Effective strategies for managing employee vacation requests

Managing employee vacation requests can be a real headache for however is responsible for the task. There is not much thanks when you are able to grant requests, but when you have to refuse them there is often complaints.  If you have been awarded this responsibility it can really be a ‘poisoned chalice' even if you are going to be paid extra for doing the job. The fact is that no matter how good you are at managing employee vacation requests there are still likely going to be times when the answer is going to be ‘no'. This is not going to make your popular, but it comes with the job. When managing employee vacation requests you will need to see who can cover those shifts that would have fallen to that employee. It is not just a case of filling the spot with anyone, but finding someone with the same skill set. If you are managing employee vacation requests for key-workers it can be a real headache. When the employee is responsible for tasks where there are plenty of others with the skills needed it should be fairly straight forward to get cover for their vocation. If it is a key-worker you may need to request staff from other branches or arrange for a freelancer to cover. Managing employee vacation requests effectively means having plenty of notice so that you have time to prepare. If one of the staff members announces that they need to take a weeks off starting from tomorrow then this is going to be a real headache for however is responsible for managing employee vacation requests. This is why it is a good idea to have a policy whereby members of staff are expected to give so much notice if they want vacation time. Of course there will be emergencies where the staff member won't be able to give much notice and allowances should be made for this. Otherwise something like a month's notice should be viewed as the minimum. It is a good idea to have a vacation planner in the staff room where staff can request their holiday time. This is sure to make managing employee vacation requests a lot easier. This way they can see what holiday time has already been requested so they will be less likely to ask for times that are just not possible due to staffing. A vacation planner means that the employee has some sense of control in managing employee vacations requests and so less likely to complain when they don't get what they want. This really is a simple and effective tool that is well worth having in your business. When managing employee vacation requests, it is a good idea to say ‘yes' as often as you can. These holidays are not only an employee's right, but they are also needed for them to remain productive workers. If employees feel that their requests have not received enough of an effort to be granted they will become disgruntled and may even leave the job because of it. It is also possible that employees will just find a way to take the time off anyway by calling in sick.