Staffordshire business refuses to close for Royal wedding

News Article - 04 April 2011
Category: Business

A Staffordshire-based business is insisting its 80-strong workforce arrive for work despite the Royal Wedding Bank Holiday on Friday 29^th April.

Office space search specialists officebroker.com is adamant that it will be business as usual for its staff.

Jim Venables, managing director of officebroker.com, believes an extra day off will cost businesses millions in lost revenue.

"I think the Royal family are a fantastic tourist attraction for the UK and when I did the tour of Buckingham Palace I was very impressed.

"But businesses are being forced to take a day off when there's simply no need for it. There seems to be an assumption from the Government that everyone in the UK cares - and that's not the truth," said Venables.

Ironically, last year Mr Venables made local headlines when he allowed his team a half-day holiday in order to watch England's World Cup group game with Slovenia.

Nevertheless, two bank holiday weekends in April could have a significant effect on businesses with reduced revenue and disjointed workforces.

Business' HR departments are likely to be extremely busy over the coming weeks with many employees likely to take advantage of the consecutive Bank Holiday weekends at the end of April.

Liz Yorke, officebroker.com operations manager, said: "When the (wedding) date was announced, two of my staff immediately booked off the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as annual leave to try to take advantage of all the bank holidays. They were none too pleased when I told them they had to book Friday 29^th April off too."

However, sophisticated HR software provides a significant help for organisations, maintaining control of communication across entire workforces.

HR software can be utilised for almost every aspect of the employee lifecycle. HR departments are often overworked due to increased demand for jobs and anything that can streamline key functions has to be positively acknowledged.

Article keywords: Staffordshire, Royal Wedding, Bank Holiday, Jim Venables, officebroker.com, Buckingham Palace, HR, human resources, Liz Yorke, HR software

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