busier than others, so when you need to get a job done or project completed on time, you can incentivise your employees to put in more hours at no extra cost.
Not only will this lessen the pressure on the wider team in the busy period, but it will help keep morale high throughout the year as employees take their earned TOIL.
Trouble recording TOIL requests?
Our Time and Attendance software can help you calculate an employee’s time off in lieu allowance. You can then see this as a handy report, or be alerted to any TOIL requests in real-time.
