I have a pretty complex problem at work and I would be massively grateful of some constructive advice.

I am the manager of a busy retail business and the problem is regarding staff holidays. Now try and keep up with me here….
I have staff who have gone from 5 days down to 4 days per week this year.
I have staff who do and always have done 4 days per week.
I have full time staff who do 5 days per week.

What I am looking for is a solution to how to do a fair system regarding staff holidays or more precisely bank holiday entitlement.
What do other employees do when a staff member works, say, Tuesday Wednesday Friday Saturday and ere is a bank holiday Monday? Do you give them a day in lieu for the Monday? Does law state that they get it in liege? The Acas website seems to only give rights when the bare minimum of holidays is given.

what I am looking for is a fair system for all the employees.

Include bank holidays in their annual holiday entitlement.

So if they get 25 days a year, up to 5 of those may include compulsory bank holidays off.
If they work the BH then they don’t use one of their 25 days and get to take it at another time (in lieu as you say).

What does your HR department say?

Simple answer is what ever full time get the part time get pro-rata.

Bank holidays can be included into their holidays, there’s no right to have them off.

Simple answer is what ever full time get the part time get pro-rata.

Including a pro-rata allocation for bank holidays.

To make it fair on those (if any) that normally don’t work Mondays, anyone that does and wants to take it off, needs to apply for it and have it deducted from their allocation. Although I’m guessing that for most BHs, you’ll want the staff in.

I do 4 days, my company just pro rata my holidays and ignore bank holidays.
My other half also does 4 days and her company includes the bank holidays in her annual leave.

Set a minimum staffing level

Then Let them sort it out, as long as there are X number of people in they can swap or change as they like (I’ll do your bank holiday Monday if you do my Sunday shift next weekend etc.)

When working part time, I had BHs added to my leave allowance, then the whole lot was pro-rataed. I then booked BHs off using my pro rata leave allowance. If I didn’t normally work on a BH day I wouldn’t have to book it off (though that never happened as my non work day was Tuesday!) Seems pretty fair to me.

Pro rata at my place. If the bank holiday is your normal working day then you would owe the company 0.2 days. That is if 5 days is full time and 4 days is 0.8. If the bank holiday is on your non working day then you owe the employee 0.2 days. We have flexi time so easy to work back extra. Or you could just work it out at the beginning of the year and take or add on the required days from holiday allowance.

currently the staff who do 4 days get 24 days per year and 8 of those are bank holidays (when we are closed)

The ones that don’t work a Monday are arguing that they should get a day in lieu for every bank holiday Monday. The ones that work a Monday (and therefore get bank holiday Monday’s took out of their 8 days) are arguing that they will get less days than the others. Who’s right and what system works in a situation like this? Me or my boss can’t get our head round it.

If I’m reading that correctly, then the answer is to give those people who don’t work Mondays a day off for every BH Monday, and take it out of their leave allowance. Which puts them in exactly the same position as those people who do work Mondays who get a day off and have to take it out of their leave allowance.

And this is why the smart choice for a 4 day week is to have Friday’s off.

Put them all on zero hours contracts, it’s not fair but the nasty party approves.

Simple answer is what ever full time get the part time get pro-rata.

This – always been the case when I or MrsMC have worked shift or part-time hours

I do compressed working over 4 days and have my leave in hours. Normal working day is 7.2 hours for most but I do 4 x 9 hour days.
I get 30 days leave plus bank holidays (10 this financial year I think) so end up with 40 x 7.2 hours. Any leave I book is at 9 hours for a day.
On bank holidays I have to book 9 hours leave so 1.8 more than anyone else to reflect the extra hours I would be expected to do were I to be working.
Something similar would work for your team.

Just include bank hols in the overall holiday entitlement then pro rata it. Just remember to always round up in any calculation of days. For your Monday its just an option as to what suits you best. The ones that don’t work Monday’s are getting the holiday anyway if you give holiday including bank holidays, for example if they work 5 days a week tue – sat then they effectively get an extra 8 days of free choice holiday a year. You could also enforce paid leave days, so they get paid for the Monday but don’t come in or give them a day in lieu. Those options could be slightly fairer but It’s totally up to you, remember they have no automatic entitlement to bank holidays off.

That’s how I’ve always done it.

The only sticky wicket is if you have part time staff who always work Monday’s, then it’s a pain in the ass. Someone who works 2 days a week including 1 Monday wouldn’t accrue enough holiday to have every BH off plus a 2 week break so you’d need to arrange something to suit both of you in that scenario.

I know what you’re saying Nick but the problem is we have some part timers who do Monday and some who don’t, seems there is no fair way to satisfy them all

I am in exactly the same situation as dknwhy, however if my day off falls on a BH, I would ‘lose’ my day off as those working get it off anyway. So I get a 9hr credit to my leave balance.

I do a rolling roster so my day off falls on a Monday once every five weeks, I generally get credited for 2 or 3 BH days, so 18 or 27hrs per year.

If I were part time I imagine it would be pro-rata, so if I did 18hrs instead of 36hrs I would expect a 4.5hr credit to my leave balance if I was rostered off on a BH. Its actually a perk in my eyes as I can choose to take my BH when it suits me 🙂

I think the managers get all the bank holidays added to their leave balance (pro rata if part time) but then have to book the bank holidays off (even if its Christmas Day and the business is shut)

Well there’s a fair way. If it doesn’t satisfy everybody then that’s because they’re a bit dim, or think they should be getting something for nothing.

Just use the statutory holiday guide on calculation then you have no come back. We use it quite often especially with our clients whose staff work varying hours.

https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-holiday-entitlement

leythervegas – Member
I know what you’re saying Nick but the problem is we have some part timers who do Monday and some who don’t, seems there is no fair way to satisfy them all

Don’t see how that’s an issue – those who work it get it off and those who don’t either get a day elsewhere or paid instead to take a days holiday allowance. It’s plenty fair, anyone who grumbles about that is just being a twonk. They are all getting exactly the same allowance over the year. To be totally down the middle just enforce paid holiday on every BH Monday that way everyone is off, everyone’s getting paid for the Monday and everyone’s taking a days holiday. That does reduce flexibility though, some would prefer the day to the money and vice versa but you can’t pander to different requests under a totally fair system.

Just add the bank holidays to their annual full time allowance and if they don’t work full time then reduce the total holiday inc. bank holidays proportionally. We don’t work bank holidays but it still comes out of everyone’s allowance – if it didn’t it would cause problems with new starters or leavers in how much holidays they get or have owing as bank holidays are not evenly distributed over the year.