On the first day of Xmas, HR gave to me: five festive queries

From queries on overtime to financial rewards, here are five festive FAQs to set the record straight…

Q1: Can I make staff take annual leave over Christmas?

This question comes up a lot.

If you want to close your business over Christmas, can you ask your staff to take the days out of their holiday allowance? Well, the straight answer is yes, you can.

However, you do have to give a certain amount of notice if you are asking staff to take time off. The amount of notice you have to give is double the amount of leave you’re asking your employees to take. So if you were asking them to take four days off as an example, you would need to tell them at least eight days in advance.

If you have certain days of the year when you want to close your business and ask staff to take annual leave, the first thing to do is check your contracts. If these days are already marked out in the contract, then you don’t need to give notice. It’s just worth issuing a reminder that staff will need to take days off.

You can still ask your staff to take annual leave even if it’s not written in their contract. As long as you provide the right amount of notice, you’re within your right to do so.

Q2: Can I refuse to pay an employee a Christmas bonus?

Financial bonuses are meant to be a gesture of goodwill – but things can easily turn sour if you don’t manage staff expectations.

If you do pay out Christmas bonuses every year, your staff will likely be expecting it of course. And if for whatever reason, you can’t or don’t want to give it, it could lead to huge disappointment and even grievances.

If a bonus is a yearly thing you have paid to staff over an extended period, then not paying it could potentially create issues. The bonus could be seen as an “implied term” of your contract. So, there would be an expectation that you would keep paying it.

But if you don’t pay it regularly or this is your first time considering it, generally a bonus is at your discretion unless it’s written into your staff contracts as an entitlement.

If it’s written in your contracts that your staff are entitled to a yearly bonus, then you would be obliged to pay (unless your employee agrees otherwise).

If perhaps the reason you don’t want to pay a bonus is because of a conduct or performance issue, it’s always a good idea to clearly lay out your bonus criteria upfront. Someone can’t accuse you of being unfair if it’s clear that they haven’t met the required criteria.

And if you can’t always be consistent with offering bonuses, it’s important to be honest and upfront with staff about that too – both in your communications and your written documents.

Q3: Can I make employees work overtime during the Christmas period?

Yes, you can require employees to work overtime over the Christmas period if you want to. But again, it has to be written into your staff contracts.

If it’s not in your contracts, you would need to get your worker to agree to the overtime because there’s no contractual obligation for them to do it.

The Christmas period might be a very busy time for you, so you may have good reason to ask staff to work longer hours.

However, you do also need to be considerate of the fact that people will have their own individual circumstances that might make working overtime difficult. So it is important to be fair and consider any reasons why a worker might not be able to agree, rather than just imposing it on them.

Offering overtime pay and “time and a half” can be a good way of incentivising staff. Not only can it help them feel better about working overtime, but it may even encourage them to do it.

Q4: Do I have to pay employees extra for working over Christmas?

There’s often a misconception that employees are entitled to “doubletime” if they work over the Christmas holidays.

But in actual fact, once again, it comes down to what’s in the contract. If it’s not in writing, you have no obligation to pay more than the usual rate.

If you do have an incentive where you offer extra pay, then that’s up to you. There’s no legal obligation but it may be a good move if you want to give staff morale a boost.

Q5: What do I need to think about when planning a work Christmas party?

We all want to have fun at the Christmas party. That’s the entire point.

But without being a party pooper, there are definitely some important considerations for HR and Health & Safety. This includes:

• Making sure you’re being inclusive of everyone (those who drink, those who don’t drink, those who observe Christmas and those who don’t)
  • Note: while you may encourage staff to join, make it clear that your work party is a voluntary event and there is no obligation for staff to attend unless they want to
  • You should also make sure the event is physically accessible for those who may have access needs as a result of a disability
• Carrying out a risk assessment to make sure you’ve considered any potential hazards and taken steps to reduce or remove them (this includes trip hazards if drinks get spilled on the floor or spillage on equipment if the party happens at work)
• Setting expectations about behaviour and misconduct (also being aware of the new duty for employers to take preventative measures against sexual harassment)
• Sending employees a reminder about your disciplinary policies and how they should conduct themselves at any work-related social events

Need some support this festive season?

For further information on how to make sure you’re prepared to navigate frosty workplace issues and make inclusivity a priority this Christmas, you may find the below resources useful:

• Four ways to winterproof your business (and some free HR downloads to help)
• Four tips for creating an inclusive Christmas party

Have you got query you’d like to ask our advisers directly? Or an issue with your staff contracts?

Don’t hesitate to book in for a free advice call now to speak with an employment law expert today.