Large Employers Play Scrooge … Small Employers Play Santa

In a recent report undertaken by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, less than 2% of large employers give employees any kind of bonus, gift or even a party during the festive period. Whist more than 13% of small employers are prepared to organise a party and provide some form of bonus or gift.

The media seem to have painted the large employer as the "bad guy" in this scenario, however, could it be argued that the larger employer is simply attempting to avoid religious disputes. Many employment advisors would follow the local governments lead, by way of attempting to avoid religious disputes, by renaming Christmas bonus, gifts, holidays and parties to "festive bonus", or "seasonal party". One large business compliance consultancy firm, which handles a lot of Employment Tribunal cases, managed to upset a devout Muslim employee by giving him a Christmas hamper with two bottles of wine in it.

This appears to be either a misunderstanding of the laws currently in operation across the UK or is it political correctness to the extreme? The law prevents employers from discriminating against individuals or groups on the grounds of religion. However, put simply, if you treat everyone the same, the scope for litigation is minimised. For example, if you make a Christmas Bonus, make sure it is available to all employees, and likewise with parties, gifts and holidays.

For the purpose of holidays, if you are to allow Easter for Christians then should you allow Purim for Jews? At Easter, some employers may find it makes sense to close on the public holidays, but for some retailers, Easter Monday may be one of the best business days of the year. It would not make commercial sense to close, and to then close for a purely religious holiday because a large number of staff want to have the day off might risk alienating customers. The way larger employers are tackling this issue is to make a statement in the Employee Handbook making clear that any holidays outside of the normal statutory bank / public holidays or holiday shut down, must be taken out of any annual entitlement and by prior arrangement, taking into account the needs of the business.

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Posted 05/12/05

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