As employees, and who can blame them, rejoice in the idea of an extra paid holiday on the day that Prince William and Kate Middleton get married, as an employer and business owner, I am not at all happy at the idea.
I wonder how long our sycophantic politicians spent considering the cost to the economy, and particularly the cost to our hard pressed private business sector whilst making the “generous gesture” of declaring an extra holiday for the nation (at no cost to themselves). I suspect their minds were rather more on wondering if they would personally get to go to the reception, whether to buy a new outfit for the day and on how popular it would make them with the electorate. Yes I’m being cynical. I know.
For Office Response we now have to pay an extra days wages to all of our staff, with no compensation whatsoever, and we must deal with a series of short weeks in April 2010 when I suspect it will be difficult to conduct “business as usual”. Our contact centre will be open on the great day but call volumes and financial revenues will be down, whilst costs will be up. Lucky us.
I don’t expect any sympathy as I suspect that the majority of people, and probably my employees too, will think I’m in a great position and “what’s he got to moan about anyway?” However it’s interesting how people’s views change when their position changes.
18 months ago, when he was employed in our new business team, Simon Worden would have been the first to look forward to his extra day of leisure. Now as owner of his own fledgling telemarketing company, outbound-solutions.co.uk, he spent most of yesterday wondering how he’ll pay his bills in April next year. And he’s right to worry as next April gaining commitment from businesses for sales proposals is going to be challenging as we’re going to have to deal with those three short weeks in a row.
William and Kate I sincerely wish you a long and happy time together but answer this for me, why do I have to pay for your marriage day?
Martin Blain
Grumpy Old Man and Director of Office Response.
I empathize with you, Martin. When I first moved here from The States, and started a business, I was amazed at how often, and for how long, the entire UK economy seems to shut down,e.g., the Christmas Hols, bank hols, etc. Now, as an employee of a large marketing agency, I can sit back and relax when I look at my calendar full of days marked ‘OFF’
I agree!
As an employee of Office Response my initial reaction to the news of an extra bank holiday was positive and don’t get me wrong I am still very much looking forward to another 4 day weekend in April, however I have since started to think the implications this will have.
Easter weekend is one of the busiest in our Customer Services department as nearly all of our customers require us to change the way we handle their calls for the bank holidays and it is down to our department to manage these changes.
Although assisting our customers in this way is a large and important part of our function, we also like to be constantly looking at ways we can offer our customers more and how we can develop and improve our services.
Unfortunately it is starting to look like we are going to be pulled away from this in April 2011 while we just focus on supporting our customers and making sure we do everything we can to help them get through the busy bank holiday period!
As one of your employees – I am rejoicing! I am looking forward to an extra day with my lovely family who I barely see these days and I will even sit and watch the wedding on the box! There’s enough doom and gloom is this world – let’s celebrate something for a change!!
I have to disagree- In Spain they have upto 20 national and local bank holiday days off per year. I personally think we should have the whole week off to celebrate the royal wedding in style. How can you put a cost on National Pride?
The UK currently has the lowest paid holiday entitlement in European Union, with just 28 days off for full-time employees in a normal year. The EU average is 34 days, while Finland provides a full 39 days off per year.
Look at employee productivity figures on the other hand, and compared to our Continental neighbours, the UK is frequently mentioned as a country which struggles to get the best results from its workforce. The correlation between a stable work-life balance and productive, committed employees has been reinforced time and again – and that means allowing the workforce to spend time away from their jobs.
Finally, why should the people of Britain be disbarred from participating in a rare national celebration? Unlike most countries, we don’t have an annual Independence Day or equivalent national holiday. Take this away and the only people punished are the hard-working ones who keep our economy in a position make such lavish events possible.
I suspected that our loyal staff would not be in agreement with my sentiments but these comments are boardering on a mutiny.
Get back to your desks and do some work the lot of you.
I for one am looking forward to coming in and doing some overtime in the contact centre and getting paid twice
The points made regarding the financial and pragmatic impact bank holidays can have on businesses hold water
However, from a purely localised perspective, I feel we should not overlook the potential benefits of longevity.
The extra bank holiday will serve as a further example of just how much our customer’s rely on us to protect their interests while they are throwing confetti in celebration – all good PR!
Who knows, maybe the Royal family require a telephone answering service to help manage the volume of calls from all the Royalists OR have employed??
Steve Herbert
Client Services Manager
Office Response Ltd – 24 Hour Telephone Answering Services
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Here here Martin, Its all fine and dandy getting an extra days holiday when you are employed but not when you are the employer.
What I find even more annoying is that all of my staff have announced that they couldn’t care less about the Royal Wedding and they will be taking the day to sail, fix their car, spend time with the cat and go to the pub with mates.
And who will be paying them to do so?……….Muggins.
I think that if you take the day off then is should be compulsory to endure the endless coverage from start to finish on every channel it is on.
Grumpy old men of the world unite! It will cost me about £3800 for the wedding.
If people are that keen on national pride why not work for nothing and forward ther wage for the day to a worthwhile cause. That way the poor employer would get a days work for nothing and the employee would get a lovely warm glow.
Sorry, did I hear a protest from employees?