How will Wimbledon effect your operation?

Whenever there is a popular sporting event, people want to watch it. And seeing it later is just not the same. People like to support their favourites or just watch in appreciation of a game well played. Do you have sporting calendar? Then you will you know when these events will affect your staff; the world cup, rugby league, test matches, local derbys, X factor finals, Olympics, local matches, county shows, the Open, etc.

This inevitably leads to more people wanting time off so they can watch the game live. Especially when we are enjoying some rarely seen nice weather. So everyone wants a holiday at the same time. You can’t give everyone the same time off unless you close up your business with a shutdown. But how do you say no to that holiday request? Who do you say yes to and how do you justify your answers?

Being a manager is not easy. You have to have patience, be seen to be fair, make the hard choices and stick by them as well as doing the job you are paid to do. You can never be liked by everyone and people’s opinion of you will be swayed by your next decision depending on if it is in their favour or against them.

So don’t let personal feelings cloud your judgment. Make up a set of rules which cover nearly every eventuality you can think of. Make sure everyone is aware of what you will and will not allow and stick to it. That way you will not always be liked but everyone will always say you dealt fairly with them.

When it comes to allowing holidays it is even more important to judge everyone the same and not let personal bias effect your judgment. So you set up rules like first come first served. Plan ahead how many of each skill you will allow off at any time or how you will cover missing skills. Set up the rules before any holiday requests are made. If you need help setting up your rules then read our book Holiday Management available from Amazon UK and from US Amazon

So if you think that Wimbledon will cause a lot of holiday requests, think about how you are going to deal with them. And if all else fails, can you have a TV on in the break room or book your holiday now and let your deputy deal with it?