Business owners don't have to see red during the holidays as long as they manage their staff right. At no other time of the year do companies have to field multiple requests for time off. Handle it wrong, and it could cripple the business at an otherwise busy time of year -- not to mention hurt your culture and your employer brand.
"It can cause tremendous grief for organizations," says Samuel Tanios, president and chief executive of Human Elements Consulting, the human resources consulting company. If it's not managed properly, it can not only prevent the business from delivering what clients and customers want but can also create internal strife, he says. To prevent any problems this year, human resources experts and business owners weigh in with their top seven tips to manage employee holiday time off.
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1. Plan in advance. Many industrial businesses have their holiday schedule planned well in advance, and there's no reason any type of business can't do that, either. According to Brian Koniuk, a principal at the Hackett Group, manufacturers typically require employees to plan out their vacation for the coming year so they know in January who is working what holiday and who is off for the entire year. In other industries, like healthcare, Koniuk says schedules are made three to five months in advance.
2. First-come, first-served. If you are running a business that is busy during the holidays or needs to be staffed 24/7 year-round, one way to prevent employees from taking off in large numbers is to limit the amount and give workers off on a first-come, first-served basis, says Pat Sweeney, human resource manager at Old Colony Hospice and Palliative Care. "If they know they are going to want to be off over the holidays, they know they have to ask for the time off way in advance," says Sweeney. She says that starting as early as September, supervisors can notify the staff that requests for time off have to be made as soon as possible. Hand in hand with a first-come, first-served policy is capping the number of people who can take time off during the holidays.
3. Stagger the schedule. You may not be able to keep a full staff during the holidays, but that doesn't mean you have to close early or provide a reduced level of service. To combat that, Kathy Harris, managing director of recruiting firm Harris Allied, says to stagger your employee vacation scheduling. For instance, you can have someone work in the morning during the holidays while another worker takes the afternoon shift. Another option: Have one employee work Monday and Tuesday and another Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The idea behind a staggered employee vacation schedule is to always have coverage, and at the same time, give employees time off during the holidays.