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Holiday Leave Post-Covid: Top Tips

17/8/2020

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As the country continues the battle against Coronavirus, working hard to return society to some form of normal, the important issue of holiday leave has begun to dominate in the list of challenges that your HR department will be tackling.

But where do you, as the employer, legally stand post-Coronavirus? What are your employees entitled to in terms of carrying over leave from 2020 into 2021? And what is the best approach to managing holiday leave as we continue to tackle this pandemic?

Whether you are struggling to encourage employees to take annual leave while working from home or finding monitoring employees’ travel during time off in line with self-isolation guidelines, let’s explore some top tips for holiday leave post-coronavirus.

Holiday Leave: Employers’ Rights Post-Covid

Workplaces, large and small, all have their own holiday policies. However, as Covid-19 hit the Irish workplace, your HR team has undoubtedly been inundated regarding holiday leave queries. So, what are you entitled to from your employees in terms of their annual leave?

Simply put, it all depends on how your employees have been working over the past few months. Perhaps they have worked from home throughout the pandemic but have used little leave. Maybe you haven’t had the capacity to afford them the time off if you have been working with a skeleton staff. Or perhaps they have been receiving their pay through the Wage Subsidy Scheme (WSS).

As an employer, it is your role to ensure your colleagues are clear on what their holiday entitlement is. Perhaps as we begin to enter back into offices and structured workplaces, it would be productive to get your HR team to review what holidays each employee has left remaining, remind them of this figure, and encourage them to take breaks.

Understandably, some of your employees may be reluctant to use holiday leave as they may feel they cannot use it to head away overseas. For those employees, it is important to remind them of their rights but also to ensure they are aware of their limitations on carrying over leave, depending on your organisation.​

The Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 provides that the timing of an employee’s annual leave can be determined by the employer “having regard to work requirements” so this gives employers the right to ask their employees to take annual leave during the emergency period. In relying on this provision, employers are obliged to consult with their employees 30 days before the start of the annual leave. While this may be quite restrictive, it still offers the opportunity to exercise your rights as an employer.
Holiday Leave: Employees’ Rights Post-Covid
Understanding the rights of your employees during this period is also crucial to ensuring you keep staff satisfied and your business’ reputation high.
For those employees that have worked throughout the lockdown, they will be entitled to fully paid holiday leave. For those that have been unable to take leave due to the needs and capacity of your business, now is the time to afford your employees that treasured time off. Not only will it ensure that you keep on the right side of your employees, but it will ensure their rights are met, improving job satisfaction and leaving them refreshed to boost your business performance.
For those employees that you had placed on the WSS, their rights will differ. Employees can only accrue annual leave relevant to the time that they have worked. While those staff will likely have accrued full annual leave entitlement up until the month of March, it is important to make the right calculations for their leave entitlement during their placement on WSS and communicate this to them.
For those employees that you may have unfortunately had to lay-off during this period, it is important to remember that they retain the right to be paid for a public holiday during a lay-off period of up to 13 weeks from the date of lay-off.
Jet-Setting: Employees’ Rights for Overseas Travel
While many of your employees will remain cautious throughout the rest of 2020, some will be itching to throw open the suitcase and jet-off somewhere abroad. While various quarantine rules continue to remain, it is important to acknowledge these in relation to the annual leave entitlement of your employees. While you may have the capacity to grant the initial holiday request, with two more weeks of isolation needed, employees must be notified that they will not be able to receive pay for this additional time off (unless they can take their full quota of minimum holiday entitlement).
Do your staff have a duty to inform you of overseas travel? While opinions may differ, if they make a false declaration and have been overseas but are not self-isolating then this could result in disciplinary action as it would be a serious breach of health and safety legislation and could out the rest of your staff and possibly your customers at risk
 
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Employee Rewards Post-Lockdown

10/8/2020

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Let’s face it - 2020 may as well be a write-off if you were looking to jet-set away from Ireland. As we have worked from home, living much closer to family, your employees may have undergone a perspective change. Without the distraction of dining out, material consumerism, busy work commutes and constant events or activities, the pandemic has given people the chance to reevaluate their daily lives, and how they may wish to live it in the future.

In this article we’re delving into how your company’s rewards options could be dramatically changed post-coronavirus, and how your HR team can ensure that the rewards you offer remain attractive to your colleagues.

Employee’s Perspective: What’s Changed?

Before Lockdown, popular workplace rewards including extra holidays, bonuses and gym memberships. But will this change when your colleagues return to your office?

Without the ability to truly travel in 2020, your colleagues may no longer wish to have the extra holidays but instead a pay increase so they can spend it on their home and family. Perhaps they would prefer to swap the gym membership for a membership to explore Ireland’s outdoor parks and countryside, or swap holidays for another alternative.

Employer’s Perspective: What’s Changed?

So, what does this change in employees’ habits and way of life mean for you as an employer? Well, it’s safe to say that your employees will be reluctant to take any holiday leave this year. Could this spell the end of holiday reward schemes? With more people opting for staycations, this may mean shorter annual leave stints - could this effect a work schedule if you have staff overlapping on shorter holiday stints?

The closing of gyms and sporting activities meant people headed outdoors for exercise during the lockdown. And while gyms are in the process of reopening in Ireland, perhaps people will be more reluctant to head indoors for exercise, opting for a walk or a hike instead. Perhaps this could mean that any gym membership rewards that you offer may become redundant for your staff?

Rethinking Rewards Post-Lockdown

Clearly the perspective has changed for many of your employees; is it time that you rethink your reward schemes to ensure that your employees value these and use their benefits? Here’s some alternatives:

•   Great Outdoors Memberships

Your colleagues may have begun to use their outdoor surroundings more during lockdown - why not swap out the gym reward for a membership to one of Ireland’s national parks or resorts? Your staff may appreciate this reward more, improving their satisfaction while working for your organisation. 
•   Pay Rewards

With the pandemic set to continue to affect the world’s economy until a vaccine can be found and guaranteed, your employees will be reluctant to take holiday leave. Why don’t you review this, opting for extra pay rewards?

If your business is in the financial position, reviewing your employees’ salaries would boost job satisfaction. Perhaps you could begin a company share scheme as an alternative if your workers would be interested? Reviewing pay as an alternative to holiday rewards could be more attractive to your staff while the pandemic continues.

•   Holiday Alternatives

Holiday leave continues to be a contentious employment issue as many of Ireland’s workers remain reluctant to use annual leave while the economy hasn’t fully opened yet, restricting what they can and can’t do while they take off work.

Perhaps your business should begin to look at holiday alternatives; annual leave may not be the most attractive job benefit right now, but providing an early finish once or twice a month could prove valuable to your staff. Meanwhile you can demonstrate your willingness to provide alternative benefits to your employees as thanks for their continued commitment to your company.

While 2020 may not be the year for jet-setting, if a vaccine can be found, 2021 could see a boost in Irish workers wanting to take off annual leave. Why not begin a holiday lottery scheme? This could provide your staff the opportunity to be rewarded for extra holidays that they can begin to use next year, maintaining satisfaction that they will not waste any benefits that they are given whilst working for you.

Ultimate Alternative: Reward Choice

Most importantly, providing employees more choice when it comes to their rewards is the ultimate alternative. Currently this is not the case for many Irish businesses, with little flexibility for workers in choosing what benefits they would like to enjoy. Perhaps your staff would prefer extra holidays or a gym membership over a share scheme, or vice versa.
Whatever the situation, it is best to provide more flexibility and choice, where possible, with your reward schemes. This will improve company culture, making your business more attractive to potential talent, and increasing your chances of retaining your staff, boosting loyalty as a result.

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