How to deal with the slew of summer vacation requests

As the summer months roll in and we say a welcome goodbye to the snow, employers are bracing themselves for the inevitable slew of vacation requests. The pandemic effectively ended our summer plans last year, with employees opting to carry over any annual leave to enjoy post-pandemic.

With borders finally open and air travel on again, people have big plans for their 2022 vacations. For HR leaders, it’s time to consider how best to handle the surge of requests – and whether or not you can actually refuse them.

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“Your vacation policy should inform employees of how far in advance they must request their vacation. It should clarify the procedure for making the request,” Andrew Caldwell, HR manager at Peninsula, told HRD. “The policy should also list the reasons a request may be declined. For instance, you may decline requests during the busy holiday season, blackout period, or if you’re already short-staffed. Make it clear in the vacation policy or your employee handbook that if several workers want the same time off, you’d deal with the requests on a ‘first-come first-served’ basis.”

Obviously, HR leaders would ideally like to grant every employee vacation request, but in some situations – and in some sectors – this simply isn’t possible. If you do have to decline a request, ensure you speak to your employee and explain the reasons why – don’t simply reject it on your HRIS and stay silent.

Caldwell suggests creating a shared holiday calendar, one which shows all upcoming time off and allows you to plan accordingly.

“A shared holiday calendar can help avoid vacation clashes,” he told HRD. “You could put it up in the work area or share it online so that it is easily accessible to all your employees. This way, your staff can check availability before blocking dates. While a ‘first-come, first-served’ policy would make managing time-off requests easier for you, it is not without its shortcomings.

“For instance, some employees may always reserve all the coveted holiday periods at the beginning of the year. This is unfair to others and may lead to staff becoming upset. To avoid this, you should devise more creative ways to divide popular days. You could ask your employees to draw lots. Or you could have a rotational system. For example, everyone could take turns to get time off on Christmas Eve.”

The Great Reset

In the wake of the pandemic, employees began rethinking their priorities. Wellbeing, while always important to HR, became an essential component of organizational strategy. As such, employees began to rethink their work-life balance, keen to place more of an emphasis on personal time. In a post-pandemic Canada, vacations will be a priority for workers - it’s important that HR make them as accessible as possible.

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“Employee wellbeing was an important focus even before 2020, but the combination of a global pandemic, social unrest and a rapidly changing economy has elevated its importance to individuals, organizations and communities,” Kelly Higgins, associate vice president, health solutions at Aon, told HRD.

“Balancing work and life, time off with pay, and employee mental health are intertwined. A holistic look at current programs, resources, and vendors is necessary to ensure that related offers are promoting strong employee wellbeing goals.

“Employers should also be focused on the concept of resilience, where the environment at work is one in which people can better adapt to adverse situations, manage stress, and retain motivation.”