Overtime and holiday process
Background (pre 2021)
Prior to 2021 we had a “limit” to how much holiday/overtime got rolled over each year. But this was not workable for reasons of fairness and equality.
The reason this was an “issue” to fix, was that the more holiday/overtime people had, the more ‘unknown’ there was in our future planning.
For example, in September, how could we fairly/healthily plan in a project for November when some people had over 3 or 4 weeks accumulated holiday/overtime to use, possibly causing them to not take their required holiday that year.
New approach (2021)
We removed this idea of a ‘limit’ to both holiday and overtime rollovers and instead set up some basic “triggers“ which are checked each month, so as to help us all keep ourselves healthier both physically and mentally. This should also help with things such as business finances and planning.
If a trigger occurs, someone in the people circle will arrange a meeting with the individual to discuss a plan.
At first these triggers would be handled manually by the people circle using the admin app, but could result in a more automated approach to trigger emails and keep notes.
Detail on specific areas
Triggers
Note: triggers calculated pro-rata (35hrs).
- Overtime trigger: +/- 2days
- Holiday trigger (notice): prcntHolidayRemaining > (prcntYearRemaining + 10)
So this is a running monitor, to check holiday is getting booked, with a 10% margin - Holiday trigger (notice): hoursUnbooked <= 0
We should probably keep an eye if things get to this point, as if too early in the year, this may affect mental wellbeing - Holiday trigger (warning): hoursUnbooked = equiv8Days AND endOfYear
This is the limit that could normally be rolled over to the next year before it would legally be lost
Options for overtime usage
- Use some/all of the overtime (easy to arrange)
- Lose some/all of the overtime (unlikely this would ever happen)
- Get paid for some/all of the overtime (requires checks, but otherwise easy - see below)
The “paid overtime” process
Note: This is currently not applicable to sole traders, until further consideration.
This is a slightly more complex step, as affects the business more than the other options. The cleanest process to deal with this is something like:
- A person can request up to 20hours (pro rata) of their overtime backlog be paid per month
- This is then discussed/approved by people circle (minimum of 3 members)
- The approval must include a single person from finance to simply say whether this feels a “financial concern” at this moment in time, if so, it goes back to finance circle for discussion first
Note: someone could request 20hrs on repeated months, this is fine in theory, as we should be stopping this happening with contracts and discussions anyway.
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