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Here you will find helpful blogs, articles, reports, infographics and more from the team at BrightHR.

Staff hoarding their holidays? Here’s what to do
Staff hoarding their holidays? Here’s what to do

Worried you’re going to be swamped with last-minute holiday requests? Read on.

Blog Article
Oct 16, 2018

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BrightHR shortlisted for the Tech Provider of the Year award
BrightHR shortlisted for the Tech Provider of the Year award

We're thrilled to have been shortlisted for this year's Technology Provider of the Year award at the British Small Business Awards 2018.

Blog Article
Oct 24, 2018

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Your search for "annual leave" matched 84 page(s).

Annual leave policy

All businesses have a legal obligation to provide paid holiday entitlement. So, we've provided you with a simple Annual Leave Policy template. Downloa…

Download Centre (Document Templates) | Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Annual leave

It’s generally agreed that a healthy balance between work and time off is essential for a healthy and happy workforce.Your organisation also has legal…

Articles | Tuesday, Feb 2, 2016

Calculating and managing employee annual leave

Who doesn’t love a holiday? As rewards for hard work go, they don’t come much more appreciated. That’s why correctly calculating and managing employee…

Articles | Friday, Apr 29, 2016

Unlimited annual leave: the good and the bad

For most workers, an unlimited holiday policy is a new employee perk. But believe it or not, flexible holiday schemes have been around for some time. …

Blog | Wednesday, Mar 20, 2019

What's the minimum annual leave for employees?

We all like our holidays - well it is one of the reasons we go to work, the enjoyment of taking time off to spend with friends and family.  But how mu…

Articles | Monday, Dec 14, 2015

How to put together an annual leave policy

You probably get a lot of questions about annual leave. Your staff might want to know how much notice you need or the maximum amount of leave they can…

Blog | Tuesday, May 15, 2018

What are typical employee annual leave allowances?

If you want to make sure your employment contracts aren’t illegal, you need to know the statutory minimum annual leave allowance for employees. But th…

Articles | Tuesday, Apr 26, 2016

Should I let my staff carry over holidays into next year?

It’s that time of year again. Employees have holiday allowance left to take, but there isn’t much time left in the year to take it. If this sounds lik…

Blog | Monday, Nov 4, 2019

Refusing holiday requests is easier than you think

Your team are one of the reasons why your business is such a success. Now, we’re not discrediting you (we know you’re the brains of the operation) bu…

Blog | Thursday, May 31, 2018

Staff hoarding their holidays? Here’s what to do

At the time of writing, there are just 100 days left until Christmas. Scary, right? But not for the reasons you might think. According to our data, 7…

Blog | Tuesday, Oct 16, 2018

5 ways to manage summer holiday requests

Your staff will probably want time off this summer. They might decide to book a week abroad or spend time at home with their kids. Whatever their plan…

Blog | Friday, Jun 28, 2019

The most common bank holiday myths debunked…

Your staff always try to school you on bank holiday laws, don’t they? They say it’s illegal to make employees work a public holiday, or that you shou…

Blog | Monday, May 13, 2019

COVID-19 pandemic: Updates to holiday carryover rules

On Friday 27th March 2020 the UK government announced plans to relax holiday carryover laws for workers, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Worker…

Blog | Monday, Mar 30, 2020

The Ryanair holiday “mess up” - what businesses need to learn

We all know that person who loses track of their annual leave and has to take a large chunk of time off before the end of the holiday year. It’s eithe…

Blog | Wednesday, Sep 20, 2017

Carry over unused holiday into the new year with BrightHR

You asked for it, we built it. Introducing our latest feature - Holiday carryover! This new functionality allows you to track your staffs unused annua…

Blog | Monday, Dec 18, 2017

The importance of taking a holiday

We’re all entitled to a break. In fact, working five days a week entitles you to 28 days’ paid annual leave each year (this includes bank holidays) un…

Blog | Wednesday, Mar 14, 2018

Holiday entitlement for part-time workers

All of your employees and workers can all have time off with holiday days. But the amount varies a lot between full and part-time staff. So, we’re he…

Articles | Thursday, Nov 28, 2019

Final payments

But wait — there’s still the matter of processing your departing worker’s final pay. Whether the employee is leaving with fond farewells, or under a d…

Articles | Monday, Feb 15, 2016

New feature: Never miss a big HR story with the BrightHR Newsfeed

The BrightHR Newsfeed lets you access the latest HR and business news on the go. And as it updates daily, you won’t ever miss any major news stories.…

