However, they can also be a very stressful period during which you need to make sure your company is ready to cope with the upcoming rush, but also that your employees have fun and enough time off to spend with their families.
Timely planning is crucial when it comes to minimizing stress and making the most of the final months of the year. To help you prepare your office for the upcoming holiday season, we have a list of 5 effective tips you can use.
Prepare to Handle the Holiday Rush
Is your business usually busier during the entire holiday season? Or does the number of customers drastically increase a few days before Christmas? Try to determine your busiest period and create a plan ahead that will help you handle the rush.
Depending on the type of your business, see if you need to hire temporary staff, extend the working hours, buy additional raw materials, etc. In addition, refer to last year’s holiday sales reports to check how much you sold to make sure you have enough of everything you need.
Hire Seasonal Staff
Hiring temporary employees to help you handle the holiday rush is a common practice. However, you need to make sure that your seasonal workers have the necessary skills and are properly trained before the rush begins. Without proper training, seasonal employees can make your life quite difficult for your regular workers and increase the likelihood of customers having a negative experience
Start the hiring process on time and set aside several days for training or have your most experienced workers do the training. If you used extra staff during the last holiday season, be sure to contact those people and save time on training.
Boost Employee Morale
The holiday season can be stressful, with the pressure to buy gifts and attend family gatherings. What’s more, the pace at the workplace increases so you need to find ways to help your staffers enjoy this busy time.
Start by decorating your office. Create a holiday-themed atmosphere in the office with suitable decorations to boost the festive spirit and help your employees focus on work.
Office parties can easily become just another to-do in an already filled holiday calendar. To make them more fun, ask your employees what they would enjoy most, even if that means keeping things small and simple. If you have remote workers, consider organizing virtual parties. A virtual Christmas party is a great way to celebrate the successes of the team together, regardless of where you are.
You can also opt to support a charitable project. Let your employees select a charitable organization and donate in their name or match their contributions.
Plan Your Holiday Marketing
Take some time to plan your promotions and marketing activities. Start by going through the data you have from the previous year to see what customers responded to well, but also consider the current trends, as well as your customers' tastes and needs.
Next, determine the most effective channels for your business. Try to figure out where your audience is present and which channels are most likely to give you a good ROI, whether this means email campaigns, social media ads, or conventional TV and newspaper advertising.
Allow Employees to Take Leave
Employees like to take time off around the holidays but that might not always be realistic. Take some time to discuss when your employees would want to take their leave during the holidays, then create a plan so that everyone gets some time off.
Having a holiday vacation policy can be very helpful. Whether you use a system based on seniority, first-come, first-served, or some other policy, try to be fair to everyone. For instance, consider offering perks to employees who can’t take days off or those who volunteer to come in on holidays.
Finally, make sure there are enough people on so that your business can operate smoothly, and don’t forget to outline when your business will be closed during the holidays.
Final Thoughts
Preparing a business for the holiday season can often be stressful, but with a solid plan in place, you can ensure that your company earns a profit while your employees still have a joyful time.