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Finding the right person for the job is an ongoing challenge for business owners, so when the right person comes along, the idea of them taking leave can sit uncomfortably. However, we all know employees can’t be on call 24/7,365 days a year.

We’ve all faced the headache of trying to squeeze in a trip to the doctor or dentist around work. Not every appointment can wait until an evening or weekend, yet it somehow doesn’t feel justified taking time out of the office.

Staff leave is often taken for granted within companies; once you’ve put a framework in place, it tends to run itself – right? However, increasing evidence is showing that the cost of not paying attention to the way holiday is managed is much greater than most businesses realise.

It might seem counter-productive to actively promote time away from the office, but research is showing that stressed out employees are increasingly in need of a break. Should your business be encouraging colleagues to take more annual leave – and how to you manage this without it negatively impacting workload? Let’s take a closer look…

If you run a company – whatever its size – employees will inevitably take time off due to illness. Yet despite it being a fact of life, the thought of unplanned absences weighs heavily on bosses' minds.

Across the world, sick leave is a huge drain on productivity. The average UK employee takes 9.1 days off each year, costing employers £29 billion, PwC research has shown.

You can’t predict the weather as the famous saying goes, but most company bosses wish they could. Extreme conditions cost the global economy more than $125billion in 2018, and the impact of climatic disruption can be felt by businesses months after the actual event.

Recently we talked about companies offering their staff an unlimited holiday allowance, but this isn’t always the best approach for businesses. Many organisations find that their employees actually want the structure of having an exact holiday entitlement, and knowing they are on an equal footing with their colleagues.

Companies are always looking out for new ways to attract and incentivise staff, and these perks don’t always have to be connected to salary. In the past few years we’ve seen a growing trend towards businesses giving their staff more paid leave – and some have even started offering unlimited holiday.

The European Court of Justice has made a landmark ruling on employees’ rights to carry over annual leave, and whether workers should be paid for holiday they haven’t taken in previous years when their employment ends.

The countdown to Christmas has begun, and it’s not just families who should be preparing for the big day. As a business owner or manager, you need to be ahead of the game when it comes to scheduling staff leave during the festive period – so that everything runs smoothly, even with a skeleton workforce.