Make your end-of-year deadlines without skipping a beat, even with the holidays, by keeping your team engaged. Avoiding holiday distractions is nearly impossible. This is why if you want to keep your team focused through the holidays, you shouldn’t avoid distractions at all. Rather, your emphasis should be on embracing these distractions that come with this time of the year to maximize productivity. You can’t expect to get through the holidays without certain crises, thus, careful planning and efficient work ethic must be put in to compensate for any Q4 complications.
Plan Early
Planning and communication is the first step to take when schedules get hectic. The holidays will and should be spent with family, and allotted vacations days should be used before the new year begins. Remind your team that a work-life balance is important and part of being a good employee is staying fresh and ready for the job.
Since you know vacation is going to be a part of the holiday season, create a clear and universal calendar that allows you to ensure your company is able to keep running near full capacity even with a few absences throughout the season.
It is also important to encourage your team to work ahead of schedule to ensure that any EOY deadlines are still met comfortably even with the barriers to productivity that winter can bring.
Make Time for Distractions
Making time for distractions is actually one of the best ways to improve productivity. By inviting distractions, but in controlled increments, your team is given the freedom to pursue their interests while still being encouraged to be as productive as possible to keep up with the busy demands that the end of year bring. Increase the number of breaks your team is given and tell your team to let loose during these periods by communicating with family, creating lists and schedules for home or even shopping for gifts online.
Along with the fun-filled atmosphere of the holidays, also comes an equal amount of pressures,” says Kara Shanks, vice president for The Reserves Network. “This can carry-over into the workplace and it’s important for management to maintain a pulse on the disposition of the staff. If there’s an opportunity available to alleviate stress, take advantage of it. Small steps to show you care will go a long way toward building good will, and making sure productivity isn’t compromised.”
Fight the Weather
Keep energy up during the darker part of the year with extra lights, light instrumental music and fun events like lunch outings, raffles and competitions to keep spirits up in the warehouse.
Get in the Spirit
Being a Scrooge during the holiday season is an easy way to get your team to disengage from your company. Instead of fighting the distractions, create an appropriate outlet for the extra buzz and energy in the warehouse by planning companywide events to keep holiday-related talk still focused on the company. By embracing this energy instead of shunning it, you are also able to channel it into more productivity.
Keep your company competitive through the holidays by getting everything on your wish list in talented light industrial professionals, warehouse management advice and dedicated HR services with a trusted national light industrial staffing agency. The Reserves Network has the resources of a national staffing powerhouse, but with the caring mindset of a local office. Contact TRN today to get your company on track for a successful 2017.
