School holiday season is fast approaching, as are the inevitable office rows about who gets to take time off and when.
Also there remains the constant question of how a company keeps all its clients happy whilst various members of the team are on leave.Here Chris Meredith, CEO at officebroker.com gives his advice on how to keep everyone, including clients, happy during the summer holiday period.Chris said: “Summer should be a relaxing time for everyone. However, the looming peril of holiday time can lead an unprepared company into treacherous waters.“The key lies with effective staff and client planning as well as striking a balance which is seen by all as fair.”
Check last year
One of the simple ways to decide who can take time off and when is to look at what happened last year. If one person had a particularly popular period of time off last year, then perhaps someone else should get it the next. The only other option is to do first come first served, but be prepared for some vicious office politics if you go down this path.
Set a maximum duration
It might be an idea to set a limit on the amount of holiday an employee can take in one go. If you are really up against work wise, it’s worth setting a one or two-week limit for holidays. Doing this will avoid the situation of being understaffed for a long block of time.
Not everyone has kids
It may sound strange but those who don’t have children also like taking time off in the summer. Make sure you don’t rely on these people too much as it could cause some resentment and damage office morale.
Effective client management
It is important that all clients are made aware of when staff are going on holiday, they way they are not left hanging when they get an out of office. Make sure they are aware of who their main point of contact is and introduce beforehand any new people brought in on their account. Try to have at least one team member per client through the holiday period, that way some level of continuity is retained.
Get ahead of yourself
The last thing you want is for clients to see a notable dip in productivity during the holidays. The best way to get around this is by getting ahead of yourself before you go. That way if there is a dip (it is only natural that there is), you have mitigated some of its effects.
Good handovers
One of the most important tasks before you turn your out of office on is leaving a full and detailed handover so colleagues know exactly where you are on different projects. Don’t leave your colleagues in the lurch, if they are well briefed before you leave then your job will so much easier when you return.
Remember to take a holiday
It may sound strange but there are some people who forget to take great chunks of their holiday. The last thing people want is to get to the end of the year and have more days owing in holiday than there are left to work. It’s important that people take a break if anything to just get away from the office.
