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Are you Prepared for the Onslaught of Vacation Requests?
June 13, 2021
Written by Sandra Reder
President and Founder of Vertical Bridge
As the light at the end of the tunnel gets closer and closer, there is a lot of “buzz” around offices and in social circles about where people want to go for their vacations. Employers can expect there to be a large influx of employees submitting their vacation requests. With restrictions being lifted and more of the population being vaccinated there is a lot of pent-up demand for travel. Every time I talk with clients, friends and family the conversation inadvertently turns to the first place we’re all going to go when we can travel again.
While this is exciting and a long time coming, employers need to think about how they are going to handle the onslaught of vacation and time off requests that will be a result of this pent-up demand.
Here are 3 tips for all employers to handle vacation requests:
- Start the conversation with your teams early. Find out what their thoughts are around time off and vacation between now and the end of the year.
- Ensure you have a vacation request policy in place and that you tell everyone that you will be scheduling vacations as per your policy.
- Set expectations – explain that you will not be able to accommodate everyone’s requests, especially if it leaves your business short staffed in certain areas or departments. However, you’ll do your best.
The sooner you begin to have these conversations the better. The last thing you want is to be short-staffed, or worse have office morale impacted due to the fact that you are not prepared for this pent-up demand for time off.
About the Author
For over 20 years, Sandra Reder has been a driving force within the human resource community. Her understanding of current HR best practices and trends is extensive, and her desire to ensure that Vertical Bridge is providing innovative programs and services to their clients is what drives her and the business forward. She has worked within a wide range of industries including healthcare, private sector, not-for-profit and public sector.
Over the years she has been privy to information that few employers ever hear directly from their employees. She became aware that many employers do not realize how they are perceived by their employees. That awareness produced Sandra’s strong interest in assisting employers to ensure that they are creating engaging and respectful workplaces. In 2005 Sandra founded Vertical Bridge, a full service HR and recruitment consulting practice.
In late 2014 Sandra identified a need for human resources support within the healthcare sector. She founded HealthBridge HR, offering a variety of HR solutions specifically for health care practitioners providing them with the HR expertise that they would not otherwise have access to.
Sandra is a well-regarded facilitator and speaker on a variety of subjects, including HR Best Practices and Inter-Generational Communication within the Workplace. She is a sought after keynote speaker on the topic of human resources and has presented at numerous association and industry conferences.
She is actively involved with HRMA (the Human Resources Management Association), Sandra currently sits on a number of Boards, including EMBERS, a downtown Eastside social enterprise and the Developmental Disabilities Association. Sandra is the past chapter president of the Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services and past Chair of the Board of Governors for the Developmental Disabilities Foundation. She also has had the privilege of sitting on the local Chapter Board of Room to Read and she has actively volunteered her time with Covenant House in Vancouver.