HR and Payroll Preparation Tips for the Holiday Season

Here are some tips and a handy checklist to keep everything on track for managing holiday leave. For the purposes of HR, the holiday season is approximately from mid-December to the first week of January.

HR Holiday Best Practices

The best practices for HR during the holidays are to plan ahead, communicate clearly, share the workload, and use reliable payroll processing systems and software.

Plan Ahead

Start with a calendar system that allows automation of reminders. Enter the holiday dates, bank closures, and holiday schedules for employees. Pay careful attention to any dates when a key employee is unavailable, especially if they need to approve bonus payments. Plan to have sufficient funds in the master payroll account to cover regular payroll and all the bonuses.

Prepare for any support needed by seasonal and remote workers, which may increase during the holidays. HR needs to ensure that remote workers know how to execute their remote work properly, such as how remote access works, how to check in and out, what their availability requirements are, and how to follow up with coworkers.

If new hires are made, manage their onboarding process as much as possible before the disruption of the holidays.Set up a master schedule and get the HR team on board to ensure the company’s priorities are met.

Communicate Clearly

The holiday season is an excellent time for key executives to praise employees with public employee appreciation and rewards for a job well done.

Be inclusive about holiday celebrations by recognizing the diversity of employees in the workplace. Allowing employees to celebrate or not according to their beliefs is important. There are more than eleven holidays in December that are celebrated worldwide. Invite all employees to company events, but don’t force them to attend if they prefer not to be there. Resist the bias of asking the “non-religious” to work while others have time off.

Early in the last quarter is a good time to communicate your company’s time-off policies as the end of the year approaches. HR needs to be proactive about communicating time-off policies, such as how to request time off and encouraging employees to request time off early. This helps to secure desired dates when sufficient job coverage by other workers is available. Inform affected employees about rollover caps that might apply to their paid time off (PTO) balances, so they can use the accumulated PTO and not lose their PTO.

Balance the Workload

Based on the company’s priorities and your HR master schedule, balance the workload among team members, remote workers, and seasonal employees. Try to create a fair schedule where everyone steps up to meet the company’s priorities.

Reliable Payroll Processing

A reliable payroll processing system with effective software is a critical tool for managing payroll, bonuses, PTO, and holiday pay.

You will want your payroll processing system to produce these reports:

• Payroll Recap & Funding: This shows the cash needed for payroll, bonuses, direct deposit, and tax obligations.
• Payroll Register: This shows all the deductions and taxes for all employees.
• Reconciliation: This report shows all the net pay items to reduce accounting and general ledger input.
• Master Data Change Report: This shows all the changes.

Employee Leave Management

Besides accommodating employee requests, it is vital to be proactive and offer to schedule PTO for employees who may be approaching burnout. It is crucial to teach employees that company leadership values them and wants them to take time off.

HR department staff will likely be working more during the holiday period. Nevertheless, try to schedule time off for them to be with friends and family. Many HR staff take a few days off during the December holidays and follow this with a week or more for vacation in late January.

Holiday Bonus Processing

The best practices are calculating the holiday bonuses and directly depositing the payments on an early payroll date before the holidays. Many employees count on their holiday bonus to purchase gifts and pay for holiday celebrations.

Holiday HR Employee Leave Checklist

1. On the master calendar, put the dates for the holidays, the date the bonuses will be paid, the days the company is closed, and the days the banks are closed.
2. If the company will close down, have the employees take time off during the close-down period.
3. Encourage employees to apply early for other time-off requests.
4. Make sure all deductions are taken properly from paid leave.
5. If the leave period includes public holidays, those holidays are not counted as leave days.
6. Make sure employees are paid the correct rates for paid leave.
7. Check payroll reports to ensure the rates are calculated correctly.
8. Check that each employee’s paid time-off (PTO) balance has been correctly calculated.
9. Inform all employees who are at risk of losing a rollover of PTO to the next year.
10. Make sure there is an audit trail of leave requests and management approvals.

Key Takeaway

Holidays can be stressful for HR and payroll departments due to increased demands and expectations. However, with proactive planning, clear communication, balancing the workload, and the support of reliable payroll software, businesses can ensure that their HR teams are well-prepared to handle the rush and keep things running smoothly.

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