Seasonal changes can present businesses with a number of challenges, whether it’s a busy period with increased customer demand, or a high number of staff members on annual leave. In order to keep day-to-day operations running smoothly throughout the year, businesses need to make sure they have enough staff to cope with these changes.
Leading staffing platform Coople has prepared tips for businesses, covering how they can manage their workforce to tackle these seasonal challenges, including an increase in annual leave during the summer months.
Rufus Hood, General Manager UK at Coople, comments:
“For companies facing staffing challenges, my top advice is to build a pool of reliable, flexible workers who can step in when needed. During the summer months, many businesses see a peak in staff taking annual leave. To ensure operations run smoothly, it’s important to plan and arrange adequate cover wherever possible. If you know you will experience a surge in customer demand at certain times of the year, you might also consider temporarily scaling your permanent team with additional support.
“Building a talent pool of flexible workers that you trust will ensure you have reliable staff throughout the year. As these professionals already know your company and how things work, they will have no problem picking up the work, making things easier for you and your team.
“Proactive workforce management is not only essential for business operations, but it can help prevent your team from becoming overwhelmed and stressed from sudden increases in workload.”
Tips for businesses:
Learn from previous years: Assess your data from previous years to track when you’re most likely to experience a staffing shortfall due to team members on holiday. Take into account any other seasonal trends, such as industry-specific fluctuations or anything that could affect your supply chain. Understanding typical peaks and troughs throughout the year will help you prepare.
Plan for the future: If you are aware that several team members will be taking their annual leave at similar times, start preparing cover. Temporary workers can seamlessly join your team to fill the gap. But stay flexible, as there might be other factors that mean you need more or less support when the time comes.
Build a trusted pool of talent: A network of flexible workers who you trust and who have previously been a great addition to your team is a fantastic resource that can help your business thrive during the busiest periods of the year, or whenever you need additional support. Advertising available jobs directly to your top flexible workers will speed up hiring, and means that you save time on training, too.
Clear communication is key: Your permanent staff should feel clear and confident about which tasks are assigned to them while team members are away, and which tasks are outsourced or put on hold until their colleagues are back. It’s also very important to establish good communication with your flexible staff, to make it easier for them to slot in to the team when you need their support.
Smart ways to cover annual leave throughout the year
If you have some team members on annual leave, cross-training can be a great way to make sure that business continues as normal, while providing your team with a valuable opportunity for professional development. If some team members are interested in learning new skills outside of their specific role, this can be an effective solution when a number of employees are away at the same time.
Using the right tools will also help you manage your workforce. HR software makes it easy to track your team’s annual leave in detail, so you can get ready for any periods when several people are on holiday at once and make suitable arrangements. And when it comes to your flexible staff, a trustworthy staffing platform will help you add shifts, advertise jobs and select new workers, as well as handling payroll and administration on your behalf.
