The final stretch of 2024 marks the holiday season for employees around the world. From national holidays to those with religious significance, festivities like Thanksgiving, Yule, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Day fill calendars. In addition to other anniversaries and birthdays, there’s no shortage of reasons to celebrate with friends and family at the end of the year.
With so much excitement, it makes sense that many employees hope to use their PTO—which can boost both productivity and creativity upon a rested employee’s return—in November and December. But while vacation time is also good for employee health, it has the potential to be detrimental to a team’s productivity around the holidays. This is often a particularly stressful time for employers as they try to balance time-off requests with pressing business needs.
It’s smart for employers to prepare for the influx of PTO requests and have a plan to balance both employee and business needs. Here are a few practical tips to consider for any time of year there’s an influx of employees looking to take time off.
Types of PTO Policies
Choosing the right PTO policy is just as important as equally applying it to all employees. Depending on the industry, some common PTO policies are:
- First-come-first-serve: Whichever employees request PTO first get the requested days off.
- Seniority: Employees with longer tenures get the first pick of PTO days, rewarding their dedication.
- Rotating Schedules: This helps prevent favoritism by rotating when employees can take PTO and tracking previous requests.
Have a Plan, Communicate Early & Stick to It
The best way to prepare is to already have a written policy in place so every team member operates under the same rules. Employers then need to communicate the policy clearly to the entire team early so every member understands expectations and has an equal opportunity to request PTO while also understanding the necessity of the policy.
It’s helpful for employers to be aware of how many team members are necessary to maintain operations during and around holidays. This helps them determine how many team members can take PTO at a given time, allowing them to communicate that clearly to their teams. Engaging the team in an early dialogue around PTO creates a channel for employers and employees to understand each other, reducing frustration later.
Set Request Deadlines
Establishing deadlines for PTO requests around the holidays (or requiring prior notice in the PTO policy) can create extra buffer time to release early schedules. It allows time for employers to deal with emergency staffing situations if they arise. Plus, access to schedule information sooner helps the entire team plan ahead and make arrangements accordingly, whether it’s changing plans or swapping shifts.
Offer Flexibility & Transparency
On that note, one of the most powerful capabilities of a time & attendance software like Attendance on Demand™ is the ability to empower employees to trade shifts or days off. Facilitating this flexibility gives employees autonomy to determine the schedules that work best for their holiday plans while taking the pressure off employers trying to manage last-minute PTO requests. This system helps encourage a culture of trust and adaptability among the team, meeting business operational demands without sacrificing employee satisfaction.
Other Ways to Counter Holiday PTO Surges
Remote Work Solutions
For employees capable of working from home during the holidays, allowing more flexibility regarding remote work can prevent a productivity decrease. This allows employees to travel to see family or be home with their kids on winter break while still completing their work. This option incentivizes employees to spend their PTO other times of the year, even when they have holiday obligations.
Introduce the “Floating Holiday”
While holidays are particularly condensed around November, December and early January, there are many other holidays sprinkled throughout the year. To accommodate employees with significant holidays on other days of the year, many employers are introducing the idea of a “floating holiday,” a paid holiday that employees can choose to take off when they want. This can help reduce the wave of PTO requests that flood in during the holiday season.
Offer Cross-Training
For employers with the time and resources, cross-training can help cover skill gaps. Training employees across multiple roles can make coordinating PTO smoother. Having more people capable of stepping in to fill essential roles can allow more employees to take time off without significant negative impact on the business. Knowing the skills necessary in other roles also empowers employees to grow and step in as needed while minimizing workflow disruptions.
‘Tis The Season for Preparation
Part of effective leadership around the holidays is preparation. Digital solutions also help managers reduce errors, bias and compliance risks. Efficient time-tracking solutions, like Attendance on Demand™, can help employers simplify and accelerate the process of managing time-off requests while ensuring transparency across the team.
Having a plan in place, communicating expectations and creating clarity helps provide teams with direction during chaotic-feeling times, like with the flurry of employees seeking PTO around the holidays.
