Here are some tips on how businesses can manage some of the most common staff issues over the summer months, from enforcing dress codes and attendance policies to managing an influx of holiday requests.
Dress code
Company dress codes have had a lot of media coverage recently after an employee was sent home form work for refusing to abide by the company’s policy for female employees to wear high heels shoes.
Nicola Thop a temporary worker form London deemed the request to be sexiest. She set up an online petition calling for it to made illegal for a firm to require women to wear high heels at work after she was sent home unpaid from a temporary job at PwC.
The petition posted on social media has raised well over the 100,000-signature threshold needed to have the UK parliament consider holding a debate on an issue.
What is an appropriate dress code is going to vary from one organisation to another. With this topic fresh in people’s minds, consider the impact of relaxing dress codes during the summer months that could be viewed to be more favourable to one sex than the other.
Sending out a reminder of your company's dress code before it gets too hot is advised. It's far better to set clear guidelines, before anything misunderstanding can occur.
Managing Holiday requests during peak periods
John Platt recently won his case at the High Court after he refused to pay a fine for taking his six-year-old daughter out of school for a family trip to Florida. Whilst this was great news for John, it is anticipated that local authorities will tighten up the legislation, making it more difficult for families to take children on holiday during term time. Therefore, there is likely to be an increase in employees with families wanting to take time off during the summer school holidays.
To manage your employees’ expectations ensure you have a fair, clear and transparent policy that is well communicated within your business.
Common ways to manage holidays during busy times are:
- Use a holiday planner or holiday planning system to avoid clashes
- Create a method for employees to request or “bid” on preferred dates for holidays
- Require employees to schedule time off in advance, but be reasonable about how far in advance they need to schedule
- Have employees coordinate holiday time with their coworkers and/or self-manage holiday time. This helps ensure that “back-ups” exist
- Develop policies that specify which criteria will be used to approve holidays (first come, first served, seniority, rotation, etc.)
- Specify the limits of taking holiday (i.e. people with the same skill set can’t be out at the same time, maximum number of days, etc.)
- Remind employees that the business’ needs need to come first when scheduling holidays
Sporting events
There is no legal requirement to give employees time off to watch sporting events . However, turning down requests for time off to watch them may decrease staff morale and lead to unauthorised absences. Having a clear policy to deal with employee conduct during popular sporting events such as Wimbledon or Euro 2016 can help employers avoid unauthorised absences and minimise disruption in the workplace.
Consider the following initiatives:
- Informing employees that any requests for holiday during theses events should be made by a specific date. Where applicable, the basis upon which requests will be granted should be clarified. For example, in accordance with the normal holiday procedure, or on a first come first served basis.
- Where possible, allowing more employees than usual to take annual leave at the same time. For example, if only 2 people per department are usually permitted to take leave at any one time, employers may consider increasing this number whilst the events are in progress.
- Where possible, allowing employees to work more flexibly e.g. by working additional hours on certain days to start work later/finish earlier on days when events of particular interest are taking place.
- Where employees are working to a set shift arrangement, employers could encourage “shift swapping” with colleagues so that their rest days fall on the days on which events of particular interest are taking place.
- Where practical, you could provide access to a television and/or radio during working hours. Radios in particular will provide adequate coverage of the event without necessarily impacting on the contracted hours of work or performance/output.
