With additional time off requests, increased shopping and urgent customer service needs, the holidays are a busy time of year for any business. But for those businesses that are seasonal or where sales really pick up at the end of the year, workload management can be a balancing act.
To help busy businesses organize their time better and improve overall productivity, eight members of the Young Entrepreneur Council share their top tips below. If you and your business are starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the festive workload, consider these tips.
Members are pictured from left to right.
Photos provided by individual members.
1. Balance workload with rest and recharge time
Companies across the globe have lengthy to-do lists when preparing for the holidays, but one thing that cannot be forgotten amid the hectic activities is workload management. Working as a team makes work easy, so it’s crucial to support your team by budgeting their workload wisely and creating time off planning expectations when the season starts. This helps combat burnout while still ensuring your company achieves its goals in a timely manner. If everyone knows what is expected of them and is given plenty of time to relax and recharge, team morale will stay high during this busy time – because achieving a happy work-life balance has never been more important. – Renato Agrella, Acerca Consulting
2. Get the whole team on the same page
The holidays can be a very busy and stressful time for businesses. One of the best ways to manage the increased workload during this time is to keep your entire team aligned. This involves setting clear expectations on everyone’s responsibilities, setting priorities and communicating openly with all involved. Also, it’s important to allow some extra time into your schedule so you’re not completely overwhelmed by deadlines and still have room for flexibility when needed. By implementing these tips, businesses can successfully manage their holiday workload and stay productive in the busy months ahead. -Adam Preiser, WPCrafter
3. Outsource what you can
Outsourcing is often the best solution for companies that experience a surge in business during the holiday season. there are many reasons. First, it can help free up internal resources. Companies that outsource their operations can focus on their core competencies. Second, outsourcing helps ensure quality. When operations are managed by a third-party provider, there is often an expectation of accountability. Finally, outsourcing can provide companies with more human resources. This is especially beneficial for companies that do not have the internal resources to handle larger workloads. -Sujay Pawar, CartFlows
4. Automate processes to free up resources
The great thing about running a seasonal business, or one that can accurately predict fluctuations in demand, is that you can plan for those busy times. This enables you to automate processes, freeing up time, people, and resources that can then be used to handle growing demand for your products or services. Consider what you can prepare for the slower months leading up to the holidays, and highlight business inefficiencies that should be addressed before things get too busy. – Diana Goodwin, MarketBox
5. Plan your “backups”
A key part of managing your workload on vacation is developing a strategy for who is supporting others. This is important for several reasons. First, if things are really busy, you may need to call in a backup. Secondly, people also have lives during the holidays. You’ll need backup to handle things while others are going to their kids’ Christmas play, family reunions, and other events. Also, a master calendar is essential for all these types of notes. It should be on the computer and available to everyone in a public area. This improves communication and prevents too many people taking off at the same time. The employee who saw that two people had already requested the afternoon off knew they couldn’t make the same request. – Baruch Labunski, Rank Security
6. Use trainees for extra help
Announcing the intern program before the holidays might work. With workloads surging during the holiday season, you need as many people as possible to keep things running smoothly. Also, you don’t want senior players on your team doing administrative work. It is best to use their experience and skills for tasks that require strategic input and planning. So it would be great to help them with easy task delegation and management. This can help you keep up with your workload during the holidays without feeling burnt out. – Stephanie Wells, Mighty Form
7. Prioritize bottlenecks
While it’s easy to jump from project to project, tackling projects one at a time, often the biggest opportunities come from helping to alleviate bottlenecks on your team. This ensures a continuous flow of productivity on projects, reducing things that get missed. This is especially important for managers and leadership as it allows the rest of the team to maximize progress and output. When your employees have the approval and resources to complete their tasks, even during busy seasons, they can easily complete their projects because there are fewer barriers to success. – Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep Mattress
8. Use the rest of the year to plan ahead
There are many businesses that thrived in the last quarter of the year, and many that took a big chunk of their profits during those three months. As businesses follow a cyclical journey, it is key to identify peaks and troughs and know how to prepare ahead of time. When the holidays are at the heart of your business, the rest of the year is not a time for rest, but a time market for making sure the correct processes are in place, all resources are properly allocated, all marketing materials are in place, and your team can easily manage the workload. Depending on the many variables that exist, the nature of the business can be very reactive, but understanding your customers’ buying patterns and habits will help you plan ahead and reduce unforeseen circumstances. -Riccardo Conte, Virtus Flow