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Johannesburg - Many companies are preparing for a shutdown period as the year moves towards the holiday season and at the same time, they are grappling with the issue of employees' annual leave and specifically the accumulation of leave.
Accumulated leave continued to be a major liability for South African organisations, said René Richter, associate director for research at PwC.
The prevalence of leave accumulation was diminishing as companies struggled with the cost implications from a balance sheet perspective as reported in the 2011 PwC South African Employee Benefits Guide released on Monday.
The 2011 benefits guide was based on data submitted by 51 companies across a broad spectrum of industries. The research was carried out between August and September 2011.
The majority of companies (96%) taking part in the PwC benefits guide granted annual leave on the basis of working days.
The average number of working days leave granted by organisations for senior management was 20 days per annum. The number of days' leave granted for top management, executives and expatriates tended to be marginally higher, with the maximum being 30 days.
The highest number of 37 annual leave days was recorded for expatriates, which was not surprising based on the type of employment and the number of days incumbents would require to visit their home countries, Richter noted.
She said a number of companies were not able to reflect the policy for their expatriates as this was administered by the home country and could be different depending on the policy in that jurisdiction.
A significant percentage (69%) of organisations reported that additional leave was provided based on an employee's number of years of service with a company.
In some companies, additional leave was granted based on something "other" than years of service. In these instances, the allocation was usually grade- or job-based, said Richter.
The majority of organisations (88%) reported that only a portion of the annual leave could be accumulated.
The number of working days that could be accumulated ranged between five per annum up to a maximum cap of 30 days.
Less than half (43%) of organisations allowed their employees to be paid out accumulated leave.
Richter said a number of companies had policies in place which clearly stipulated that no leave, whether accumulated or not, would be paid out to an employee at any time other than an exit from the company.
In these cases the organisation would limit the number of days and it would be managed on a use or lose basis.
Accumulated leave continued to be a major liability for South African organisations, said René Richter, associate director for research at PwC.
The prevalence of leave accumulation was diminishing as companies struggled with the cost implications from a balance sheet perspective as reported in the 2011 PwC South African Employee Benefits Guide released on Monday.
The 2011 benefits guide was based on data submitted by 51 companies across a broad spectrum of industries. The research was carried out between August and September 2011.
The majority of companies (96%) taking part in the PwC benefits guide granted annual leave on the basis of working days.
The average number of working days leave granted by organisations for senior management was 20 days per annum. The number of days' leave granted for top management, executives and expatriates tended to be marginally higher, with the maximum being 30 days.
The highest number of 37 annual leave days was recorded for expatriates, which was not surprising based on the type of employment and the number of days incumbents would require to visit their home countries, Richter noted.
She said a number of companies were not able to reflect the policy for their expatriates as this was administered by the home country and could be different depending on the policy in that jurisdiction.
A significant percentage (69%) of organisations reported that additional leave was provided based on an employee's number of years of service with a company.
In some companies, additional leave was granted based on something "other" than years of service. In these instances, the allocation was usually grade- or job-based, said Richter.
The majority of organisations (88%) reported that only a portion of the annual leave could be accumulated.
The number of working days that could be accumulated ranged between five per annum up to a maximum cap of 30 days.
Less than half (43%) of organisations allowed their employees to be paid out accumulated leave.
Richter said a number of companies had policies in place which clearly stipulated that no leave, whether accumulated or not, would be paid out to an employee at any time other than an exit from the company.
In these cases the organisation would limit the number of days and it would be managed on a use or lose basis.
