Dear Visitor,

Juggling staff holiday at Christmas

Trying to please all of your staff all of the time is challenging enough but add Christmas in to the mix and it's almost impossible. This month we look at what to consider when authorising holiday over Christmas.

We are also delighted to be launching a new online HR service. So we walk you through what it is all about, and how you can benefit.

Until next time, look after your people.

Best wishes
Laura and all the team at HR Solutions 4U

 Juggling staff holiday at Christmas

Every year at least one client contacts us for advice on how to keep all the staff happy when they all want to take their holiday during the festive season. Unless the business is going to close down quite clearly you can't keep them all happy, so what is the best way to handle this?

The most important issue is ensuring you are not being seen, either directly or indirectly, to discriminate against employees based on religious grounds, race, sex or anything else.You must also remember that should you choose to allow staff time off because they are staunch Christians, or have a young family, other staff members can legitimately claim they have been discriminated against because they do not have the same characteristics.

So, it is more about finding an acceptable solution, that is seen as fair by all. You could offer a first come first served option, which many companies do. Whilst those who are less organised may miss out, provided it is well publicised then it is fair. Even better would be to determine what cover you need over the Christmas period, and then put staff names into a hat and draw out names. If you need a mixture of management and staff then split the names so you can ensure you get the mix you need. This method is fair and since everyone can be invited to see the draw taking place there can be no grounds for discrimination.

However, the fairest and best suggestion, is negotiation. Advise staff in plenty of time that there will be a need to cover the festive season, and invite people to offer to cover that time if they would like to. It is surprising how many people would rather avoid time off over Christmas, for whatever reason, so they would be happy to delay taking their time off to another period. If there is insufficient staff to cover, then you could suggest everyone works for either one day or half a day during the period. Everyone is then making some compromise but still has time off with loved ones.

Of course, having a robust policy for taking leave, covering the Christmas period too, is the fail safe way of handling any challenging issues.

If you would like an annual leave policy, or more advice on this subject please contact us on 01256 328428.

 Online HR System

Your HR Online Service is a fantastic way of accessing, managing and monitoring all HR aspects of your business, using an online system that has been designed specifically for that purpose.

So what can you use it for?

• Managing and maintaining employee records including absence and sickness
• Monitoring and controlling holiday throughout the company - so everybody is not away at the same time!
• Ensuring staff are conducting performance management on time
• Evaluating the use of training budgets
• Reporting on employees by department, by area of business or across the whole company - the data can be measured and reported in a very flexible way
• Staff can even maintain and update their own records, using a unique login allowing access to specified fields

Not only does this system save valuable admin time, it also provides you with sophisticated reporting that is not usually so easily accessible - giving you the power to make informed management decisions in your business.

You can add additional fields, tailoring the system to the needs of your business. You can also determine the level of access and which staff can access the system.

And best of all, it is incredibly user friendly. You don't have to be technical whizz to use it, which means everyone within your organisation can work with it.

We can give you full training on how to use it, and hold your hand if you should get stuck along the way. For many of our clients the added benefit of us being able to access their data so we can run reports and prepare for our review meetings with them, is immense.

For more information on how you can benefit for Your HR Online Service please contact us on 01256 328428.