The Christmas and New Year period is a great opportunity to take some time off work and spend it with friends and family. It is also a great opportunity to allow your staff to rest and re-energise in preparation for the upcoming year to allow them to return to work feeling motivated and ready to tackle what is to come.
Making the decision on if and when to shut down your business should be carefully considered to find the right balance for both your company, and your employees.
Understandably, some businesses may need to remain operational during this period as it can be the busiest time of the year. However, if a company finds that operations slow down during this time, the decision whether or not to shutdown can be difficult.
The following are important factors to consider when making a shutdown decision:
Annual Shutdown
Annual shutdown is the temporary, planned closure of a business where employees are directed to take annual leave. Before choosing to do this, employers need to consider the National Employment Standards (NES) and any relevant awards or agreements that their employees may fall under. It is important to take these factors into consideration as it can regulate how and when employees can be directed to take leave.
Employees who are not covered by a modern award, fall under the NES and are subject to its provisions on taking annual leave. Employers can direct employees under the NES to take annual leave during the shutdown as long as it is ‘reasonable’, such as for the Christmas and New Year period.
Most modern awards include a clause that allows employers to direct employees to take annual leave during shutdown if it is within a certain number of days, with written notice. For many awards, this is at least 28 days, but it is important that you check this based on what award your employees fall under. Additionally, employers are able to direct employees to take annual leave if enough leave has accrued and it is reasonable.
If employees lack sufficient leave, this could be managed by seeking an agreement on another form of leave or agreeing on unpaid leave, or by allowing the employee to work during the shutdown.
Public Holidays
Over the end of year period, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day are all public holidays. These days are designated as a non-working day for a lot of businesses. However, for employees who must work on these days, such as healthcare workers, they are often entitled to additional penalty rates to compensate for having to work.
As an employer, you should carefully consider what the best option is for your business, and whether it is a necessity to continue operations on a public holiday, or if shutting down is more appropriate.
If operations are to continue, you should decide if you need skeleton staff on these days. If this is the case, leading up to the public holiday and any shutdown period, finalise the roster well in advance, clarify responsibilities during this time and have clear communication on what is expected and accountabilities.
Flexible Public Holidays
Additionally, flexible public holidays allow employees to work on a designated public holiday, such as Christmas day and as a result, take another day off that is more suitable to them. An employee for example, may do this if their religion does not partake in Christmas celebrations, but other religious celebrations at another time.
It is important to note that a flexible public holiday would only be relevant if staff are required to work on the public holiday.
As we come close to the end of the year and the time for celebrations and shutdown periods, take these three factors into careful consideration so you are well prepared on the directives to take for business shutdown.
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