With the Christmas and New Year celebrations about to kick into full gear, it’s time that you planned how you might manage the ‘silly season’ with relation to your staff. Specifically, their behaviour, attendance and overall frivolity during the coming weeks and months.
Here are my top 10 tips for staff management during the ‘silly season’:
1. Don’t be a bah humbug! There is nothing that will turn people off work quicker at this time of year than a distinct lack of Christmas cheer! Undoubtedly, the lack of focus which often occurs towards the end of each year can be frustrating for managers and business owners, however failing to ‘embrace’ the fun of the season will only exacerbate the situation.
2. Set clear guidelines for what is acceptable and unacceptable in the workplace. If the guidelines are set and made clear to all employees, their can be no excuses, and no confusion as to what you will and won’t tolerate at work related functions (as well as in the workplace).
3. Remind staff of your drug and alcohol policy and sick leave policy. This again encourages awareness and communication, and most importantly, clarity.
4.Remind staff of your social media policy and monitor social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. A comment which may seem ‘funny’ to someone late after a night out, may have a detrimental impact on another staff member, or in fact your business as a whole.
5. If you don’t have any of the above policies implement them now! Their is no better time than right now to get these in place if you don’t have them. You can download a variety of templates and examples online, or seek help from a HR professional. The short time spent getting these in place could end up saving you 10 times that in dealing with issues resulting from staff not being ‘clear’ on what is and isn’t appropriate.
6. Organise your Christmas function so staff can enjoy themselves in an environment which is controlled and safe. This may mean hiring a private room or venue, organising transport for staff, ensuring responsible service of alcohol and making sure there are some responsible attendees looking out for those who may be enjoying the event a little ‘too much’.
7. Encourage staff to put in for annual leave on days they will want off. This will reduce the number of ‘sickies’ you need to manage, so at least you can plan ahead if you know when staff will be absent.
8. Make work fun. As the saying goes, ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’. Embrace the festive nature of the season and make working fun! Perhaps you can decorate the office, change the way you answer the phones, have daily prizes for achieving goals and targets, encourage staff to dress in Christmas colours/themes or play Christmas carols in the office.
9. Get Flexible. Figure out ways to get the work done, but in a way that allows staff some flexibility to enjoy the various events they may have on (or even just the great weather). Perhaps you can change hours for some or all of your staff so that some staff start early and leave early and others do the late start and finish. Another great idea is to work an extra half hour Monday to Thursday, and then allow staff (where possible) to leave 2 or 3 hours early every Friday.
10. Be tolerant of those who don’t celebrate Christmas. Whilst it may be the case that the majority of your staff celebrate Christmas, be aware that not everyone does. If you have staff in your office who don’t observe this celebration, be mindful of their beliefs and include them without making them feel ‘pressured’ to hold the same beliefs as others. This doesn’t mean ‘cancelling Christmas’ or anything like that, it’s just about using common sense and being courteous.
