One of the great challenges of the human resources department is the management of staff vacations. As usual, most workers will want to enjoy them in July or August. However, this is not always possible. Thus, we will have to manage the holidays from HR .
Why it is important to manage vacations from HR.
It may seem like a secondary issue to you, but nothing is further from reality. As we have said, most vacation requests are concentrated on specific dates.
Summer, Christmas, Easter… Even given the possibility of a long weekend, requests for days off or personal affairs can be concentrated.
If all requests are approved, we risk leaving a department or team without workers. Something that, logically, will negatively affect the results of the company.
For this reason, it is essential to manage vacations from HR. This is the only way to guarantee that the company can function.
It is also important to emphasize that good vacation management will help us to satisfy the workers. We will have to try to please everyone, although we will have to justify ourselves when it is not possible.
How to manage vacations from HR step by step
Now that we know why we should plan vacations from HR, let’s see how to do it. As in any aspect related to the human resources of our company, planning is a fundamental aspect.
Design a corporate vacation policy.
Companies with a vacation policy work best. For this reason, HR should write the vacation policy and share it with employees.
This will allow us to clarify doubts and avoid misunderstandings. Working based on clear rules, the job will be easier.
The vacation policy should be as clear as possible, without ambiguity of any kind. It will consider all possible situations.
Can we split the holidays? How are you going to manage your own business days? Can vacations be changed once granted? How are they requested?
In this way, workers will know when and how to request vacation. And the HR team will have some guidelines to manage them.
When drafting the vacation policy, we will consider the Workers’ Statute and the sectoral agreement. Also, the activity of the company itself.
Priority on vacation
There is a key question in vacation management: who chooses first? Based on the answer to this question, it will be easier for us to use the vacation manager from HR.
Logically, our vacation policy will help us establish order. To do this, there are three methods:
- Employee turnover. A priori, it is the fairest system since each time a worker has priority. In this way, the employee who chooses first today will be last the next time.
- antiquity. This criterion serves to reward the fidelity of the workers. There are not a few companies that manage vacations according to the seniority of the employee. The greatest risk, generating discontent among newcomers because they will never be able to enjoy them when they are interested.
- Workers with children. In an intermediate point is this option. The objective is to promote family reconciliation, making workers’ vacations coincide with school ones.
Distribute vacations in advance.
After defining the vacation policy and the form of distribution, it is time to start planning. Doing it on time is synonymous with avoiding problems. It is advisable to plan at least two months in advance. And you always must be aware that changes and unforeseen events may arise.
The fact of anticipating offers our staff some leeway to plan their vacations. But it also allows the human resources team to anticipate needs during the holidays. We may have to redeploy the workforce, relocate workers. And this cannot be improvised.
Good planning will also allow us to meet human needs during the vacation period. Will it be necessary to hire someone to replace the casualties? If the answer is affirmative, we will have to activate the selection process with enough margin so as not to fail.
Having a vacation calendar will help us manage them better. At all times you will know how the holiday distribution is between your workers.
The managers of each department will also know the vacations of their employees to better manage the workload.
Software to manage vacations from HR.
All these steps to manage vacations from HR come together in the use of vacation control software.
This is the case of Leave Date’s Leave Planner, from where we can manage employee vacations. Also, days off or absences. Even employees can do it.
A vacation software allows us to channel vacation requests in the same channel. Workers request them, it is recorded, and human resources approves the request or rejects it.
There are not a few cases of workers who request vacations informally. And now of truth, that request has been left in the air.
In addition, in the staff leave planner, workers can check how many vacation days they have left.
Having help of this type also allows us to automate vacation management . For example, the vacation calendar will be generated automatically.
As applications are approved, it is updated. Thus, we have information in real time and save time.
In this way, we will be able to control vacations from HR and improve the work environment. We must be aware that we cannot always please everyone.
That is why it is essential to have a clear vacation policy and make the most of our software to manage vacations.