Blog | Monday, Jul 29, 2019

The easier, faster way to book and approve staff holidays

The holiday request process can be painful for both employees and employers. There’s the time it takes to fill out the holiday requests, the lost form…

Blog | Wednesday, Mar 8, 2017

The early May bank holiday is moving: Here’s what employers need to know

The early May bank holiday normally takes place on the first Monday in May… But this year the Government has made the decision to move from it from M…

Blog | Monday, Mar 2, 2020

Unauthorised absence from work

What is unauthorised absence? Unauthorised absence is when one of your staff fails to come to work without a good reason. It goes without saying that…

Articles | Wednesday, Jun 20, 2018

Holiday accrual

Many businesses choose to run an accrual system—it’s part of an annual leave process. Annual leave will begin building up once an employee begins wor…

Articles | Friday, Feb 21, 2020

Benefits of a staff holiday app

Managing staff leave can be a difficult process for businesses. It’s time-consuming and if you make an error, employees may have clashing annual leave…

Articles | Wednesday, Sep 18, 2019

When should you start your holiday year?

According to our BrightHR data, around 75% of businesses using our smart HR software run their holiday year from 1st January to 31st December. You mi…

Blog | Tuesday, Dec 20, 2016

Mandatory leave: Can you force staff to take time off?

Picture this. It’s a week before Christmas and everything (to your surprise) is going to plan. Your staff are smashing through their jobs and you’re s…

Blog | Monday, Feb 11, 2019

The guilt-free way to handle parent holiday requests

You think you’ve got it bad juggling parent holiday requests. But what about your poor staff?  They have six weeks of childcare to cover in the summe…

Blog | Thursday, Jun 7, 2018

Most booked off day 2019: What’s the fairest way to decide who gets leave?

The most popular day to book annual leave is here. Find out how to decide who gets time off. Picture this. Two weeks ago, you returned from lunch to…

Blog | Monday, Aug 19, 2019

6 ways to handle a heatwave in the workplace

There’s a mini heatwave that’s sweeping the UK. And like many people, your staff are probably trying to soak up every last ray of sunshine before the…

Blog | Friday, Apr 20, 2018

Should you prioritise parents when approving summer holiday requests?

The summer months can be a logistical nightmare for you. Especially, when all of your employees want the same time off. Because at some point, you’re…

Blog | Thursday, Aug 8, 2019

Sick leave

If you're looking for up-to-date information on COVID-19 and sick pay, please visit our coronavirus factsheet. The average UK employee takes 6.9 days…

Articles | Wednesday, Feb 3, 2016

Absence planning for shift workers

Managing authorised leave can be tricky, but things can get even more complicated when dealing with unscheduled time off. The complexity of absence pl…

Articles | Friday, May 19, 2017

Mythbuster: You have to accept an employee’s holiday request if they’ve already booked their flights

Imagine this. Your employee comes in looking giddy and slaps down an absence request form on your desk. She’s booked last-minute flights to Barcelona…

Blog | Tuesday, Aug 6, 2019

BrightHR - SME Awards HR Provider of the Year 2016

We aren't your typical HR management software and advice provider, in fact, it’s our aim to push the boundaries of the workplace and to benefit compan…

Blog | Monday, Jul 11, 2016

New calendar: Grid view and more

December is the busiest month for holiday requests, according to BrightHR data from last year. And it’s only 74 days away—scary, right? Not exactly. W…

Blog | Tuesday, Sep 18, 2018

How BrightHR makes managing holiday carryover easy

Holiday carryover is when you let your staff add their leftover annual leave onto their next year’s entitlement. Your staff (if they’re full-time) can…

Blog | Monday, Feb 11, 2019

Coronavirus Q&A: Some of my staff can’t work because they need to look after their children. What should I do?

The COVID-19 pandemic means lots of businesses are adapting to new ways of helping people balance their personal and professional commitments. We ask…

Blog | Tuesday, Mar 24, 2020

Revealed: Staff holiday pay set to rise after court ruling

On the 14th June 2019, the Court of Appeal made an important ruling that could mean you have to increase your staff’s holiday pay. Here’s everything y…

Blog | Tuesday, Jun 18, 2019

Q&A: Can I make an employee work over Christmas if I’m short-staffed?

