Handling Employees’ Holiday Vacation Requests

In addition to the exceptionally busy flu season that is predicted, you may be faced with employees’ plans to take time off during the holidays.

Five ways to handle holiday vacations:

1. DON’T wait until mid-November to consider upcoming time off. Keep in mind that you may also be juggling absenteeism due to illness.
2. PRIORITIZE vacation requests. Decide how you will handle multiple requests for time off, a common problem during holidays. You may want to consider an employee’s seniority, full- or part-time status, order in which requests are received, personal achievements at work over the past year, travel requirements or religious observances.
3. SCHEDULE smartly. If possible, avoid scheduling large projects and deadlines during the holidays. Consider adding interim work teams or overtime hours to help get through crunch times.
4. BEWARE of “use it or lose it” policies. If employees lose unused vacation days on December 31 , everyone may race to use those days before the year- end. Consider rolling over vacation time, compensating employees for unused days or having vacation days expire on a worker’s hire anniversary date.
5. COMMUNICATE. Listen to employees needs and wishes, as well as making your company’s time-off policies known.

Stress Less Suggestion:

Consider giving each employee a one-time option to take off a few hours in order to run holiday errands. Include these times in the schedule so that co-workers can allow for the absence. You’ll avoid employee guilt and stress over stealing the time anyway through longer lunch hours or time spent shopping online at work.