Preparing your organization for the vacation season minimizes operational disruptions. Continuous business operations support employee engagement, productivity, and job satisfaction.
Clarifying your vacation policies, cross-training, and hiring contract staff help you prepare for the vacation season. These activities help reach deadlines, attain company goals, and strengthen the bottom line.
How to Prepare for Vacation Season Without Disrupting Operations
Clarify Vacation Policies
Remind employees how many consecutive days they can take vacation, the maximum number of employees who can be off simultaneously, and the protocol for submitting vacation requests. This information helps ensure consistency in the vacation approval process.
Create a Vacation Calendar
Share an online calendar with employees’ vacation time requests and approvals. Employees can check the calendar before requesting vacation and to see whether their time off was approved. Knowing the days available for vacation requests increases efficiency and the likelihood of approval.
Plan Ahead
Ask employees to request vacation time as early as possible. Creating an overview of busy and quiet times helps everyone plan accordingly.
Email relevant teams at least a week before employee vacations so they know who will be gone and who will cover for them. Also, ask the team managers to ensure employees complete the handover tasks before leaving for vacation.
Monitor Team Workloads
Encourage managers to focus on employee workloads as vacation time approaches. Managers should consider doing the following:
- Redistribute tasks and responsibilities to cover key priorities.
- Consider deferring less essential work until the employee returns.
- Turn down non-essential requests when the team is at capacity.
- Offer to help employees when needed.
- Focus on reducing employee stress and avoiding burnout.
Cross-Train Employees
Train employees to take on other roles when team members are on vacation. For instance, focus on the basic tasks, responsibilities, and handover process. Also, ensure the vacationing employee documents and educates their replacement on processes and pending tasks before leaving.
Hire Contract Staff
Contract staff can fill in gaps during the vacation season. They can handle lower-priority tasks and projects while your employees take over higher-level responsibilities.
Because they are experienced professionals, contract staff can quickly onboard, train, and begin producing. Briefing them on the role, responsibilities, and company processes supports smooth business operations.
Add Contract Staff During the Vacation Season
Element Staffing can provide contract scientific or technical talent to minimize summer disruptions. Reach out to learn more today.