Christmas is always a tricky time when it comes to staff holidays. Because everyone wants time off at Christmas. But that doesn’t mean you can afford…

Blog | Thursday, Nov 28, 2019

Compulsory redundancy

Making redundancies is always a difficult process for businesses. But depending on circumstances, it might be the only option you have. This is, sadl…

Articles | Friday, Jul 20, 2018

Employee sick leave entitlement

It’s an inevitability of running a business—sooner or later one of your employees will need a sick day. But what rights do your staff members have? C…

Articles | Tuesday, Apr 19, 2016

Flexible employment

Flexible working can benefit you and your employees. It allows employees to work around their personal commitments and enables you to adapt to busy an…

Articles | Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017

Agency worker rights

There are 865,000 agency workers (or temps) in the UK. This figure amounts to a 30% increase from 2011. The source for this is the Resolution Foundati…

Articles | Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017

Hiring temps during busy periods? You need to read this.

The festive period is an important time for many businesses when it comes to bringing in sales. Bars and restaurants are looking forward to the Christ…

Blog | Friday, Oct 12, 2018

The holiday booking habits of employees

Did you know that the first week back in January is the most popular time for employees to book their annual leave? Data from our absence management s…

Blog | Tuesday, Dec 20, 2016

Coronavirus factsheet for employers

First published 18th March 2020. Last updated 27th March at 3pm. Now that the coronavirus outbreak has been labelled a pandemic by the World Health O…

Blog | Wednesday, Mar 18, 2020

Not another Major Airline ‘Holiday Management’ Gone Wrong!

Last week the world got wind of a computer glitch at American Airlines that left an estimated 15,000 flights scheduled to run over the festive period…

Blog | Tuesday, Dec 5, 2017

Managing Easter absences

Although some of us are looking forward to a long weekend, bank holidays are just normal working days for most businesses. And that means you can stil…

Blog | Thursday, Mar 3, 2016

Holiday nightmare: What to do if your employee is stranded abroad

In the last two years, Monarch Airlines and Thomas Cook have both gone into administration leaving thousands of holidaymakers stuck abroad. But that…

Blog | Wednesday, Oct 2, 2019

How to tell if your employees are close to burnout

Are your employees stressed out? Well, they’re not alone… Because 595,000 UK workers suffered from work-related stress, depression or anxiety last ye…

Blog | Thursday, Jun 20, 2019

Overtime holiday pay

The law around overtime holiday pay continues to evolve. Because of this, holiday pay entitlement for staff who work overtime is a trickier subject th…

Articles | Thursday, Sep 20, 2018

Short term sickness - the issue of pay

It’s a fact of life that employees will fall ill from time to time. The majority of these illnesses will be short-term in nature and employers can exp…

Blog | Thursday, Nov 9, 2017

Long term sickness

The first step is to establish a clear and precise criteria for long term sickness — which isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. The definition of lo…

Articles | Monday, Dec 14, 2015

Parental leave

Thankfully, employees in the UK can request unpaid time off to take care of their children’s needs up until their 18th birthday. This is called ‘paren…

Articles | Friday, Feb 19, 2016

Settlement agreements

Ideally, problems get resolved through talking, mediation or formal procedures. But when that proves impossible, there’s another tool you can use to m…

Articles | Friday, Feb 26, 2016

Employee & worker overtime

Overtime is any time worked over the normal working hours stated in a contract. The employment contract you provide should include working hours and h…

Articles | Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017

Coronavirus factsheet for employers

First published 3rd March 2020. Last updated 12th August 2020 at 5:00pm. For information on getting back to work, read our Back to work factsheet fo…

Blog | Tuesday, Mar 3, 2020

5 extreme weather FAQs: What to do if snow impacts your business

You know when severe weather lands in the UK. The trains grind to a halt, the roads turn into ice rinks and salt gritters become a regular sight. Non…

Blog | Monday, Feb 11, 2019

Long-term sickness absence pay and policy

Employees are usually considered to be ‘long-term sick’ when they’ve been off work for four weeks or more. The four weeks don’t have to be continuous…

Articles | Friday, Apr 29, 2016

Zero hours contract sick pay

You might be under the impression that zero hours workers don't have any workplace rights. But that's not true. As workers, they're entitled to annua…

Articles | Monday, May 14, 2018

Managing and reducing employee turnover

Every time your employees quit, it costs you to replace them and unsettles your team. That's why it's important that you look at how to reduce staff t…

Articles | Tuesday, Apr 24, 2018

Coronavirus factsheet for employers

First published 18th March 2020. Last updated 18th March at 5pm. Now that the coronavirus outbreak has been labelled a pandemic by the World Health O…

