How will businesses be impacted by summer holidays? Expert shares tips for businesses to avoid disruption
With summer here, many businesses will be preparing for the increase in annual leave and staff absences. Philip Brennan, Founder and MD at BusinessComparison, prides tips and advice for businesses to plan for the summer period and avoid disruption to the workplace.
The first day of summer is approaching, which can shake up day-to-day business operations. But, with adequate preparation, there are plenty of ways companies can face this with confidence.
It’s likely that employees will take more annual leave during the summer months to go on holiday. So, a handful of staff members could be off work at the same time. Logging staff holidays as far in advance as possible will mean that these periods during summer holidays will minimise any work being late, backlogged or forgotten. It’ll also allow management to foresee any particularly busy or understaffed periods and work out how to organise workflow accordingly.
Additionally, clearly communicating your workplace holiday processes should prevent any crossed wires while people are away. An effective way of doing this is by ensuring that staff share informative handovers before going on holiday. This action will ensure people are well aware of what needs doing in the absence of their colleagues.
Tagging people in handovers can ensure people see the tasks or projects affecting them, minimising any workload confusion. Including the names and contact details of the colleagues who they can speak to in their absence is also helpful. This is especially true for people external to the company, as they may not be familiar with the internal structure and who to speak to. Not to mention, it's vital to make sure staff have their 'out-of-office’ switched on.
School summer holidays will also have a knock-on effect for employees with children. So, be considerate of staff who need to arrange childcare. A good way to do this could be offering flexible start and finish times or additional work-from-home days.
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