Summer vacations for all, or for none? The employer’s dilemma

Summer vacations for all, or for none? The employer’s dilemma

The year 2020 started with a few cases of the coronavirus infection which soon led to a full-blown pandemic, and then many people ended up spending more time in lockdown than they had probably ever done in their lives.

For the corporate community, the implication of the lockdown, and the work-from-home initiative is that most employees did not get to take any time off work.

I mean, why would you ask for time off work when you had already spent 60% of the year working from home? Why would you even request for a vacation when travel restrictions were all over the borders, with strict protocols on the ground before any of such rules could be broken?

For most African countries, especially Nigeria, most employees were simply glad to have made it to the end of the year, despite pay-cuts, leave without pay, and even lay-offs.

BUT NOW, the pandemic is receding, and a lot of travel restrictions are off. Like we can see trending on LinkedIn, some industries are recording a sudden surge in time-off requests? People want to take summer trips, and it is looking like many staff want to take these trips at the same time.

It is like the breath of fresh air that comes after being cooped up for days, and everyone wants a taste of it – all at the same time.

What are employers and business managers supposed to do now?

Well, for a fact, no business can function with 90% of its staff away on summer vacations, unless the business itself is taking a vacation. So, granting all the leave and time-off requests is not a feasible option.

We are in a different work environment now, so what used to apply in normal times cannot apply now. Since the pandemic started, a lot of businesses have had to modify working conditions, and I believe those modifications can help here.

The hybrid working condition already adopted in my business meant that we did not have everybody coming to the office every single day of the week. Some had to be physically present every day, some for two or three days in a week, and others were allowed to work fully remotely, depending on the job role.

This can also be adopted in this summer vacation fix. What I think every manager should do first is to identify the importance of everybody’s role?and determine those that cannot be on vacation at the same time.

Once this is done, you should create a short-term vacation policy that will fit into this hybrid system and will address the current situation without making the employees feel that they have been created. You need them to be in their best moral frame to give their best.

For instance, you could use a policy that requests employees to remotely work one or two hours earlier in the day for their vacation period, so that they have the rest of the day for their vacation plans, but the company’s productivity does not suffer too. Another could be to ask them to take a 4-week vacation but give back a day’s remote work every week for the period, as a way to keep the company going. As an addition, you could offer a bonus or incentive to people who opt to postpone their vacation till a more convenient plan.

Such a hybrid plan will solve the problem smoothly, every employee will also be happy to get some paid time off work, and you will also have achieved your responsibility of making sure that the company keeps its productivity up.

What other strategy do you think employers could use at this critical point? Please share your thoughts in the comment section. #TrendingOnLinkedIn.