BBQ-itis... has it hit your office? Beware this Bank Holiday weekend!

Bank Holiday Tuesdays have a high rate of attrition – whether its down to the after effects of too much alcohol, too much sun or food poisoning down to badly cooked barbecue food, adding to delayed onset ‘Mondayitis’, I’ll hazard a bet that in many workplaces, there will be at least one empty seat Tuesday.  Of those that are present and correct, there will be more than just a few dosing themselves up on caffeine pills, aftersun lotion and painkillers to combat excesses of one form or another!

With such a huge variance in indulgences, as well as absenteeism, the increase in staff absence is predictable, but there are steps employers can take to help.  Actively encourage your staff to have a great time off – safely.  

Ahead of this coming bank holiday:

• Promote fun activities in your area over the weekend (the local venues will welcome your support!)
• Encourage your employees to have safe ‘fun in the sun’, with advice leaflets on sun cream (a gentle, timely reminder may avoid sunstroke and sunburn)
• Get staff to share barbecue tips and recipes to share with staff, which you can accompany with food safety advice on barbecuing without the hazards
• Make sure that your staff are aware of the safe drinking limits and promote sensible drinking at company events
• Keep good, accurate records on staff absence, and if you spot a pattern of sickness, software can help you take action.  It may help you spot stress early on, as well as tackling the sickie-takers who cost your business money.

For the HR Managers, working tirelessly through summer’s challenges of annual leave and absenteeism – maybe your bosses will be kind enough to replace your spreadsheets with absence management software that makes the season run more smoothly. 

Good luck with BBQ-tis staff today... you can do this!!

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Managing leave planning around the world - Europe

Activ People HR are proud to manage annual leave throughout the world - most of the world, in fact!

You can download a list here where you'll find companies using our leave planning software, Activ Absence - and managing sickness absence too!

Obviously managing staff leave throughout the world means lots of different rules and configurations for planning annual leave and lots of different public holidays.  Some companies manage thousands of staff across thousands of locations and Activ Absence handles all these rules within the same, easy to use system.

Here's how annual leave varies within the EU alone: