518-373-4111
For many businesses (or certain departments within businesses), the last few months of the year can be very busy and stressful. Reducing employee stress during the busy season – or during any timeframe – is important to keep things moving along and keep your staff as productive as possible. Here are a few things you can do to make your busy season run as smoothly and stress-free as possible:
Remove or reassign non-essential work duties: Before the busy season begins, ask employees in your department to make a list of tasks that other departments could feasibly handle for them. Then work on transitioning those tasks or simply hold off on non-essential tasks until things slow down.
Allow for flexible scheduling: If employees need to work longer hours on particular days, consider, if possible, allowing them to work fewer hours other days of the week. But be aware that some states, like California, have daily overtime laws.
Budget for overtime: Employees may need to work extra hours to get their job done, so allow them to work overtime if you (and they) can swing it. And if you’re pretty sure overtime will be necessary, try to make sure employees know that ahead of time, so they can plan accordingly.
Ensure all equipment is fast and reliable: Before an employee will be putting in a lot of work, have the IT team do a little maintenance on their computers and other commonly used devices. It’s important to identify, troubleshoot, and correct any slow or non-working issues before the employee gets slammed with work. It’s also important to make sure IT knows that if an extra busy employee begins experiencing technical issues during the busy season, their issues should be expedited.
For more information on how GTM advises clients on HR issues like this, contact us at (518) 373-4111.
