Posted October 16, 2017
Christmas is a necessary evil for salon owners. It can be both the busiest time of the year, as everyone gets their brows, facials and blow dry’s done before the silly season; and then it can swing around again and become completely dead through January as your clients go on holidays and take a break. Salon owners often want to take some time off during Christmas to spend time with their loved ones, but if you are open, this means that you have to have at least a finger on the pulse of your business. Your staff, like everyone else, are keen for a break but your salon may be open throughout the Christmas period. So how are you supposed to best handle annual leave at this time, to ensure your salon continues to run smoothly and your staff don’t crack under the pressure?
Employees are entitled to 4 weeks annual leave each and every year and can request to take their leave at any time during the year. An employee must request to take annual leave before going on leave, and so cannot call you up on the day and just say ‘I’m taking a day of Annual Leave’ – that’s not how the system works. An employer can only refuse an employee’s request for annual leave if the refusal is reasonable – like, if all your Senior Stylists decide they want to take leave at the same time, leaving you short staffed. It’s important to have this conversation with your team early on and throughout the year, to make sure that they understand that they must work together and stagger their leave. This usually means that in strong, long-standing teams you will end up getting annual leave requests for the Christmas period in about July, which means you can plan appropriately.
Under The Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2010, during a period of annual leave an employee must be paid an annual leave loading of 17.5% and form part of the National Employment Standards (NES). If you’re going to close your business between Christmas and New Year, don’t forget that you have to give your employees a 4-week notice of any salon closure in writing as we previously spoke about. As a HABA member, you can download a template for this Christmas Closure notice here, completely free. The Hair and Beauty Industry Award states that employers can direct their employees to take annual leave by giving at least four weeks’ notice as part of a close-down of its operations for example in Christmas close down periods.
Before everyone goes off and gets into a merry spirit on in your last week before Christmas, make sure that you talk to your staff about rosters over the weeks after Christmas Day specifically to ensure that there is no confusion for anyone. The last thing you want is a day full of appointments between Christmas and New Year’s Eve to be understaffed, so double check with everyone that they know which days they need to be in the salon and make sure that your Christmas period is as stress-free as possible in 2017.
To ensure your salon is compliant and understanding your obligations as an employer, contact Hair & Beauty Australia on 02 9221 9911
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