This time of year, talk around the water cooler may heat up when the topic of fair distribution of staff holidays is discussed. This is particularly true if your business doesn't have a formal policy on holiday time but rather faces the pain of holiday scheduling on an annual basis. And it CAN be a painful experience. Even for small businesses with a handful of staff, scheduling holiday time during busy periods or, as is the case in Prince George, during shorter summer months, can be a headache even for the most compassionate and fair employer.
Additionally, unless your business is large enough to warrant a Human Resource Department or staff, it can be tricky to keep track of all the legal essentials of managing employees. There are a few good Canadian human resource websites and subscription-based services that provide small businesses with sound legal advice. The most up to date and comprehensive information includes the human resources regulations outlined on the government of Canada website.
The basics are fairly simple when it comes to holiday time. Although it varies from province to province, in British Columbia every fulltime employee is entitled to a minimum of two weeks of holidays after working 12 consecutive months. Individual employers may choose to increase the amount of holiday time by way of a policy or through specific contracts.
An employee's vacation time in British Columbia will begin to accrue after the 5th day of employment. After five years employment, an extension from two weeks up to a minimum of three weeks of holidays is required by law.
I've found that there are many misconceptions regarding WHEN employees can or must take holidays. Simply put, the power rests with the employer not the employee. The employer has the authority to tell employees when they must take holidays and the employer also has the final say when granting holiday time requests. It is common sense, and in the employer's best interest, to fairly and transparently accommodate individual holiday requests in order to keep employees satisfied. Alternately, if a business must close down, for a week at Christmas or over the summer for example, it is the employer's right to require staff to use holiday time during the closure.
A pre-emptive approach with lots of lead time and discussion is the best way to handle holiday scheduling. Advise staff very early in the year that you require holiday requests in advance. Better yet, develop an official policy and process that is explained during the orientation of new staff so that both management and employees are clear on the rules upfront. If a business must close down for a short period of time and employees are required to use holiday time during the shutdown, notice should be given well in advance to avoid disappointment.
Finally, keep in mind that once holiday time has been approved, the employer is pretty much bound to deliver on their promise; there could be consequences for the employer if they disallow holiday time after final consent has been given to the employee. Until next week, stay in the black and keep coming back.
