Different industries experience seasonal peaks at varying times throughout the year. During the summer, many businesses face the dual challenge of increased customer demand and higher volumes of staff on annual leave. Making sure you have enough staff to cope with seasonal changes is an important part of keeping operations running smoothly day-to-day.
Leading staffing platform Coople has prepared expert tips to help businesses manage their workforce year-round, especially during high-demand periods like summer.
“For companies facing staffing challenges, my top advice is to build a pool of reliable, flexible workers who can step in when needed. During the summer months, many businesses see a peak in staff taking annual leave. To ensure operations run smoothly, it’s important to plan and arrange adequate cover wherever possible. If you know you will experience a surge in customer demand at certain times of the year, you might also consider temporarily scaling your permanent team with additional support.
“Building a talent pool of flexible workers that you trust will ensure you have reliable staff throughout the year. As these professionals already know your company and how things work, they will have no problem picking up the work, making things easier for you and your team.
“Proactive workforce management is not only essential for business operations, but it can help prevent your team from becoming overwhelmed and stressed from sudden increases in workload. Make sure you use the best tools for the job, like Coople’s platform, to help with this, as this is one of the times of year when spreadsheets and WhatsApp groups can’t cope, leaving you with unfilled shifts and broken rotas.”
Plan ahead: To make sure your team doesn't struggle, proactively ensuring you have the right temporary workers to fill the gaps can help keep operations running smoothly. As soon as you know that multiple staff members will be away at the same time, start planning for cover so your team is not left stretched thin. However, it’s important to stay flexible rather than locking in your plan too tightly, as there could be other unforeseen factors that affect the amount of additional support you need.
Learn from past trends: Use your data from previous years to compare your busiest periods with the times of year when most staff use their annual leave. Consider any other seasonal factors, too, such as anything that could affect your supply chain. Building up a clear picture of what you can expect at different times of year will help you prepare and plan your staffing accordingly. You might also consider external events, holidays or industry-specific fluctuations when analysing past demand.
Build and maintain a trusted talent pool: If you know you will need to hire temporary staff to help meet seasonal demand, having a network of flexible workers at the ready can help your business thrive during periods of high demand or when full-time staff are on leave. This can help take the pressure off your team during a challenging time of year. You can advertise available jobs directly to your top flexible workers, dramatically speeding up hiring.
Communicate clearly: Having key team members off can leave room for confusion if not handled properly, which is why it's important to set expectations clearly straight off the bat. Your team should know which tasks are assigned to them, and which tasks are put on hold or outsourced. Clear communication with your flexible staff is equally important, so that they have all the information they need, and are ready to jump in and support your permanent team whenever required.
Smart ways to cover annual leave throughout the year
Cross-training can be a great way to tackle periods when your team is off on annual leave. If some team members are interested in learning skills outside of their job role, training them can not only be valuable professional development, but can also be a great solution when several employees within the same team are out of office at once.
Use the right tools
Track your team’s annual leave in detail in your HR software. This offers an efficient way to check which team members are out of the office, which can help you make arrangements in advance.
A trustworthy staffing platform, like Coople’s end-to-end staffing solution, helps you manage your flexible workforce efficiently – adding shifts, advertising jobs, and selecting new staff with ease. Partnering with a platform also takes care of admin like payroll and compliance, giving you more time to focus on your core business.
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