December 10, 2009

The holidays are a great time to overeat, hang out with family, and take a break, but your company isn’t put on pause just because it’s the end of December.

Here are tips on how to keep business from grinding to a halt.

Assess the gaps. Unlike a surprise flu sweeping through the office, you know when the holidays are coming, so plan if you can.

“Ask employees who’s planning to take off and look at what coverage you have in various departments,” says Amanda Edmonds, human resources consultant with Singular Management Solutions. Make sure your team is taking vacation days in accordance with company policy as well, she adds.

Examine how your business works at the holidays, too. If the last week of December is typically dead, you might not need to bring in anyone, as long as each department is covered, and someone’s answering the phones.

If it’s support staff you’re lacking, you shouldn’t have a problem filling in (see steps two and three). But if you’re losing a key team player to a long holiday vacation?

“Covering is a function of the team of people who are working around him,” says Frank De Raffele, Jr. host of the Entrepreneurial Excellence radio show. Have a team meeting before that extended break, and figure out how the team can cover whatever projects that key member is working on. Increasing the frequency of meetings can help, too since, as De Raffele says, “it’s not all in somebody’s head.”

2. Look Inside

You have two potential pools of fill in staff if you’re looking to avoid temp agency fees.

The first is part time staff. See if any of your part timers would like to pick up any extra hours during the holidays, which they might, considering how much most of us spend in December on holiday shopping. They’re already trained and know how your company, so you’ll save time and money if they can step in.

You can also ask your employees if they know anyone looking for seasonal work. They might have an out of work family member or even child home from college who can step in. “Because after the gifts and eating, what else can they do? How many movies can they watch?” jokes Edmonds of college kids. “If they can answer phones and make a few bucks, everybody wins.”

Don’t underestimate parental pressure, either – a kid is less likely to foul up at a parent’s place of work for fear of getting in trouble at home.

If the fill in employee is going to make over $600, he or she should fill out a W9 form from the IRS. That gets you their tax information, and a signed statement that they know they are not an employee (and aren’t entitled to any benefits from your company). Then, at tax time you’ll send them a 1099 form so they can report their wages to the IRS. They’ll pay taxes on it, not you.

Look Outside. Of course temp and staffing agencies can come to the rescue. Now’s a great time to dip into that pool. “There’s a lot of very talented unemployed people who are registered for temp work,” says Edmonds. “The odds of getting a temp is really high. The odds of getting a highly skilled temp just to answer your phones is tremendous.” 

Whether you find your temporary fill in from your co-worker’s kid or a temp agency, make sure you bring them up to speed as soon as possible, whether through a document of procedures or by holding a mini training session. Also, alert employees of the changes so they’re not wondering who that stranger is at the front desk when they clock in On December 28.

Get Back. In planning for holiday down time, look beyond Jan. 1 so you can hit the ground running when everyone’s back. That could mean having one more meeting pre-holiday to talk about what will happen at the start of 2010.

“Too many people wait until that first week to start gearing up,” says Susan Wilson Solovic, CEO of Small Business TV. “If you are ready for action, it gives you competitive advantage.”

If you’re working that off week, De Raffelle says you can use that time to your advantage, especially for sales. “The holiday season is sometimes the best time to call people you’ve been trying to contact,” he says, adding that this top three deals of the last eight years happened between Christmas and New Year. “Now they’re slower and they’ll take more time to talk with you and have a real conversation.”

You might not think anyone of importance would be in that week, but if you’re at your desk working on your business, there’s a good chance your prospects are, too.