Summer presents challenges for businesses in the property sector - here's how to navigate them and avoid a legal headache

THE grounding of foreign travel during successive lockdowns meant many employers were saved from the stress of dealing with holiday requests from staff looking to head off on a well-earned break, writes Alexandra Bullmore, employment solicitor with Smith Partnership.

Home-working turned things on their head, and many employers actually reported having a lot of staff trying to carry holiday entitlement over in recent years.  

But now, with overseas travel restrictions lifted and as we move into Spring, many employers will be bracing themselves for the usual flurry of requests from staff members looking to take time off over the Summer. And the biggest headache for employers comes when employees request the same weeks off work. 

As a target-driven industry, those running businesses across the estate agency sector will be particularly keen to avoid this.

They know they achieve their best results when sales teams work well together. But booking time off can present huge problems especially as the housing market continues to remain buoyant. Deals still need to be completed while people are on holiday. And properties will always be coming to market.

Entitled to more

But how do the rules on holiday entitlement work and what can employers in the sector do to avoid claims of unfairness?  

Most employees have a right to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid annual leave. For a full-time employee, this amounts to 28 days, although some employees may be entitled to more, depending on their contract.

No minimum period of continuous service is required to qualify for statutory annual leave. Annual leave accrues as an employee works. 

To avoid potential conflict, and any claims of unfair treatment, employers need to have a clear procedure for booking annual leave.

Employees must give their employer notice if they wish to take holiday. This notice will usually be set out in their contract/handbook.

Generally, the notice must be given at least twice as many days in advance of the first day as the number of days or part days to which the notice relates. So, for example, if an employee wants to take five days’ leave, they must give their employer at least 10 days’ notice.

Employers also have to balance accommodating employees’ annual leave requests with the need to make sure the work is covered.

Who gets to book time off during sought after dates, such as school holidays, can be a particularly contentious issue in some workplaces. To manage this scenario, employers have a couple of options:

• First come, first served. This ensures fairness to those staff members who submit their request for time off first. If this is your policy, then this must be made clear to everyone. There can still be unfairness if the same people are always first to ask for leave.
• Rotating schedule. This option also helps promote workplace fairness. It’s especially useful where the job demands that employees work during certain holidays, such as at Christmas.
• Communication is key. Much of the potential for conflict and ill-feeling can be prevented by better communication. Encourage staff to speak to each other about which days off they would prefer and see if an agreement can be reached.

Increasingly, employers are moving away from the ‘holiday book’ and automating their annual leave booking systems. It’s a welcome move that makes the whole process of requesting and tracking days off much more efficient:

• Time-saving benefits. Employees don’t have to be at work to submit their request. When booking a holiday, it’s easier to see which days are still free and which have been taken.
• HR admin is reduced. As leave requests are sent directly to line managers, there’s no need to inform HR. Everything is already logged on the system.
• All holiday requests are in one place. This helps managers to keep track of holiday and makes it easier to record absence.

It's important to take steps to avoid leave-related discrimination claims. Potentially, there could be arguments of discrimination where a protected group feels as though they are put at a disadvantage because of a booking system. This might be issues around language, or for example, there could be age discrimination arguments from older workers saying the automated booking system puts them at a particular disadvantage.

Employers can avoid this by making sure all employees know how the system works, and if staff still can’t use it, that they’re given help with booking leave in enough time to ensure fairness.

Alternative ways of booking should be offered, so that employees without a smartphone or access to the internet/a computer are not disadvantaged if their employer has a first come, first served booking policy.