Weeks like last week can provide great respite or great anxiety for small business owners. Either (like me) they’re delighted to have extra time off (or at least a quieter week to handle the administrative nonsense that never seems to end), or they’re frustrated because all of their employees want the same time off and they haven’t formulated a policy about it.
That’s one of the sticking points about employees: it’s very important to be fair, otherwise, you can run into grumbling, complaints, or charges of discrimination (at worst). Like many small business decisions, employee holidays off is an issue best planned in advance. Here are some ideas:
- Have a written vacation/holiday policy (ideally, one that is part of a broader handbook of policies).
- Require employees to remain employed for a certain period of time before they are entitled to any vacation time.
- Increase the vacation time depending on length of service.
- Lump vacation, sick, and personal days together, and leave it up to the employee to decide how to use them.
- If your business is seasonal, consider taking on temporary employees to help with the volume. Conversely, you may want to specify blackout periods that employees may NOT take a vacation, if your business has a particular need.
Speak to people in your industry to find out what they do. Also, be sure to consult with an employment/small business attorney for guidance on avoiding vacation policy pitfalls.
This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2007 at 10:19 am and is filed under Employees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.6 Responses to “How Small Businesses Handle Employee Holidays”
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July 11th, 2007 at 8:09 am
I am curious to know is a small business able to not give their employees NO vacation and/or sick time?
July 11th, 2007 at 8:52 am
My reference to not taking vacation was not a blanket statement. It’s not that employees can’t take ANY vacation. Chances are that a company would find NO employees who wanted to work with them if they did not allow ANY vacation time whatsoever. However, a company (especially if it’s a seasonal one) may need “all hands on deck” during the holiday shopping season, for example, or certain high points during the summer months (e.g., for hotels or resorts). As a result, they are within their rights to ask that employees refrain from taking vacation time during certain periods. Or, to demand that employees take vacation at certain times.
Generally speaking, vacation time is a privilege, not a right. If you don’t like an employer’s vacation policy (and provided the policy is not discriminatory or violates any statutes), find another employer!
August 6th, 2007 at 9:13 am
Nina,
Do blackout dates apply to full-time, nonseasonal employees who do not receive paid vacation time? For example, my wife’s employer recently told her she is not allowed to take any time from September 1, until the next calendar year. Thanks.
August 20th, 2007 at 6:38 am
[...] How Small Businesses Handle Employee Holidays: You might like to work 24/7, but your employees probably aren’t crazy about that idea. Follow this guide to handling time off. [...]
October 12th, 2007 at 7:53 am
[...] How Small Businesses Handle Employee Holidays: You might like to work 24/7, but your employees probably aren’t crazy about that idea. Follow this guide to handling time off. [...]
March 12th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Well said, finally a good report on this stuff