Employers "need to consider and be prepared" for next Spring's rush of bank holidays to keep good employee relations with those in civil service jobs and other roles.
That is according to Carol Smith, senior employment consultant at Croner, one of the UK's largest provider of workplace information, who advised businesses to plan well ahead for April next year where several bank holidays fall in a short space of time.
Earlier this month the government announced that April 29th would be a bank holiday in celebration of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, which will fall on the same day.
This creates a scenario where from April 22nd, employees will only be working on three out of eleven days with two bank holidays for Easter, one for the Royal Wedding and another for May Day falling in successive weekends.
Ms Smith said that this could cause employers "concern about the additional cost and operational difficulties", along with keeping employees happy.
"We've already had a number of calls to our telephone advice line from employers asking if they have to grant the time off, and if they do, whether employees should be paid," she said.
"The short answer is it really depends on what is written in their contract of employment."
Some businesses, Ms Smith added, could give employees the day off out of kindness and to keep moral high.
"[Bosses] can use this as a good will gesture and this may be well received from an employment relations perspective, particularly in the current economic climate where it may be difficult to award pay rises or bonuses," she remarked.
"However, if bosses decide not to allow employees the additional day, they need to consider and be prepared for any potential employee relations or adverse publicity implications."
Already it would appear that small businesses are less than convinced at the prospect of funding another day off. According to a survey by freshbusinessthinking.com, over half of business owners believe that the Royal Wedding should not be made a bank holiday, with 110 out of the 200 polled believing that businesses should not be further disrupted.
Richard Smith, director of Clemo Group in West Yorkshire, told the Fresh Business Thinking website that though he is happy to celebrate the wedding, it should not be up to him to pay the cost.
"A completely unnecessary cost to thousands of organisations. I am sure it will be a great day and I am a royalist but why should my business have to suffer?"
The Daily Telegraph reported that the cost of the day to businesses could be as high as £5 billion and Philip Johnston, writing for the news provider, believes it is time to question why the April and May period has so many at once.
"Why don't we take the opportunity of William and Kate’s wedding to scrap the May Day holiday – which is, let us remember, one of two in the same month," he said.
With change unlikely to occur in 2011, those in human resources jobs will have to deal with the logistical problems that come with the holiday.
Ms Smith, of Croner, added that the final decision now lies in the hands of each individual company.
She said: "It will be up to the employer to make a decision about that day – whether to trade or not and whether the day off will be paid or unpaid."
Insight from Badenoch & Clark is here to help you make informed career and recruitment decisions. If you need help with a particular challenge, just ask. Contact us or check our latest voluntary sector, public sector and civil service jobs.
