Planning for, and managing staff leave

Staff leave is an inevitable part of business life that can prove costly if employers are disorganised - Rebecca Spicer takes notes from HR experts who believe planning is key, and there is more to it than marking dates on a calendar

As a business owner, taking time off is often a luxury and one taken at your discretion. When it comes to your staff, though, leave is their legal right, and so you need a system to avoid pressure and potential productivity losses.

Leave comes in many forms, from annual, sick, carer’s and bereavement leave, to long service, maternity and parental leave. And while some of these can be more easily planned for than others, running your business so it can still operate efficiently with unexpected absences will be crucial to maintaining productivity.

While many employers might see leave as a hindrance to their business, keeping in mind some of the positive outcomes, and having effective processes in place to minimise the impact on your business, will make it a lot more productive.

Management consultant Christine Allan believes business owners should be considering and planning for staff leave on an ongoing basis, making it an intrinsic part of strategic planning and budgeting. "Let’s face it, leave is a fact of life whether you like it or not. It’s a mandated requirement so it needs to be planned for. When it’s not, people can come unstuck."

Patricia Rowe is a lecturer in strategic human resource management at the University of Queensland, and she suggests business owners nominate at least one time in the year to gauge leave expectations from staff, and plan (as much as they can) for the year ahead. "By communicating this to staff, they will expect the boss to come around at the same time every year to ask when staff might like to take leave, and employees can plan for this with family and friends," she says. "This annual planning formalises the process, it brings consistency to the business, and people like routines."

And while staff have a right to take annual leave, for instance, the business owner doesn’t necessarily have to grant it for the time requested. "It’s a two-way street," says Allan, which is why having a formal policy in place that outlines what staff need to do to apply for annual leave will help balance employer and employee needs.

Such a policy should be clearly communicated to staff and should outline things such as the best times for staff to take time off, how many staff members can take time off at any one time, how much notice they need to give, what forms they need to fill out and who they need to talk to regarding leave.

"If businesses have a policy that says, we allow ‘x’ number of people off at a certain time, then everybody knows that it’s first in first served. So it creates a bit of fairness," adds Allan. This can be particularly useful in popular leave times such as school holidays.

It also keeps staff aware of what their entitlements are, says Kathy Bracken, senior human resource officer for NSW Business Chamber. "A policy is helpful because different businesses have different theories and ways in which they have their leave structured. Some offer a lot more, some not so much. It depends if they’re covered by awards, whether they’re locked into legislation or whether they have the flexibility to offer other types of leave. So that all needs to be taken into consideration and people need to be aware."

Allan suggests the policy should cover little things like redirecting email and voicemail, and a ‘what to do before you go’ list. "It’s surprising how many businesses can be a bit disorganised, and somebody goes off on leave and they’ve either not covered the staff member at all or they’ve just allowed them to leave their voicemail as it is. So you get customers who ring up over a four-week period and can’t get through to anyone, which is hugely frustrating, and it’s just not a good image."