With summer fully upon us, everyone’s going or planning to go on holiday. With so many people taking holidays it can end up being a bit of a disruption to workflow. It’s the same around Christmas and New Year. So how do you make sure this period goes as smoothly as possible while remaining productive?

Get notice

Make sure you’ve got a policy in place that your employees have to give a fair amount of notice if they’re going to be away for a week or two. This will help you prepare the office and reassign responsibilities.

Create a rota

If you’re a small company and really can’t afford for a few members of staff being off at once, then you need to discuss this with everyone early on and see if you can organise a rota so everyone doesn’t end up off at the same time.

Have backup

Ideally if one person’s off, someone else should be able to do the basics of their job so the company doesn’t come to a standstill. This is where communication and transparency is important. This will make it easier to train people to do certain aspects of other people’s jobs if needed.

Hire freelancers or temporary workers

If you know work is going to slow down in the summer then you might find it useful to get extra help to cover the people away. This could be in the form of temporary workers or if you’re after more flexibility, try freelancers.

With freelancers you can hire them as and when needed. You probably won’t even need to set them up in the office as most of them work remotely.

Let the customers know

If you’ve got regular customers who require regular communication with your employees, then they need to be told that they’re going to be unavailable. Make sure you give them some notice so that they can make other arrangements wherever necessary.

Let your suppliers know

If your company deals with suppliers and the person who usually handles them is away, you need to have someone else who can take care of that or at least let the suppliers know about the temporary absence.

Make sure you can take a break too

The boss needs a break too so make sure you’re getting one. Lead by example and follow your own policies about giving notice. Though you can technically do what you want, it’s always good to follow your own rules if you expect your workers to.

Debrief

When your workers get back from holiday it’s important to debrief them and make them aware of anything important that’s happened in their absence so that they can be brought up to speed and can take over.

How do you handle summer holidays at the office? What are your policies for staff holidays? Please share your thoughts.

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About The Author

Kara Copple

An experienced business and finance writer, sometimes moonlighting as a fiction writer and blogger.

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