I’m Outta Here! Avoiding the nightmares of employee vacation scheduling.

It’s an annual event: Summer rolls around, school’s out, and all your employees want to take vacations at the same time. Or everyone wants to go to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving. How do you please them all? You don’t. Conflict is going to happen, but here are some things you can do to make time off as fair as possible:

Have rules to follow: From the time you interview the applicant through their orientation (and once a year thereafter), remind employees of your clearly-stated vacation policies and procedures. These should stress what are your busiest times of the year when travel can be restricted or disallowed—blackout days. Your policies should also allow management to change their minds in event of changing market conditions—but don’t be an ogre about it. Try your best not to interfere with written policies.

Give people time to adjust: Get your policies in place early—long before the holidays or summer vacation. People need time to make plans (and complain) and no one likes these kind of surprises.

How to call “dibbs”: If two people want the same time off, determine who “wins” the day. First come, first served may work. If your employees are cross-trained, the work will be covered. Or you could establish who gets off by seniority, or alternate years an employee can have a holiday off. But whichever method you choose, make sure to inform everyone—and remind them—in writing.

Offer a bonus: Or extra sick day to employees who offer to work popular holidays.

Recognize employees’ religious beliefs: Someone may work Christmas for another who wants Passover off. Spread the work load based on accommodating as many people in any situation as possible.

Allow Swapping: Encourage inter-employee trade-offs worked out between employees themselves. (Keep an eye on this, though—you want to make sure it’s fair to all.)

Set a time period: Everyone should have a deadline for turning in vacation requests. Say three days notice for time-off of less than three days and six months notice for anything longer. A calendar showing everyone’s scheduled vacations can help work flow uninterrupted. Also stress that employees should not to book tickets until their vacation request has been approved.

Make backup plans: In order to get their vacation request granted, ask each employee to turn in detailed project lists of work that must be done or problems that may come up in their absence. Encourage it to be detailed by telling the you don’t want to have to call them on their vacation. Then don’t call them on their vacation.

Call in ringers: Have a relationship with a good temporary firm to supply workers–not only during vacation season, but flu season or extra busy times of year as well.

Take one for the team: Have your top executives alternate working on major holidays so some other lower echelon employee get those popular times off. Remind the executives that this is why they get paid the big bucks.

Arrow Staffing can help you beef up your team with either temporary or permanent candidates of the highest quality. Call us today.

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