Hiring Managers: Plan Your Summer Staffing Now

Daylight savings time signals the end of winter. It’s hard to believe that summer vacations are just around the corner. Employee vacations can wreak havoc – to avoid the hiccups; you need to pre-plan. Taking steps now will help your business function without skipping a beat and eliminate potential loss of revenue caused by staffing issues.
Anticipate Your Staffing Needs
Develop a good system for employee vacation tracking and planning so that you can make clear choices about needed staffing levels for any given workweek. A historical view of your business over the last two years will help you get a clear picture. Ask yourself the following questions:
• What were the busiest days during the summer?
• Were there any specific days that stand out as the busiest or slowest?
• Check your sales records
• Speak to your front-line employees and get their input
• Were there any staffing shortcomings during those years and why?
• Did your revenue decline in the summer months?
Establish Guidelines
Once you have a clear picture of peak times, you can set vacation guidelines, including:
• How far in advance of the vacation must a request be made?
• How many employees can be off at the same time?
• Will you offer a bonus PTO day to employees who take their vacation off-season or off-peak times?
• How will disputes over high-demand days be handled?
Temp Staffing
While there is a temptation to run on a skeleton staff during prime vacation season, it can be quite costly in end revenue, employee retention, and management stress. One way to help cushion results of reduced staffing is cross-training your employees to fill in the gap when someone is off, but it doesn’t end there. Hiring temps will help alleviate burnout, delayed production, overtime pay, and unhappy employees. Determine now how many temps you will need to cover the holes during the summer season. Once you secure your temp staff, plan an in-depth training before they start and while your regular team is still in their saddles.
Inventory
Another part of your planning should include your vendors. Your suppliers also have employees who take vacations, and some of them may even close for a period during summer. Get ahead of the game; have your purchasing department staff order supplies before a vendor shuts down.
Bottom line: Plan now for summer vacation and save yourself a lot of headaches. Call Lingo Staffing. We have the employees and the expertise to get you through vacation time.
About Lingo Staffing
Lingo is a full-service staffing firm dedicated to providing top quality services to its clients and its candidate pool. With extensive knowledge and experience in light industrial, administrative, and professional employment, Lingo encompasses the capabilities and resources necessary to help you get ahead.
Our experience and commitment to client satisfaction make us the perfect choice to manage all your staffing needs. Our staff guarantees exceptional customer service with a fitting response time.
Our experts are located at an office near you: Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, and Georgia.
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