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Small businesses to ‘ignore’ Diamond Jubilee

Two thirds of small businesses are refusing to give staff an extra day’s holiday in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, new statistics have shown.

According to business support specialist ELAS, 62% of SMEs plan to open as usual or force staff to take an extra day out of their holiday entitlement.

75% also expressed objections to Government plans to use additional bank holidays to celebrate national events such as the jubilee and last year’s Royal Wedding.

Peter Mooney, ELAS’s head of consultancy, said: “This is the second year running that businesses have been asked to foot the bill for a royal celebration.

“While most people don’t want to begrudge the Queen wanting to celebrate 60 years on the throne, these are businesses which are in many cases already hard-pressed to make ends meet, and which simply cannot afford another day’s lost trade.

“But this is going further than just being unhappy; this suggests that the majority of bosses are either opening their doors as usual or forcing staff to take the day out of their annual leave entitlement so as to mitigate the negative effects of a lost day’s trade.”

By combining the Whit bank holiday with a special bank holiday to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the Government have created a four day weekend. While this will be welcomed by some, it will also result in higher wage bills for those who choose to open as usual, and lost productivity and revenue for those who don’t.

While most businesses are still aiming to close or operate on reduced staff for those days, employers are not bound to give staff the day as paid leave.

Mooney continued: “This is the second year running that businesses have been asked to foot the bill for a royal celebration.

“While most people don’t want to begrudge the Queen wanting to celebrate 60 years on the throne, these are businesses which are in many cases already hard-pressed to make ends meet, and which simply cannot afford another day’s lost trade.

“But this is going further than just being unhappy; this suggests that the majority of bosses are either opening their doors as usual or forcing staff to take the day out of their annual leave entitlement so as to mitigate the negative effects of a lost day’s trade.”

Alongside this, many businesses will be forced to deal with a barrage of requests from people wanting to take the remaining three days off to create 10 days out of the office for only three days’ leave.

He added: “Add to that the demand for time off during the Olympics and businesses face a summer of skeletal staff in addition to the usual six weeks of school holidays they are used to.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .