As the 2014-2015 school year winds to a close, many families are looking forward to time away from home as a break from the daily norm. In fact, summer is the peak season to take extended vacations, followed closely by fall and spring breaks and the winter holiday season. Regardless of when your employees take a vacation, their expectations to take time away from work make a major impact on your business.
Your vacation policies will obviously depend on the size and structure of your business, but a basic best practice is to set up your payroll system to record the vacation time accrued and used by each employee. Whether you have hourly workers who accrue a set amount of vacation hours each paycheck or salaried employees who earn all of their vacation time in bulk at the start of the year, or even something in between, you will need to have a system in place for experienced payroll managers to allocate these funds without fail.
Vacation time is crucial for your staff because it allows them the opportunity to take a break from the office to recharge and refocus their perceptions, attitudes and overall productivity. If someone works without taking vacation time for an extended amount of time, they may experience burnout and fatigue, resulting in underperformance and inconsistency.
Overworking can be damaging to your employees’ health, as extended periods of work without breaks can cause workers to feel mentally or physically drained, negatively impacting their immune system. As a small business owner, you would rather have a productive, healthy employee able to meet expectations than an overworked employee working themselves sick and having to take time off anyway to recover.
What happens when your payroll manager or human resources employees want a vacation as well? How can your business continue its payroll process without fail? Unless you have the funding and staffing to allot for several members to handle your payroll, you might want to consider outsourced payroll options. With this solution, there is no need to worry about gaps in your pay cycles.
Offering vacation time (and encouraging employees to use it) is a smart business move that positively impacts everyone in the business. You can trust your team and outsourced payroll services to fill in any gaps while employees are away, but can also be satisfied that you are preserving your employees’ overall health by offering extended vacation opportunities.
Padgett offers payroll services to small and medium businesses throughout North America. Our experience in the tax industry has afforded us the opportunity to be there for business owners when they needed an extra hand. See why you should let us handle your payroll and tax management today!