Staffing during the holidays

[Bronze_Palms]

I would love more insight on how to staff for the holidays.

I don't want my staff to work the undesirable shifts but I also don't want to work every single shift either. My bosses were never at popular shifts but I am struggling to not staff myself for these busy shift times.

[DinaLRosenberg]

what about a holiday incentive for staff to work those shifts? Like a bonus?

[doc_choc]

It's always a tough one. We set our schedule as far out as possible for the holiday season and get the team to sign up to shifts, then we backfill. There is no easy way but ultimately for most small businesses that operate over the festive season the senior managers and bosses tend to take up the strain.

[Helen]

Thanks for asking this @Bronze_Palms! I've pinned this thread to the homepage so that other sellers can share how they approached staffing for this holiday season, and how to balance being present with working 24 hours a day! 

[Lovewell]

This is a great question! 
meet usually have college kids that will come back during the holidays. 

but we try and have a pretty full staff to leave room for people to have time off. We are closed on major holidays and do encourage and remind everyone that they are valuable and so when they aren’t around it’s noticed. We also like to have a good staff stacked because ultimately someone is going to not feel well at some point in the colder months. It helps it not to be a total scramble when that happens! 

We also close the week after Christmas to give the team time with family or to travel so that’s a huge incentive to kind of pause travel during the super busy times because they know a week off is coming! 

[JUYBoutique20]

For me it's usually me and one more person.  Once I start hiring a staff, I won't work every shift.  My goal is to work half of the shifts.

[PartyManiaMD]

I currently am working every day all day. I have one newer employee that is great at stocking/merchandising but not great working alone. Another girl comes back during college break so that will allow me some flexibility.

The issue is that my normal avenues for employees is pretty much non-existant. Indeed is bone dry, craigslist just gets a bunch of spam, and unfortunately I'm in a HCOL area where the HS kids focus on school instead of working.

Paying more is only half of the equation given sales are mediocre, if I don't have anyone applying it doesn't matter how much I pay...

Entry level retail has always been a rough one to find sales associates for (why work retail if you can make more in tips serving in restaurants) but now with the gig economy everyone would rather be their own boss.

Our sales are still a fraction of what they were pre-covid (people are still throwing smaller parties) and unfortunately extra staff doesn't increase sales.

[Allyson]

I own a bakery and we legit do 1/2 our year Oct 15th - Dec 31st. I black out vacations Nov and Dec (confirmed through employee handbook they sign every year). That typically means we have a mess of people off Feb-Aug. I use summer time to employ high school and college kids so that my core staff can take vacations. I allow them to come back as seasonal workers during the holidays. I've been able to cover 90% of all of my holiday extra coverage needed this way. My GMs, managers and I take up the remaining slack. 

[sugarlab]

Heck this is my question normally. HAHA Staffing is always a challenge. My team want more hours but then don't understand when I need to hire more part time so I have coverage when staff get sick or want a vacation day. It's definitely a balance. 

I do something similar to @doc_choc. Try to schedule as far in advance, or at least warn them. Like for us, we do a "Shopsgiving" on the Monday before Thanksgiving where we close the shop and prep like crazy for Thanksgiving. We also take a longer lunch as a group and everyone brings a dish. It's really nice to spend time together like that during the crazy week. I've talked to my team over the years and most of them would prefer to be slightly overscheduled and sent home if it's slow. 

[TheLinenHouse]

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