Many people ended 2020 having taken less holiday than they may have liked, yet, despite it being quiet and different to expected, the Christmas break was likely a welcome one.

Taking annual leave and having a break is really important for wellbeing and it helps employees come back to work refreshed and re-energised, which is critical for productivity and happiness at work. With the evidence suggesting that employees are spending an additional hour a day working whilst they are no longer commuting, taking annual leave is even more important, and deserved too.

During 2021, several things are worth bearing in mind:

Encourage your employees to take their annual leave throughout the year. This pandemic is a marathon, not a sprint, and your employees will need to take time off to re-energise themselves, even if they cannot go anywhere. It's really important for mental health.

If, as a company, you allowed your employees to carry over additional annual leave into 2021, you should support managers to ensure their teams take their annual leave at different points throughout the year so as not to impact negatively on productivity.

Ultimately, managing people when they are not working is going to be just as important as when they are working this year.