AP News: Holiday Juggling Businesses Balance Customer, & Work Needs
It’s the second week into November and the holidays are going to be here before we know it. Everyone is trying to figure out his or her plans for the holiday vacation. Employees’ have to strategize what days to take off to make sure the company doesn’t have multiple people out on the same day. This might not be as big as a problem with corporate companies because of the larger staff. But what about small businesses? What is the best way an owner of a small company to go about this with their staff?
Our client Andrea Correale of Elegant Affairs has a strong traditional tactic discussing this issue with her staff that was featured on AP News.com. Elegant Affairs is one of the top New York-based catering companies in New York City and Long Island that has staff of 230. Correale reminds her employees that the holiday season is among them in an email and stresses how important it is that in December, “We need all hands on deck,” to “deck the halls“.During the holiday season, Elegant Affairs usually has about 12 events in one day. Her email reminds all of the employees that for those two weeks when the company has the most holiday parties, work has to come first. Correale also understands that some staff members need time off to attend family matters around the holidays. It’s important to her to be fair and uses flexile scheduling for her employees.
Also, in the article Rob Basso shares his perspectives on common holiday concerns for small businesses. Basso’s company, Advantage Payroll Services is located in Freeport, New York and provides human resources and paycheck processing. He has an interesting and unique system of spreading out vacation time for the holidays. Many companies grant vacation requests by seniority but Basso holds a lottery to let about fifth of his employees leave at noon on either Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve. Many people will consider that fair. He is honest when hiring someone to the team and lets them know that most of December is blacked out for days off because the company gets many new clients at the end of the year. Basso also allows his staff members to come in late or leave early as long as they make up the missed hours on another day. It’s all about balance and as long as the work gets done.
Read the AP News article Here —> AP News: Elegant Affairs