Managing Annual Leave and Holidays Effectively

April is a holiday-heavy month. How are you managing annual leaves and holidays in your business?

We’ve said goodbye to the first quarter of the year, and we’re saying hello to Q2.

April is here, and with it comes a flurry of public holidays. Between Easter weekend (April 18-21) and Anzac Day (April 25), many Australians are looking forward to extended breaks. Employees and business owners alike are impacted by the breaks, albeit with different mindsets. The month presents unique challenges and opportunities for managing holidays and annual leave requests.

But what if your business isn’t taking a break and is working on the holidays regardless? It’s important to remember that your clients, suppliers, and other stakeholders might be out of office or going on vacation – even if you’re not.

The ripple effect of holidays

Public holidays don’t just affect your workforce—they ripple across the entire supply chain. Here’s what to consider:

1. Clients may be unavailable. Even if your team is working, your clients might not be. This can delay approvals, payments, or project timelines. For sales teams, this can mean a delay in securing deals and subsequently seeing a dip in sales.
2. Suppliers might pause operations. If you rely on third-party vendors for goods or services, their downtime could disrupt your operations.
3. Team productivity might dip. With team members taking time off or juggling personal commitments during school holidays, productivity may slow down. It isn’t uncommon for people to feel disengaged from work both before holidays start and coming back from them.

How to plan ahead for the holidays

To ensure smooth operations during April’s holiday season, here are some practical strategies you can do to get your team and business ready.

1: Communicate effectively

Don’t forget to let clients, suppliers, and third parties know about your team’s availability during holidays. This goes both ways—make sure you also ask about their schedules so you can plan around closures or delays.

Another tip: don’t forget to remind your team to set an ‘out of office’ message on their email software to let clients or customers know when they’re on break, and when they’ll be back. You can also use your social media platforms to announce when the business will be out of office, and when you’ll be resuming operations.

2: Prioritise tasks and workloads

What needs to be done before the holidays? Identify these with your team, and assign clear deadlines. Consider postponing non-urgent projects until you’re all back on deck to avoid any unnecessary stress on your team, so they can finish what’s on their plate and enjoy the break ahead of them!

3: Plan staffing strategically

If possible, create a holiday roster to make sure you’re covered while your team is out.  Make sure that team members who are working can step in to plug up the gaps or at least know where to direct questions if they can’t answer them.

4: Use tech tools

Calendar software isn’t just good for booking meetings—use it to keep everyone aligned on deadlines, availability, and to see which team member/s are out of office.

5: Accomplish your HR wishlist

Not going on holiday or taking a break? Now might be the time to look at your HR wishlist and see if you can tick some items off it. You can think about reviewing your HR policies and documents and your employee handbook, to see if they’re still relevant with current legislation.

Need help with any of the tips above? Or maybe you want to explore how you can leverage any lull in business operations by accomplishing your wishlist? Drop us a line and we can chat! 

Don’t let the holidays be a headache!

April’s public holidays are a great opportunity for resting and recharging—but they also pose challenges and businesses need to plan carefully to ensure business continuity. Whether it’s aligning schedules for team members internally, or preparing for possible delays with suppliers, proactive communication and strategic planning are what will help you navigate the holiday-heavy month successfully.

Remember: even if your business isn’t taking a break, your stakeholders might be! Planning ahead can help you keep operations running smoothly, while keeping in mind that others might have downtime.