A well-organised and clear holiday plan can save your business time, money and stress; it is well worthwhile investing in an organisational system to ensure you can catch your flight to paradise without worrying about work. Here are 3 tips to help you manage annual leave: 1/ What’s your policy? All your employees should be able to access an Annual Leave Policy Handbook to ensure that everybody is clear on the expectations and limitations involving their time off. Most importantly, you need to be fair and consistent within these policies, abiding by Working Time Regulations (WTR) or similar legislation in your country. Clarify any pay conditions or maximum periods of leave (for instance 2 weeks, unless other permissions granted). Do you carry leave over each year, or does it cut off at the end of each year? 2/ Keep it transparent Transparency is essential between you and your team on who is off and when. You need to have an easy-to-view system, avoiding complicated excel sheets or handwritten scribbles. Eliminate guesswork with an available-to-all holiday planner so that employees can make informed decisions on their annual leave depending on busy times and available fellow workers. 3/ Plan ahead If your holiday is as organised and transparent as recommended above, it should be easy to see the periods where your business might struggle meeting deadlines. Looking ahead will save money and stress as you won’t have to hire expensive last minute help. Consider flexible working arrangements for employees that have drawn the short straw and have to cover these busy periods. We have an exciting webinar coming up on 25th July on Annual Leave Management Systems and how they can help your business. For Architectural Practices, you can sign up for the webinar here. For Engineering Practices you can sign up for the webinar here.