A. Little Help
- Author: Art Little
- Subject Matter: Management
- Issue: Managing vacation time
Merry Christmas. It’s that time of year again. There are things to do. You need to buy your wife a present, put up the lights on the house, go see some old friends and get ready for family to come over. It’s the best time of the year. Wouldn’t it be great to have a little time off? Maybe shut the shop down and go home for about nine or 10 days? Well, maybe you can.
It may not be this way at your shop, but for me the days between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2 have always been the shop’s least-productive time. Sales are off. Employees don’t want to be there. I don’t want to be there. It is cold. The customers don’t have any money. This is a time of year when the shop never makes any real money. Some years I even lost money by staying open.
Sometimes, we get locked into old habits, even when it works against us – like taking vacations in the summer. Summer is usually the worst time for a shop employee to take time off because it is typically our busiest period.
Every year you schedule vacations for your employees. You have to rest your horses, but do you have to rest them when the shop is busy? I have found that most employees would rather take their vacation time at Christmas instead of during the summer if given the choice. I know the kids are out of school in the summer, but they are out of school at Christmas too. Why not schedule some long weekends for your employees during the busy summer months and wait until business slows down at Christmas for long vacations? It may be best for everyone.
Benefits for you
By staggering long weekends for each employee at different times during the summer, you do not have to work a week or two at a time without key employees in the busy summer months. You will be without them just a few days at a time this way. It makes scheduling long vacations simple for you too. Everyone is off at the same time. Also, if the shop is open, you are still working. It may be light duty, but your time is taken and you do not get to totally focus on real time off. If you shut the shop down, you are off too. Truly off, with no distractions. Your employees will always remember and appreciate that your competitors were open and they were off during the time between Christmas and New Year’s.
Benefits for the customers
Christmas vacations keep us from working short-handed for extended periods at our busiest time of year and allows us to get more vehicles delivered during our busy times. This is when turnaround time is critical to the customer. Historically, my customers have not been in a hurry to pick up their vehicle between Christmas and New Year’s. As a matter of fact, I am usually on the phone begging them to come and get their vehicle. Most of my customers have spent their money on Christmas and turnaround time is not important.
Benefits for the employees
Time off is invaluable to employees at this time of year. Many are far from home, and with the extra time off they can go home for Christmas. Time off is no good without money. So, give the employees their vacation pay and their end-of-year bonuses and put a little Santa Claus money in their pocket at the right time.
Life is too short. Take a little time off and have some fun. Think about getting your money made for the year by Dec. 23 so you will be in a position to close for the holidays. Look at it this way: If you haven’t made your money by then, it’s probably too late anyway. Set your goals and work toward those goals all year long. Then, take some well-earned quality time off. The shop will still be there when you get back.
Well, that’s it for me this year. I’m going to go eat some Christmas cookies now and warm my feet. I hope you have a happy and prosperous new year.
Art Little is the founder of TransTeam. His website is the home of the National Employment Headquarters for the transmission industry. He has been an industry pioneer in Internet technology since 1997, and his background in shops goes back almost 30 years. He is respected nationwide as an owner and manager who specializes in multiple-shop management. Today he is a software developer for the transmission industry, offering apps that make everyday tasks in a transmission shop easy by using today’s technology. TransTeam’s mobile technology puts transmission-shop production on a smart phone. Art invites all Transmission Digest shop-owner fans to go to his website and become a TransTeam fan. Visit www.transteam.com.
