Top tips for managing annual leave

Do you have two employees vying for the same annual leave time? Or are your employees returning from their annual leave to absolute chaos? Robert Half runs through his top tips to ensure the whole process runs smoothly.

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Robert Half

Annual leave is crucial for employee well-being. Unfortunately, being one person short can put extra stress on the rest of your team. That’s what makes good annual leave management such a fundamental aspect of leadership — it keeps productivity high and burnout low.

So, what can you do to ensure projects run smoothly when your team is preparing to take annual leave? How can you make sure departing employees leave feeling confident they won’t come back to chaos? Here’s how to manage staff holidays and annual leave cover in a fool-proof, stress-free way.

Make a holiday policy

Managing annual leave requests can be a juggling act — especially if multiple employees are vying for time off over the same period, like school holidays or religious festivals. Holiday policies are a great way to set expectations and play fair.

Give concrete guidelines for how to book time off, such as deadlines for giving advance notice, issuing leave on a first-come-first-served basis, and letting employees know how many people can take leave in the same period. You could also include guidelines for requesting maternity or paternity leave in your policy.

Plan ahead

Good planning is the fastest, easiest way to work productively with reduced numbers. Encourage your employees to book holidays well in advance and to own the handover process.

If their teammates are briefed well in advance, there will be plenty of time for walk-throughs, questions, and tutorials. It ultimately makes their absence far less stressful, as your remaining team will know their responsibilities, and no one will notice any difference or drop-in service standards.

Bring in annual leave cover

Can’t afford to lose an employee? Bring in annual leave cover. Skilled temporary professionals have the knowledge and expertise to hit the ground running and only require a few days to get up to speed.

Bringing in additional support gives you and your team confidence that any current projects can be completed on time and to the required standard. The burden on your employees is eased, so they can continue with their own jobs without worrying about covering a colleague’s work. It also offers a chance to expose employees to skills and knowledge that may otherwise not have been available.

Provide training to diversify skill sets

It’s not hard to see why employees might feel daunted to cover a teammate’s workload — they’re expected to take the reins in an area of business they’re entirely unfamiliar with. So why not use training throughout the year to break down those boundaries?

Training is a great way to boost employee engagement and gives them valuable insight into their colleagues’ work. Upskilling offers career development opportunities, diversifies skill sets, and allows for more seamless holiday cover (without any panic!).

Safeguard time off with OoO messages

It’s impossible to fully switch off and relax while being bombarded with work calls and emails. Encourage your staff to protect their time off by setting an out-of-office message and sticking to it! It’s important that they include who should be contacted in their absence and how long they’ll be away. This stops people (internally or externally) from getting frustrated at your team’s lack of response and means everyone is in the loop.

Encourage staff to use their holidays

Setting a good example is one of the challenges of managing a team. It’s no good to encourage staff to take time off when you never do, so keep annual leave as a regular part of the conversation with your team and ensure you’re taking your full allocation.

Regularly check your HR software to keep tabs on how much leave each of your employees has, and periodically remind them to put it to good use so you don’t risk everyone trying to book leave simultaneously. Try to promote a culture where it’s acceptable to go on holiday, and you’ll have a more productive and fulfilled workforce.

Planning enables your business to cover holiday absences smoothly. If your departing employee can go on holiday, being able to relax and genuinely enjoy their time away, it’s a win-win scenario all around.