Blog | Wednesday, Mar 18, 2020

How BrightHR helps you manage COVID-19 in your workplace

In these uncertain times, we want to remind you that BrightHR is here to help you manage the COVID-19 pandemic in your workplace. Here, we break down…

Blog | Thursday, Mar 19, 2020

Six ways of combating stress at work

According to the latest figures from the CIPD, 47% of short-term absence and 53% of long-term absences are due to stress. Surprising? The stats get ev…

Blog | Monday, Feb 6, 2017

Contracts

The contract of employment is the agreement between the business and employee, and specifies the employment relationship. The contract does not have t…

Articles | Monday, May 15, 2017

HRIS

A human resource information system (HRIS) is a piece of software popular in HR as it offers businesses a source of employee data. Some businesses re…

Articles | Friday, Jun 7, 2019

Presenteeism

There’s a new-fangled practice in the business world. It’s “presenteeism” and some employees, and potentially even business owners, think it’s a great…

Articles | Friday, Mar 29, 2019

Rota planning

Since 30 June 2014, all employees with 26 weeks nonstop service have the legal right to ask for flexible working. A CIPD study of London workers found…

Articles | Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Types of employee contracts

As a business owner, the status of your staff can take on any of the following forms: Employee Worker Self-employed What type of workers do I have…

Articles | Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017

Why it’s right to hate spreadsheets

On the face of it, spreadsheets may seem like the perfect solution to your business problems. Budgets, expenses, your staff’s annual leave, it can do…

Blog | Wednesday, Dec 14, 2016

Sort your squad out! How employers and employees can work together during a great summer of sport

It’s that time of year again. With today being the start of the Euro 2016 football tournament and about two months until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, m…

Blog | Friday, Jun 10, 2016

The 4 simple things you need to cut small business costs

Being a small business is tough and for many, the threat of failure looms large overhead. That’s why it essential owners have a firm grasp on the comp…

Blog | Thursday, Mar 30, 2017

Decisions, Decisions: Choosing the right HR system for your business

Technology has spurred rapid development in HR management systems over the last twenty years.  The range of features available on the market is wider…

Blog | Tuesday, Apr 12, 2016

Decisions, Decisions: Choosing the right HR system for a Business

Technology has spurred rapid development in HR management systems over the last twenty years.  The range of features available on the market is wider…

Blog | Tuesday, Jun 7, 2016

Preparing for the January Holiday Booking Season

Many businesses look forward to the holiday season. The Christmas parties, the Christmas break, maybe a surge in seasonal sales and, of course, the an…

Blog | Friday, Nov 11, 2016

Negotiating settlement agreements with employees

When a relationship with an employee goes wrong, and you can’t find a way forward together through mediation, a settlement agreement is often the best…

Articles | Tuesday, Apr 26, 2016

Employee contract rights

Your staff members have statutory employment rights. They’re set out in law to ensure equal and fair treatment. There can also be variations dependin…

Articles | Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017

Absence management policy

Bad news: sometimes your staff are going to be off sick. But fear not! At the end of this guide, you'll know all you need to know about creating an ab…

Articles | Wednesday, Jul 4, 2018

Is work-life out of balance?

Clean eating and junk food, exercise and relaxation, work and life, yin and yang. They say it’s all about finding that healthy balance: too much of on…

Blog | Friday, Oct 14, 2016

7 signs your company has an absence management problem

Looking to reduce costs for your business? Of course you are, every business owner would like to reduce outgoing costs and maximise their profits. An…

Blog | Tuesday, Jan 10, 2017

Give ‘em a break - encouraging employees to take time off

With 28 days’ statutory holiday entitlement (20 days plus the 8 bank holidays), the UK is 74th in the international holiday entitlement rankings. Germ…

Blog | Friday, Oct 21, 2016

Zero hours contract maternity pay

Zero hour contract maternity rights depend, in certain instances, on whether someone is an employee or a worker. These two employment statuses come wi…

Articles | Friday, Jun 8, 2018

Coronavirus factsheet for employers

First published 13th March 2020. Last updated 13th March 2020 at 12pm. Q. One of my employees is returning from an affected area and some of my staff…

Blog | Wednesday, Mar 18, 2020

Coronavirus: Back to work factsheet

First published 13th May 2020 at 3.30pm. Last updated 12th August 2020 at 5.00pm. Following the announcement of new measures to ease the UK out of lo…

Blog | Tuesday, May 12, 2020

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