It’s August and it’s holiday time… and England is still hot!? Here we will discuss managing the holidays but first… hopefully everyone is able to keep cool? Have a read of our previous blog on the maximum workplace temperature.
Here at CitrusHR Consulting, August is always a slightly different month for our business, with many clients and employees on holiday, bank holidays and the additional juggle of childcare. We find we are either fire fighting one minute and then it quietens very quickly the next. Here are our tips for managing the holidays and your staff effectively:
HR Software
To manage our employees whereabouts, we use our, CitrusHR Software to manage holidays and working from home notifications. One of the small benefits it boasts is it provides a simple overview of everyone’s whereabouts via a calendar option. Even for small businesses, keeping track of staff can be difficult and this is invaluable. Management also receive notification of when their staff are on holiday and can send reminders via e-mail regarding out of office replies etc.
‘To do list’
Sounds obvious, but at times when headcount is low and you are feeling overwhelmed with a huge ‘to do’ list, simply breaking it down and prioritising your workload can help reduce stress and that overwhelming feeling. There are a number of techniques on how to effectively write a ‘to do’ list. One tip is to number, star or highlight the most urgent items. Providing you with a more realistic and hopefully manageable list!
Keeping it fun
Contrary to the above, when those quiet times do arise, utilise the hours to plan something fun for your team, there are so many great team building activities to choose from these days, use the quiet time to plan for some morale boosting office games, or strategy planning days. Sometimes it’s hard to keep morale up, when your team members might rather be out enjoying the summer – so get that creative thinking cap on. Perhaps a paddling pool in the office car park is one step too far, but an office lunch time BBQ, or best kebab making competition?
Communicating
Keep communication lines open. During both the busy and quiet times – check in regularly with your team members, asking how their workload is making sure they have enough to do… or if they need back up and support during those busy days.
Enjoy the rest of the sunny holidays and we hope all our clients and followers are able to find some time to relax with families or doing what you love the most.
If you have any questions on this piece or would like to have more information on the CitrusHR Software, please do get in touch with us direct: CitrusHR Consulting, call us on 0844 854 6704 or email us at info@citrushrconsulting.com