Happy 4th July

How to cope when everyone wants the day off!

There are days when everyone wants the day off. The most popular is Christmas Day, but special holidays (4^th July) are still popular. So what do you do when everyone wants that day off?

You have lots of options, but first ask yourself can you shut down your operation on key dates? If you can then do. Shutdowns are a great way to use up everyone annual leave and make everyone feel happy. Of course most shift operation do not have that luxury. They run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. So they can’t shut down. So you have to ensure that those key dates are fairly distributed.

Options include:

·         Run longer shifts on that day to minimise the number who are inconvenienced

·         Run shorter shifts so that everyone is inconvenienced but everyone get to enjoy part of the day with their family

·         Ask for volunteers

·         Give people a bonus for working that day

·         Give them two days off in lieu for working that day

·         Do alternate years, so if you work it this year, you won’t work it next year

·         Run a skeleton crew

You could even think out of the box, so have a celebration at work and encourage your staff to invite their families. Then have everyone alternate between celebrating and working. Or if you can’t have visitors on site, why not set up a video link in the break room so that your staff can chat on line to their family during their break.

Happy 4^th July