Planning for Employees' Vacations
Summer is usually the time for most employees to utilize their vacation time. Family vacations are most common during July and August, just before the beginning of the school year. Here are a few things to remember:
Review your vacation policy before your staff begins requesting time off. Make sure your policy is clear and understandable regarding their available days and their accrual rates, etc.
Stagger vacations to have adequate staff coverage during the summer.
Assess staff vacation balances and if they haven’t requested it yet, encourage them to take time off!
Remind your team about accessing benefits, such as health insurance, while traveling. Provide a flyer or summary so they have it handy during vacation time.
Studies show that retention, engagement, and productivity are higher when your staff can properly take time off away from work. Enforce good practices to disconnect from emails and minimize communication when employees are away on vacation.
Provide a standard out of office reply for your workers to set up while they are away.
Cross-train before staff goes away on vacation or designate a "back-up" colleague to handle urgent matters. This will help staff avoid missing important decisions and returning to a ton of emails.
Make sure all vendor contact information is current and accessible to colleagues via a simple spreadsheet or an online tool such as LastPass (free), which allows you to securely store passwords and share them temporarily.