With the Melbourne Cup day just a few days away, many employees across NSW are busy planning
Cup day lunches and office sweep stakes.
However legal experts are advising employers to have all the right
policies in place before “the race that stops a nation” to avoid getting caught
up in any scandals.
Speaking to mX Sydney, Joydeep Hor, managing principal, at People + Culture Strategies, explains that it doesn't matter whether you decide
to have a half-day or not: you need to set expectations for all staff so
there's no disappointment or confusion come Tuesday.
“Issues have arisen in the past for some of our clients where staff assume
they have the rest of the afternoon off, when in fact they are required in the
office”.
He also added, "There are plenty of complications regarding
the consumption of alcohol and the risk of inappropriate behaviour, the
disclosure of corporate information."
The solution isn't difficult, according to Hor. Just spend some time setting guidelines for all staff about whether or not they should come back to
work, if alcohol can be consumed, and any other related topics you may
think of.
Despite it been a Public Holiday in Victoria, employers there have raised
concerns about the tendency for workers to call in sick on the Monday beforehand - giving them an extra long weekend.
While the majority of employees take a legitimate four-day weekend by
applying for leave in advance, employers have also experienced a significant increase in unplanned
absences or sickies on the day.
The impact of staff taking a ‘mass sick day’ on a
business is significant in terms of financial costs and lost productivity. Where
possible, employers should encourage staff to use up any stockpiled leave if they
are planning on taking an extra-long weekend.
In addition, there are numerous tools available
to help employers better manage leave and absence.
Leave Slots are an innovative
holiday planning feature available in the latest release of Mitrefinch’s Time and Attendance System.
This new functionality enables managers and supervisors to
limit how many employees can be off on a given day or time period (e.g. the
Monday before Cup Day) - averting potential staffing shortfalls and ensuring
you have sufficient staff on hand to meet demand.
Employees can view available
Leave Slots online and they will be unable to request leave once the limit has
been reached – hence HR won’t need to deal with multiple requests from staff on
what days are available etc...
In addition, Absence Profiling, allows you to see who took a sick day, when, and if any particular
pattern is forming. For example, you could check back to last year and see if
there was a significant spike in absence on the Monday of Cup Week – and take
appropriate action.
If you happen to work in an
industry where staff are required to work on Cup Day, an automated Time and Attendance Software System can also take the stress out of payroll processing –
by easily calculate overtime pay and public holiday penalties, and exporting
this information direct to your external payroll application.
For more information call 1300 884 831 or email sales@mitrefinch.com.au
Read more:
mX Sydney: Race that stops nation if boss OK
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