4 Tips to Manage Employee Leave Entitlements

With the holiday season quickly approaching, as an employer you’ve likely received questions from employees regarding their annual leave entitlements and/or leave requests themselves. It can be difficult for employers to balance and create guidelines around how much leave is reasonable to take at once, offering extra annual leave, closing the business over the holiday period, and more. 

Additionally, it can be difficult for owners and managers of small businesses or teams to manage an influx or overlap of leave requests during the holiday period. With this in mind, we have compiled five tips to help manage your employee leave entitlements throughout the year.

1. Plan ahead

The best way to prepare is to plan ahead. Encourage your employees to put their leave requests in as early as possible or by a certain date for high influx leave times such as Christmas and New Years. Additionally, if there are critical or busy periods during the year where all staff are needed, identify these periods, and consider issuing a direction to employees, altering leave policies and/or updating your contracts of employment to ensure staff are aware of your expectations and to avoid leave requests during this time. For example, an accounting firm may consider including a leave ‘block out period’ for staff in employment agreements so that leave cannot be taken during busy times of year, such as leading up to the end of financial year.

2. Be transparent and flexible

Be open and honest with your employees about your organisation’s guidelines on annual leave. Consider including these terms in an employee handbook, as well as in individual employment agreements. Don’t be afraid to communicate that annual leave is an agreement between employee and employer, subject to approval based on staffing levels and work demands. 

We recommend creating a shared leave calendar in your organisation that all employees have access to. This makes visible to employees who has scheduled time off, when and for how long. As well as making it easier to keep track of all staff availability in one place, employees can better self-select when it would be ideal to use their leave entitlements.

As for flexibility, during peak holiday periods parents may need to take extra time off to care for their children. Wherever possible, you may consider being flexible with their leave and working arrangements to accommodate their needs (such as leave at half-pay, flexible working times, or work from home).

3. Encourage employees to use their accrued leave

Encouraging employees to use their accrued annual leave is actually a good thing! It helps to maintain staffing levels throughout the year, ensures work-life balance for your staff, as well as avoids being extremely short-staffed at peak times or allowing employees to accrue too much leave which can have significant financial impacts.

TIP: When onboarding new employees, consider including terms that give you as an employer the right to direct employees to take leave, or put a limit on how much annual leave an employee can accrue or take at once.

4. Stay informed 

Lastly, be sure to educate yourself on the different types of leave and the entitlements your employees can receive. The following are common forms of paid and unpaid leave that most permanent employees are entitled to:

• Annual leave

• Personal leave

• Carer’s leave

• Compassionate leave

• Unpaid leave

• Parental leave

We highly recommend seeking the guidance of a professional when drafting and negotiating employment contracts, as well as when auditing, reviewing and managing accrued leave and leave requests.

Navigating the legal complexities of leave entitlements can be a headache for employers. At Optimum Legal, we work with you as an extension of your business to help make the process simple. Our team of employment lawyers are by your side every step of the way to answer any queries or concerns you may have. 

Book your free initial consultation, here.