How do you manage multiple holiday requests fairly when everyone wants annual leave at the same time? This is just one of the hundreds of questions we get around staff holidays every day. What about if you really don’t want people booking holiday around Christmas? Or...
Holidays should be relaxing. Unless, of course, you're the person managing all the annual leave requests from employees! Calculating entitlements for different workers and ensuring everyone receives the statutory minimum paid leave can feel like an administrative...
As schools break up for the summer and Covid 19 restrictions ease, you may be struggling to work out how to manage staff absences over the summer period, especially if they will be required to quarantine after a holiday abroad. This may not be as much of an issue if...
When you have an employee off on long term sick leave, you may end up at some point having to decide whether you can continue to hold their job open. You’ll need to balance giving the individual enough time to recover from their illness or injury with the need to...
Long-term sickness absence is usually defined as a period of continuous absence of more than four weeks. The absence may be due to: an unexpected illness a chronic condition an accident or planned operation As an employer, you must take care to manage the situation...
Employee attendance tracking is a priority for many employers, because the benefits are numerous. Not only does it make it easier to schedule annual leave and identify any attendance issues, but it also improves staff morale when everyone is paid correctly for the...
The definition of parental leave in the UK is when an employee takes time off work to look after their children’s welfare. This could involve organising childcare arrangements, looking at new schools or just spending time with their children. Parental leave shouldn’t...
When an employee is dismissed or decides to resign from your business, it usually creates a list of things to consider. You may need to start the recruitment process to hire a replacement, or hold an exit interview. You’ll also need to consider any remaining holiday...
Annual leave should be something to look forward to. It’s a chance for your employees to take a well-earned rest, spend time with family, go travelling and come back energised and full of fresh ideas. However, if you’re the person responsible for managing your...
How do you manage multiple holiday requests fairly when everyone wants annual leave at the same time? This is just one of the hundreds of questions we get around staff holidays every day. What about if you really don’t want people booking holiday around Christmas? Or...
When an employee has been off work with long-term sickness it's sometimes beneficial for them to make a gradual, phased return to work instead of jumping straight back in with their full contractual hours and duties. A phased return to work might involve: a shorter...
The return to work interview is one of those meetings that's all too tempting to skip over. Chances are you’re more stretched than usual as a result of your employee's absence and you're keen for them to get stuck back into their work. Back to work interviews can...
Time off in lieu, or TOIL, is when an employee works pre-approved overtime and receives compensatory time off for the same amount. For example, if an individual works an extra two hours one day with their manager’s approval, they can then “bank” those two hours to...
With an increasing number of women choosing to have children later in life, the number of people turning to IVF treatment is on the rise. For employers, this presents some challenges. Not only is IVF treatment a topic an employee is likely to feel uneasy discussing...
Unpaid leave in the UK is when an employee takes time off and has no legal right to be paid for it. An employer’s obligations to agree to unpaid leave and how much to give are quite blurry and can cause some confusion. Reasons for taking unpaid leave The reasons for...
All employees have a legal right to a reasonable amount of unpaid time off work to deal with emergency situations affecting their dependants. This is typically known as 'time off for dependants' or 'dependant leave'. But what is a ‘reasonable amount’ of time? And what...
Paternity Leave - unlike Shared Parental leave, which can be taken in blocks - must be taken in one go. The maximum leave available is two consecutive weeks, but some employees opt to only take one week. So far, so simple. Where the most confusion occurs is around...
Shared Parental Leave (SPL) is an entitlement of up to 50 weeks of leave that can be shared between two parents in place of Maternity Leave. If you’re not familiar with Shared Parental Leave, you’re definitely not alone! Despite the government’s ‘Share the Joy’...
It’s a tricky one; you’ve refused annual leave for an employee, and when the requested day arrives, they call in sick. Of course, they could genuinely be ill, but you’re suspicious. What can you do? Take great care when addressing this with your employee, as you don’t...
Take one part-time employee who always works on Monday, and another who never does. Does only the Monday worker benefit from paid leave for the bank holiday Mondays? In short, no. Employees should be treated equally, and this includes bank holiday entitlement too....
A robust, legally compliant annual leave policy, setting out how your business manages requests for annual leave, is something all organisations should have. A good policy will let your employees know everything they need to do and can expect around requesting annual...
New holiday pay ruling around overtime indicates that when voluntary overtime has been carried out with a degree of regularity, it should be included in the holiday pay calculation. But what does a regular pattern look like? In this post, we’ll explore what the recent...
The Bradford Factor is designed to flag up a pattern of problematic absence by scoring employee’s absence based on both the length and frequency of absence. The research behind the system (conducted in 1980 by The Bradford University School of Management – hence...
It's 10am and you’ve still not seen or heard anything from your employee. What should you do? Your initial response will likely be one of concern, and you’ll be eager to check in with them to make sure they’re okay. But what if you still can’t get hold of them? What...