Summer 2020, school is out and its very nearly August, for many that would usually mean we are about to jet off to some far flung places to enjoy time with family to relax and recharge.
Unfortunately, summer 2020 plans have had to be put on hold for lots of us, but don’t write off summer and cancel your annual leave just yet!!
Burnout had doubled since March and figures suggest that the average British worker has not had any time off for a least 2 months.
It might well be that staying at home doesn’t feel like a holiday, but taking time away from work, whatever it is you are doing instead, giving yourself time to switch off and unwind should be a priority for your own wellbeing.
It also makes good planning sense to ensure your employees are taking their annual leave, and not just for their wellbeing.
It’s fair to say that none of us know what will happen in the next few months. We’ve got everything crossed that businesses will continue to return to more normal operations and are able to keep bringing people back to work and although the government have said holiday can be carried over into the next two years having additional leave to accommodate won’t work for every company.
There has been much confusion about the rules of annual leave so we would like to remind you of a few ways you can manage annual leave in your business.
Employees on furlough can request to take leave. Being on furlough means they should be able to return to work when you ask them and we know of a few cases where the employee has ‘made other plans’ or even been out of the country when they have been asked to return to work. Remind your furloughed staff that if they are planning on going away they need to take it as annual leave. As the employer you must ensure that you top up the furlough payment to 100% of their usual pay for any leave they take.
You can request that employees book some annual leave, simply by sending an email asking that a certain amount of leave used by a certain time.
You can enforce when leave will be taken, it is perfectly reasonable for you to tell an employee when you want them to take leave.
The important thing to remember with these last 2 options is that you give twice as much notice as the amount of leave you want them take. Example: you want an employee to take a week of annual leave. You must give them at least 2 weeks’ notice before the start of the leave.
Of course, there is the option to roll over leave at the end of this year, you will need to put in writing how any rollover will be worked and we’ll talk to you about that nearer the end of the year.
We highly recommend that with the ever changes rules summer 2020 travel, employers also start to think about how they will manage the return of employees who may be required to quarantine when they return from overseas. Government guidelines for self-isolation when traveling to the UK can be found here https://www.gov.uk/…/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isola…
If you need any help with this or want to talk through your options then give us a call