December is the month of fun, festivals and celebrations. HR pros everywhere are busy in celebration planning to make the passing year memorable for employees. But will the employees be available to join the moment? That’s a challenge HR pros face every year.
“What are we doing this Christmas and New Year?” An employee asked over a casual talk at the lunch table.
“We will have something really grand for employees this time”. I replied.
“That’s exciting. But I will miss the fun…I am on leaves around that time.” He said with a smile.
That’s a common scenario in every organization during the year-end. Managers and HR is bombarded with leave & Paid-Time-Off requests from the employees all over. Most of the time the requests are justified. After all, when it comes to yearly leaves “Use it or Loose it” is our HR policy. Isn’t it?
To someone who has worked all the year round, saying “NO” isn’t the solution. But still approving every “time-off” request simply means empty cubicles, silent cafeteria and just few employees joining the office celebrations.
Though the business seems to be slow this time, workforce availability still has to be maintained.To manage the situation without disappointing employees, do it the simplest way
- Encourage employees to utilize their leaves in planned manner during the year.
- For better management, Managers can ask team to submit their leave plans for the year in advance.
- Approve requests based on business needs.
- Plan your celebration on days when most employees can available. A day ahead or after, doesn’t make much difference if employees are participating and contributing.
What are your suggestions to manage “Paid-Time-Off” request and Employee Engagement this festive season?
HRDictionary 
Not only employees, even the project manager should come out with the leave pattern that the team can utilize. If there is a project constraint, plan the contingency and allow leave to be applied in staggered manner. If we help the employees with work life balance, you can find a healthy team. This way you do not compel the team to utilize unused leave at the end of the year.
Second reason is that many captive centers will let off their employees to proceed on leave because there would not be ,many projects to work during this period and employees are encouraged to go on leave for mutual beneficial reason and help 1. reduce manpower / Operational cost. 2. Allow employees to utilize the unused leave which cannot be carried forward to the next year
If these reasons can be managed effectively both both the parties, you can ensure that people are around the cubicles during your celebrations.
Thanks SV for your valuable comments. Always appreciate your suggestions..yes project manger is the one who can help in efficient leave management throughout the year.. At times we just have to be a little proactive.
Oh yeah, fauulobs stuff there you!