The holiday months are coming up very soon. While the rest of the world is preparing to celebrate, your business needs to prepare for the holidays in a different way. The holidays typically bring in more business, but they also herald some complications that need to be addressed sooner rather than later. Gift yourself by preparing your business for the holidays with these proactive steps:
Get together with each of your employees and find out what vacation needs they have from now through early January. Convey the importance of letting you know now so that you can schedule their well-deserved vacations and ensure adequate coverage during the holidays. Make a deadline when employees have to let you know, otherwise they may not respond appropriately to the urgency of your scheduling calendar.
By the same token, it’s important that you let employees know now what your business schedule looks like through the holidays. After you’ve completed scheduling employee hours, post the calendars through early January so everyone has adequate notice of their own shifts and others’ shifts.
You will also want to post your business operations plans during the holidays. Create a separate calendar and let employees know when you’re expecting a big shipment of holiday goods, what days your business will close early, stay open late, etc. If you’re planning a special holiday event like a sale or something else, include that in the posted calendar. This way, employees will know exactly what to expect so they can plan accordingly.
As soon as you have a date for the company holiday party, let everyone know so they can mark their personal calendars. This will ensure maximum participation. In addition, request RSVPs so that the company party coordinator can plan accordingly. Post a memo or some other form of communication to let employees know if it’s okay to bring their spouse or children. Also include the dress code, what kinds of foods and beverages will be served and, of course, the venue for the event.
Now is a good time to hold employee reviews, before the holiday season fully kicks in. If you want, you can give employees raises and promotions that take effect on January 1; they don’t have to kick in right away. However, it’s a good idea to hand out the employee bonuses now, so that your hard-working employees will have the money in hand to do what they want to do personally, such as spend on holiday gifts and celebrations. Your employees will appreciate your not waiting until the big December holiday to give bonus checks. Taking care of these administrative tasks now will allow you to enjoy the holiday season more yourself. It will also let you hit the ground running come January without being bogged down with the previous year’s tasks.
The holidays can be very chaotic because of all the extra things that need to be done. By taking these actions early, you can help make your business schedule less chaotic so you and your employees can enjoy a stress-free holiday season. For more tips and information about streamlining your business, please contact us today.