How to deal with staff issues this Christmas

The festive season should be be a cheerful time for you and your clinic team, but it may also be a busy period that requires some careful planning when it comes to staffing. Dealing with an influx of holiday requests at the same time as a flurry of patient bookings isn’t easy, but there are ways to manage this so you can be fair to your team and keep your clinic running smoothly, says Victoria Vilas. 

How do I deal with competing holiday requests?

As an employer, you are within your rights to restrict when employees can take leave, so you can put limits on holidays during busy periods, including the festive season. It’s a good idea to remind your clinic team of your opening hours over Christmas and New Year well in advance, and ask those keen to book leave to submit their requests in good time.

One idea is to ask all employees to submit their Christmas leave requests and highlight their most wanted leave dates. You can then look at all the requests together and try to put a fair plan in place. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve may be popular choices, so you could ask your staff to choose one or the other as their preference. You may find that this splits the requests neatly between those with children and family commitments, and those who are more excited about their New Year’s Eve celebrations with friends. 

By the time Christmas comes around, many of your employees will have used up most of their annual leave anyway, but it is worth checking if any of your team have been banking time to use at the end of the year, or just haven’t got round to using their allocated leave. If a couple of employees have leave to take before the end of the calendar year but you really need at least one of them to be in clinic, then perhaps you could extend their deadline, and allow them to take their leftover holiday in January.

Should employees with children, or those with families a long journey away be given priority for holiday bookings?

It is considerate to be flexible to workers with children or those with family abroad, but you must have policies that are fair to all of your employees. Hopefully, your employees will do the sensible thing, and those with greater need for time off over Christmas will book it well in advance. It’s possible they may leave things until the last minute, though. If an employee is desperate to book leave but their team members got there first, perhaps have a chat with your team and see if anyone is willing to be kind and swap with their colleague.  

If I choose to close my clinic on certain days over Christmas and New Year, can I ask employees to take that as part of their annual leave allowance?

You can ask your employees to take their leave on certain dates, including bank holidays, as long as you have included this in their employment contract or have provided another written statement confirming this, such as an employee handbook. If you are changing your policy, then make sure you give your employees plenty of notice, especially as they may need to reserve some of their remaining leave to cover this. 

Do I need to pay Christmas workers extra?

There is no statutory right to extra pay for working over Christmas and New Year or on any bank holiday. However, if your employment contracts state that you do pay extra for bank holiday hours, then you are obliged to pay your workers this additional rate if you open your clinic on Boxing Day or New Year’s Day. Extra pay on other workings days may be entirely at your discretion, but it could be used to incentivise your staff members to volunteer to work over the festive period. 

What happens if someone calls in sick around Christmas or New Year and you suspect they’re just feeling worse for wear after a party?

The impact of an absent employee could be greater over the festive period, with more staff members taking leave than usual. But, you must deal with sick leave in exactly the same way as any other time of year, even if the mulled wine only comes out in December. Your employee must follow your company policy on reporting their sickness on time to their line manager, and any back-to-work reporting procedures you specify in your contracts. You cannot assume an employee is lying about their sickness if you have no evidence to corroborate your theory, but an employee could face disciplinary proceedings if they fail to follow company policy.

What happens if bad weather or reduced public transport makes it hard for workers to get in?

Employees are responsible for checking for any transport issues in advance of their working day. On certain days over the festive period some public transport services run a reduced service, so your employees should check timetables. Being unaware of Christmas timetable changes that have been publicised weeks in advance is not really a circumstance beyond their control, but there may be other unexpected issues that arise short-notice that make travelling a nightmare. Remember that the issue may not only be the employee making it to work on time, it will also be whether they can make it home safely. For example, if severe weather or a train strike causes a swathe of train cancellations and you have employees without alternative transport, you may have to make a call as to whether it is worth them coming in. It is your responsibility as an employer to ensure the health, safety and welfare of your employees. It would not be fair to insist on an employee coming into work if they could then face being stranded on a train platform late at night with no way of getting home.  

Victoria Vilas is marketing and operations manager at ARC, an aesthetics recruitment consultancy. The ARC team helps organisations in the industry grow their businesses by hiring the most talented aesthetic professionals.

