Dates
Olympic Games – 27th July to 12th August
Paralympics – 29th August to 9th September
Many organisations across the UK, not based in London, think that they will not be affected. Think again. Employees might have won tickets in the lottery and want time off to see them; they might have signed up as a volunteer and been chosen; they might simply want to watch the Games from home.
One of the key issues for organisations is attendance; maintaining an adequate staff presence during the course of the Olympics. The Olympics falls during school holidays which poses a challenge for employers as many parents will need to take holidays over that time. Yet other staff, without children, may well wish to take their annual leave during this time to enjoy the Games.
Most organisations will have in their employee handbooks information about how much notice employees have to give to book holidays. However, if you do not have this information, then at a minimum, employees need to give double the time they are asking for off as the acceptable notice period to their employers.
There is no obligation on employers to give time off to staff over the course of the Olympics. If the business already has employees off at that time then the employer can refuse the time off.
You may want to consider how you can utilise the Olympics as a tool for employee engagement. Could you hold competitions or incentives relating to the games?
One of the problems with refusing holiday is that many employees will simply phone in sick. So a robust sickness absence monitoring policy and procedure is vital. We recommend using the Bradford Index as a tool to help you monitor sickness absence coupled with issuing sanctions if the employee’s sickness absence levels are not at an adequate level. Sanctions could be warnings or if you pay discretionary sick pay, you can also limit any payments to just statutory sick pay. Make sure you speak to an advisor at The HR Experts first before imposing any sanctions or you may leave yourself at risk as there are procedures you have to follow before issuing the sanctions.
You could also look at other ways of minimising the risk of absence. Provided you have adequate cover at key times, would it be possible to locate a television in the staff canteen; allow the radio to be on; or grant additional flexi time or time off in lieu arrangements for the period?
For organisations based in London they have the added problem of commuting challenges. If this is a problem then some organisations may want to consider asking staff to work remotely or from home over certain periods of time.
Businesses should be proactive and pre-plan. Investigate the dates, times and locations of events that could potentially have an effect on them. Be flexible in your approach and clearly communicate to your employees.
And finally, for those organisations in industries such as hospitality, or suppliers to the Games, you have a right to impose a suspension on staff taking time off during this period.
Sharon Swift
The HR Experts
