Preferential treatment is being awarded to employees with families over single workers when it comes to allocating Christmas holiday allowances.

These are the findings from a survey by Croner Consulting.

Four in ten employers give priority to those with children or dependants when granting annual leave requests over the festive period while in small businesses the discriminatory treatment is rife with just over half (52%) admitting they favour family workers over singletons when dishing out Yuletide leave.

Larger businesses are less influenced by workers with family ties with nearly two thirds (68%) granting holiday requests according to business needs.

Richard Smith, HR expert at Croner warns employers to treat all requests fairly to avoid discrimination and potential conflict in the workplace:

“There is a growing ‘Bridget Jones generation’ of younger people who are choosing to develop their professional career before getting married and having children, and employers are telling us they are finding it hard to dish out holidays without upsetting singletons.

“We advise our clients that, whether an employee wants to spend Christmas with their children, or partying with friends, neither should be given preference when granting holiday requests.”

Croner offers the following advice to employers charged with managing holiday requests over the festive season:

• All employers should have a policy in place with guidelines for granting holiday requests which states that all employees will be treated equally, but personal circumstances may be considered.
• If it is in the contract of employment that the employee is required to work over Christmas, then the employee must do so, unless otherwise agreed.
• Employees are not obligated to tell their employer why they wish to take their annual leave at a certain time, although they may wish to inform them of any special circumstances which could help their employer reach a decision.
• Family commitments will not automatically grant an employee permission to take annual leave, although an employer may take this into account in an attempt to be fair and reasonable.
• The employer can refuse a holiday request if there is a genuine business reason, such as the need for the work to be done or the premises to be supervised.
• If several employees wish to take their holiday at the same time employers should include in their policy how this will be dealt with, (e.g. ‘first-come-first-served’, asking for volunteers to work, a yearly rota system, or random selection).
• Employers should not refuse holiday for disciplinary purposes, as this should be treated as a separate matter.
• Employers should be seen to be actively adopting their holiday policy to avoid accusations of favouritism, or even sex, racial or religious discrimination.

One hundred and fifty two businesses were surveyed in total.