The festive season should be be a cheerful time for you and your clinic team, but it may also be a busy period that requires some careful planning when it comes to staffing. Dealing with an influx of holiday requests at the same time as a flurry of patient bookings isn’t easy, but there are ways to manage this so you can be fair to your team and keep your clinic running smoothly, says Victoria Vilas. 

How do I deal with competing holiday requests?

As an employer, you are within your rights to restrict when employees can take leave, so you can put limits on holidays during busy periods, including the festive season. It’s a good idea to remind your clinic team of your opening hours over Christmas and New Year well in advance, and ask those keen to book leave to submit their requests in good time.

One idea is to ask all employees to submit their Christmas leave requests and highlight their most wanted leave dates. You can then look at all the requests together and try to put a fair plan in place. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve may be popular choices, so you could ask your staff to choose one or the other as their preference. You may find that this splits the requests neatly between those with children and family commitments, and those who are more excited about their New Year’s Eve celebrations with friends. 

By the time Christmas comes around, many of your employees will have used up most of their annual leave anyway, but it is worth checking if any of your team have been banking time to use at the end of the year, or just haven’t got round to using their allocated leave. If a couple of employees have leave to take before the end of the calendar year but you really need at least one of them to be in clinic, then perhaps you could extend their deadline, and allow them to take their leftover holiday in January.

Should employees with children, or those with families a long journey away be given priority for holiday bookings?

It is considerate to be flexible to workers with children or those with family abroad, but you must have policies that are fair to all of your employees. Hopefully, your employees will do the sensible thing, and those with greater need for time off over Christmas will book it well in advance. It’s possible they may leave things until the last minute, though. If an employee is desperate to book leave but their team members got there first, perhaps have a chat with your team and see if anyone is willing to be kind and swap with their colleague.  

If I choose to close my clinic on certain days over Christmas and New Year, can I ask employees to take that as part of their annual leave allowance?

You can ask your employees to take their leave on certain dates, including bank holidays, as long as you have included this in their employment contract or have provided another written statement confirming this, such as an employee handbook. If you are changing your policy, then make sure you give your employees plenty of notice, especially as they may need to reserve some of their remaining leave to cover this. 

Do I need to pay Christmas workers extra?

There is no statutory right to extra pay for working over Christmas and New Year or on any bank holiday. However, if your employment contracts state that you do pay extra for bank holiday hours, then you are obliged to pay your workers this additional rate if you open your clinic on Boxing Day or New Year’s Day. Extra pay on other workings days may be entirely at your discretion, but it could be used to incentivise your staff members to volunteer to work over the festive period. 

What happens if someone calls in sick around Christmas or New Year and you suspect they’re just feeling worse for wear after a party?

The impact of an absent employee could be greater over the festive period, with more staff members taking leave than usual. But, you must deal with sick leave in exactly the same way as any other time of year, even if the mulled wine only comes out in December. Your employee must follow your company policy on reporting their sickness on time to their line manager, and any back-to-work reporting procedures you specify in your contracts. You cannot assume an employee is lying about their sickness if you have no evidence to corroborate your theory, but an employee could face disciplinary proceedings if they fail to follow company policy.

What happens if bad weather or reduced public transport makes it hard for workers to get in?

Employees are responsible for checking for any transport issues in advance of their working day. On certain days over the festive period some public transport services run a reduced service, so your employees should check timetables. Being unaware of Christmas timetable changes that have been publicised weeks in advance is not really a circumstance beyond their control, but there may be other unexpected issues that arise short-notice that make travelling a nightmare. Remember that the issue may not only be the employee making it to work on time, it will also be whether they can make it home safely. For example, if severe weather or a train strike causes a swathe of train cancellations and you have employees without alternative transport, you may have to make a call as to whether it is worth them coming in. It is your responsibility as an employer to ensure the health, safety and welfare of your employees. It would not be fair to insist on an employee coming into work if they could then face being stranded on a train platform late at night with no way of getting home.  

Victoria Vilas is marketing and operations manager at ARC, an aesthetics recruitment consultancy. The ARC team helps organisations in the industry grow their businesses by hiring the most talented aesthetic professionals.