Kate Southam, Editor
Ask Kate Column: By now you’ve probably seen the Federal Government’s No leave, no life campaign designed to encourage us to take stored holiday leave and spend our tourist dollars inside Australia.
According to the No leave, no life website, “Australian employees have built up a staggering 123 million days and $33.3 billion in accrued annual leave, with one in four full-time employees accruing 25+ days leave.”
Annual leave is carried on the bottom line as a financial liability so there is an economic benefit to your employer when you take your holidays.
However, asking employees to take holidays can make them worry. Read any story about the signs your company could be preparing for lay offs and you’ll see “you’re asked to take your holidays.”
I hear from plenty of people deliberately stock piling annual leave just to increase their pay out just that little bit if they lose their job. Asking staff to take leave could be messing with their security blanket.
The latest research from Chandler Macleod shows a third of 5,250 people surveyed had been affected by redundancy so the topic is top of mind with most people.
Don’t get me wrong. I am all for over worked employees taking a break, particularly in these stressful times, but, employers must be open in their communication if they decide to support the campaign. They must address the elephant in the room – job security and workload.
Some people stock pile leave because there is no one to do the work while they are away. Employers can generate a little extra economic cheer by hiring a temp to cover those on holiday to give them a real break.
Can your employer force you to take holidays?
Probably, according to the managing partner of Harmers Workplace Lawyers, Hardeep Hor. He said 80-85 per cent of the working population was covered by the federal system that provides clear rules on directing employees to take holiday leave.
“[the laws] require people to have a minimum of eight weeks leave available. If the employee does have eight weeks leave they can then be directed to take up to a quarter of that leave,” he said.
Mr Hor said there were variations to the rules depending on the award, enterprise agreement or workplace agreement an employee was hired under.
I do get the compulsory holiday leave question every Christmas when some companies shut down so here is the skinny on that issue.
An employer can also direct staff to take holiday leave as part of a “formal shut down” of the business. If there is a skeleton crew left working then that is not considered a formal shut down.