First come first served feels like the obvious way to share out Christmas leave in a small team. The trouble is, it means December ends up being decided by whoever happened to ask first.
I was answering these exact questions for a client at the start of October, and what I told them was that they weren't overthinking it at all, these are exactly the right things to be asking now rather than working out in December. So if your team are starting to ask about time off over Christmas, here are the five things I'd get sorted this month, plus one extra for anyone with someone new joining before the festive break.
In this post, you'll learn
how to give everyone a fair chance at the days they want
what to do when you can't say yes to everything
how to handle closure days, and the notice you need to give
how to stop doing all of this from scratch every year
Step 1: Give everyone the same window to ask
I'd move away from first come first served and set a window for Christmas leave requests instead, so the whole team knows when they can ask and everyone is asking at the same time.
That gives everyone an equal chance to ask, and if two people want the same days, you're deciding on business need rather than who happened to ask first.
If you only do one of these five things this month, make it this one.
Step 2: A holiday request doesn't have to be all or nothing
Once the requests are in, you might find you can't say yes to all of them. A leave request doesn't have to be all or nothing though. If there's a genuine work need for someone to be in on one of the days they've asked for, you can approve two and decline one.
The important bit is to explain why, rather than leaving it as an unexplained no. That reason matters again in step 4.
Step 3: If you're closing, tell your team in good time
If your business shuts over the festive break and you want your team to use some of their annual leave for the days you're closed, you need to tell them in good time.
Unless your contracts say otherwise, the legal minimum is notice of twice the length of the leave, so three days off means at least six days' notice. Telling everyone now is much kinder anyway, while they're still planning their own time off around it.
Step 4: Closure days get credited back
Sometimes the decision to close on a particular day only gets made nearer the time, after people have already booked it as holiday. I'd treat it as a fairly simple rule: any day that turns into a company wide closure day gets credited back to anyone who already had it booked, whatever the history behind that booking.
That includes the person you said no to in step 2. If you declined a day for a work reason and then close anyway, give the day back. That business need was the only reason they didn't get it in the first place, so if the need disappears nearer the time, it's fairer that they aren't worse off for asking honestly while everyone else benefits from a later decision.
Step 5: Keep the extras discretionary, and write it all down once
The early finish on Christmas Eve or the extra day as a thank you is lovely, but make it clear each year that it's discretionary. If it happens the same way every year without anyone saying so, it can start to look like something your team is entitled to, and that leaves you stuck in the year the workload just won't allow it. Keeping it discretionary rather than making it a set policy protects your flexibility for those years.
Then write your rules down once. Getting it written down somewhere, even a line in the handbook, makes it an established rule rather than something you're deciding fresh each year, and once it's written, that bit takes care of itself 📃
If you haven't got a handbook yet, that's where Employer Essentials comes in. It's my pack of core documents for first-time employers, with the employee handbook, offer letter and employment contract, plus starter documents like a holiday request form, so your Christmas leave rules have somewhere to live.
One more, for anyone with someone new joining before Christmas
If you've got someone starting with you before Christmas, I'd wait until there's a real number to give them before you talk to them about their holiday, rather than guessing at this stage.
Recap: your Christmas leave checklist
Give everyone the same window to ask, and decide any clashes on business need.
Approve part of a request if you need to, and explain why.
If you're closing, tell your team in good time: at least twice the length of the leave, unless your contracts say otherwise.
Credit closure days back to anyone who already had them booked, including anyone you said no to for a work reason.
Keep the extras discretionary, and write your rules down once.
And if someone new is joining before Christmas, wait for the real number before you talk to them about holiday.
If you'd like to talk your own Christmas plans through with me, you can book a Power Hour. And if you've got a Christmas leave question of your own, please feel free to get in touch, I'd love to hear how you're handling it this year!
