Every company experiences crunch time. Your businesses busy season or large orders can cause lots of stress for your employees. With the right help and support from management your team can successfully get through the rush. Here are some tips for leaders to help employees during your busy season.
Remove or reassign non-essential work duties
Before the busy season begins, ask employees in your department to make a list of tasks that other departments could feasibly handle for them. Then work on transitioning those tasks or simply hold off on non-essential tasks until things slow down.
Ensure your office equipment is ready
It’s important to identify, and correct any equipment issues before the employee gets slammed with work. Before an employee will be putting in a lot of work, have the IT team do maintenance on computers and other commonly used devices. It’s also important to make sure IT knows that if an extra busy employee begins experiencing technical issues during the busy season, their issues should be expedited. General office equipment such as printers, copiers, and fax machines should be checked for issue also.
Allow for flexible scheduling
If employees need to work longer hours on particular days, consider, if possible, allowing them to work fewer hours other days of the week. This flexibility not only keeps employees fresh and reduces errors, but it also helps prevent turnover. This may not work for all states. Some states, like California, have daily overtime laws.
Allow remote work
Allow employees to break free from their cubicles. Technology makes it possible for employees to work from anywhere. Use that to your advantage during the busy season. Allow your employees to work where they want provided the work gets done on time and accurately. Some companies even encourage employees to leave early for family dinners and allow them to finish assignments remotely. While this is now an opportunity year-round, it is particularly encouraged to relieve stress and prevent burnout during busy season.
Relax the dress code
Allow employees to wear comfortable clothes, and footwear. Both men and women have a variety of options in a workplace for casual dress. A relaxed, casual, and informal enables employees to work comfortably while they are working long hours. Some standards may need to be established so employees are not confused about the meaning of the terms relaxed, casual, and informal dress.
Budget for overtime
Employees may need to work extra hours to get their job done, so allow them to work overtime if you (and they) can swing it. And if you’re pretty sure overtime will be necessary, try to make sure employees know that ahead of time, so they can plan accordingly.
Feed your team
Companies have long known that full stomachs makes for happier employees. Provide snacks in the breakroom that are quick and easy to eat. Be sure to include healthy foods. Have a breakfast spread for your employee to get the day started or order lunch for your team.
No one enjoys the extremely stressful periods in life, but they’re unavoidable, especially in business. Companies can help employees handle their stress and provide quality work by supporting them every step of the way. Employees will be willing to go above and beyond when the pressure is on to make sure the company succeeds.