Leave at work

Employee leave is essential for creating a healthy work-life balance but navigating it as an employer can be challenging. As a UK employer, understanding employee leave entitlements and having a system in place to manage leave from work is crucial to ensure you are compliant.

However, with so many types of leave and different requirements for each type, where do you start when navigating it confidently?

Let us break it down for you. Whether you want to know more about annual, sick, parental, or compassionate leave, we have everything you need to know here in this guide. Read on to discover our practical tips to manage leave requests efficiently.

What is a leave of absence?

A leave of absence is a period where an employee is permitted to take time off work for some reason. This absence will not affect their employee status and will take place during normal working hours.

Understanding the different types of leave both contractual and non-contractual and ensuring that your policies comply with relevant employment laws is crucial for both employees and employers. If you fail to do this, you could face claims at an employment tribunal.

What are the types of leave your employees will request?

There are many reasons why an employee may request time away from work. In terms of duration, leave could be on a short-term or long-term basis and fall under statutory or non-statutory leave.

Statutory leave refers to absences that you are legally required to provide including maternity leave, paternity leave, annual leave and statutory sick leave.

Non-statutory leave is provided by you at your discretion and can be granted for reasons such as bereavement, sabbaticals, educational reasons as well as extended leave for special circumstances or significant life events.

For a breakdown of the types of leave your employees may request you can read our article types of leave.

The legal framework for leave from work

As an employer, it's wise to familiarise yourself with the legal framework that governs leave entitlements as this will give you guidance on the protection currently in place to protect employee rights.

It will also highlight your responsibilities as a UK employer. The combination of statutory laws and regulations includes the following key components that must be adhered to:

• Working Time Regulations 1998

• Employment Rights Act 1996

• Education and Skills Act 2008

• Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009

• Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999

• Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002

• Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014

• Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018

• Carer’s Leave Act 2023

• Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024

• Employment Relations Act 1999

• Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

Employers must ensure that leave policies do not discriminate against any group or gender. The government regularly update leave entitlements and it is your role to keep up to date with any changes.

Navigating employment laws is complicated but asking for help with them doesn’t have to be. BrightHR has a 24/7 employment law advice line, that is always there whenever you need it.

Your employer responsibilities and best practices for work leave

So, what are your legal duties when it comes to leave from work? You must create a fair and consistent approach to employee leave while ensuring you are compliant.  But how do you create a policy that is fair to all? After all, the way you handle staff absence can have a positive or negative effect on staff wellbeing.

As a UK employer, it's best practice to:

Develop a clear policy and concise procedures

Employers should create a written policy surrounding employee leave that outlines the type of leave and the process for requesting time off for each type. This policy should be included in an employee handbook or communicated efficiently to all employees during onboarding.

Communicate clearly

Ensure all information regarding employee leave is communicated clearly including how much notice is required and the documentation needed.

Keep accurate documentation

Employee absence needs to be accurately documented and a record kept of all types of leave. Managing your documents digitally is often a much more efficient way than doing so manually. So, it’s advisable to have an HR document storage system, that can help you store all of your documents related to employee leave and keep you up to date on the latest employment law regulations.

Provide training

Ensure that managers and key personnel participate in comprehensive training sessions to thoroughly understand and familiarise themselves with your leave policy.

Understand employment laws

Ensure that your leave policy meets legal requirements. If you’re ever unsure, it’s advisable to talk with employment law experts to make sure your policy is in line with the law.

Maintain consistency

 Your policy should apply uniformly to all employees to prevent any perceptions of favouritism or discrimination.

Ensure confidentiality

There should be an emphasis on confidentiality when handling sensitive information regarding employee absence, particularly for medical or personal issues.

It’s beneficial to review your leave policy regularly to maintain operational efficiency and that it is still relevant to your workplace. By fostering a supportive and transparent environment, employers can encourage responsible leave-taking while maintaining productivity and employee satisfaction.

Managing leave requests and approval process

To create a positive work environment, employees must feel supported when requesting leave. To facilitate this, you must be able to manage leave effectively. Navigating employee leave can be complex but it doesn’t have to be.

A clear and concise policy should help you lay some important ground rules including eligibility criteria and the physical process of requesting leave. Employees will have various responsibilities when it comes to requesting leave but so do you. Employers should promptly acknowledge a leave request and using a digital software annual leave planner can help with this.

What challenges could arise when managing leave requests?

Handling overlapping or concurrent leave requests could present a challenge especially when making sure the office is adequately staffed.

How do you navigate overlapping leave requests?

This situation could arise in various situations such as peak vacation season or flu outbreaks or perhaps employees in the same sector have family-related or medical needs at the same time.

The first step to navigating this is to ensure that your policy clearly outlines the types of leave available and any specific provisions related to overlapping requests such as prioritising criteria. Establishing a first come, first served basis for leave could be an option here or perhaps medical necessity may take precedence.

Employers do have the right to refuse certain leave requests if granting leave would disrupt business operations or if the request does not comply with the company policy. For example, you can refuse a request for annual leave, but you cannot refuse a request for maternity or paternity leave. Whatever your decisions, you should handle the situation with fairness and sensitivity.  

If you’re ever unsure about what types of leave you can refuse, why not ask Bright Brainbox: Can I refuse a request for parental leave?

Pay and benefits during a leave of absence

One of the many responsibilities of employees is to accurately manage and track employee absence. The reason for this is because absence can have an impact on the pay or benefits that employees receive. There are also legal implications and understanding these is vital to compliance.

The impact on an employee's pay will of course depend on the type of leave and this will decide whether an employee receives full pay, partial pay or no pay at all during their period of absence.

Absence may also cause disruptions to employee benefits such as health insurance and impact pension contributions. Of course, employers must comply with statutory rights including the right to maternity leave, paternity leave and sick leave. If you fail to adhere to these regulations, financial penalties could occur.

Get help managing employee leave at work from BrightHR

As you can see, navigating employee absence requires a delicate balance between legal compliance and clear communication and compassion. To manage employee leave successfully, UK employers need to develop a clear and concise absence policy that outlines employee rights and puts regulations in place to accommodate employee’s individual needs.

Fostering an inclusive workplace culture, providing training for managers and regularly reviewing your policy can improve efficiency and contribute to overall morale. A well-managed employee leave system plays a key role here so getting the right support from BrightHR can help.

BrightHR provides you with efficient methods to handle all aspects of employee leave. If you are looking for a hassle-free way to keep track of employee absences, book a demo today to see how BrightHR can assist you.