How Should I Communicate the Withdrawal of Unnecessary Compensatory Leave to Employees?

Dear All,

I have to withdraw the compensatory leave that was credited to employees last year. This is because some employees, just for the sake of obtaining a compensatory day off, worked on weekends when it was not necessary. These leaves are being carried forward to this year as well.

I need to draft a formal email to inform them of the withdrawal of these leaves from their leave balance.

Kindly assist me in composing a proper formal email for this matter.

Thanks,

Regards,
N Mehta
HR Executive

Before doing anything in this regard, please discuss this issue with the head of their department. What may seem unimportant to you could be relevant for that particular department. Prior to this, prepare a data sheet showing these kinds of events in a year and how they will help the company financially as well as administratively.

Regards

Thank you for your feedback. I have discussed this with my seniors, and I have been asked to withdraw those leaves. However, I am having trouble finding the proper format to email the employees. Kindly assist me with this.

Thank you.

Regards

Dear Nutan, please find the format given below. Hope that it will help you.

Notice Regarding Weekly Off Work

Dear All,

It has been noticed from the muster roll that employees worked on their weekly off days (employees' names and dates of weekly off on which they worked). However, after discussion with department heads/seniors, it has been observed that the work was not of a vital nature. Therefore, compensatory off cannot be taken into consideration for those weekly off days. This has been updated at our end for calculating this year's leaves. Please update the same. It is also advised to work on weekly off only if the work is of utmost urgency, provided that working on a weekly off is allowed by the concerned department head.

Regards,
Sukhada Sant

I hope you are prepared to face a lot of opposition and attrition after you take this step. Why did it take you and your management one year to decide whether the work done was important or not? Why was this practice not stopped at that time or just after that time? WHY NOW?

As an employee, it would be natural to feel cheated and upset with the organization. I will not be surprised if you notice a sudden drop in productivity and engagement.

What you are about to do is unprofessional and damaging to the overall organization. What you should be doing is to announce a stop to this policy with immediate effect but not touch the accrued leaves. The employees were given an opportunity to take advantage of the system, and they did. That's basic human nature. So the fault is not theirs but yours and your management's. If you penalize your employees for the management's shortfall, then you should be prepared to lose good people and damage your reputation.

Regards,
Navneet