Faced with an increasing competitive business environment, is it wise to shut the doors over the Christmas holidays and give your staff an extended break?
The simple answer is a resounding ‘yes’.
They don’t want left over bottles of mulled wine or fancy jam from the piles of corporate hampers gathering dust in the corner of your office, they want the week off.
And it may come as a surprise to you but shutting the doors and letting your staff enjoy the festive week is about the most positive thing you can do for them.
And, by extension, it benefits your business.
Please Explain How Does Not Doing Any Business Benefits The Business?
*IMPORTANT NOTE* Koncise Solutions are available all through the Christmas week should you need us.
We’re not talking about businesses in the service industry like ours, or restaurants, or ice rinks.
There are very few questions in business that have simple answers, but this is one that does.
Actually, it’s a little more nuanced but the theory is sound. As a business owner – especially at Christmas – you have to decide between employee satisfaction and perceived productivity but will staying open over Christmas increase output or will it lead to resentment?
It’s a real dilemma for a lot of businesses. Stay open or shut down? Is it an open and shut case?
Here’s what we think…
The Costs – Keeping your office open unnecessarily costs you money. The operational costs of keeping the lights on and the heating up notwithstanding, you’re paying your staff to work when all they will be doing is looking for online bargains in the sales, muttering under their breath what a Scrooge-like boss you are and wishing they were at home with their loved ones eating small fried things from M&S and a quite phenomenal amount of chocolate. Plus, there’s very little chance of recouping those costs since your clients won’t be working so no deals are going to get done.
Staff Morale – For many, the holidays can be a tough time. Those with families can enjoy all the razzmatazz associated with the festive season, eating and drinking, lots of TV and fun times to share but for many there’s the prospect of being alone. It’s unlikely that being in the office with a skeleton staff will do anything positive for either.
Shutting up shop for a week gives people time to relax and recharge and they will come back energised and ready to hit the ground running in January.
Stop The Rot – From the first week of December, minds switch from work mode to ‘what on earth am I supposed to buy for my fickle nieces and nephews’ mode. Productivity slows down so by giving staff a clear end date they can focus on the time left in the office rather than resenting the fact that they have to get dressed the day after Boxing Day, get on the tube and waste a day in a cold office while everyone else is huddling under the duvet until 11am with handfuls of sweet goodies.
No Intra-Company Tussles – Christmas holidays are unlike any other holiday allowance. Summer holidays are taken anywhere between the start of June and the middle of September but for Christmas, there’s a week. If the office isn’t closing (and if you’ve read this blog from the start you’ll know that it should), paid leave is usually given on a first come, first served basis so if they don’t submit their requests by mid-October they may not even be allowed to take the time off.
Therein causes all sorts of arguments and death stares until at least March. If you don’t want your staff hating on each other in Q1, shut the office.
Whatever you decide to do, make the right choice! Your staff will thank you for it when they’re back from binging on boxsets and gorging on great grub!
Contact us today on info@koncisesolutions.com or call 020 7078 0789 and we’ll talk cloud and email security, communications platforms, cutting-edge IT solutions or what’s better, Terry’s Chocolate Orange or a huge box of Quality Street…
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