They come round every year, holidays for you and your fellow team members. And for many businesses the summer break can be a stressful time, planning to manage resources while key staff are away with their families.
In the old days, industrial companies used to close down completely for a holiday period, and even today you can occasionally see small shops and takeaways put up a sign saying they will be closed for a holiday break. But those who do this are fewer and fewer.
Businesses today cannot afford to give customers the opportunity to take their business elsewhere for a week or two, as it may never come back.
The other problem with the summer break, is that you may rely on the rest of the team to cover the workload of missing colleagues. That’s often a recipe that ensures things are simply done badly.
How to plan for the summer break
So, how to plan ahead for the inevitability of the summer holidays? One sensible way, is to hire in temporary help, to cover the period when there will be too much to do, for the folk still at work. And one of the simplest, most flexible ways to draft in extra support, is to use a virtual assistant.
Get this right, and you’ll sail through the summer holiday period, without workload backing up, or any worries that customer inquiries have not been followed up as they should be.
The beauty of using a virtual assistant is that you can hire them just as long as you need them. No need to worry about access to your premises, finding them a desk and chair, as they will work remotely on agreed items of work that need to be done. You only pay the agreed fee for the time of theirs that you use, no need to put them on the payroll or worry about tax and National Insurance.
Your Virtual Assistant
You can use all manner of support services that are available remotely. Many virtual assistants are effective at managing email, and attending to key items that need a timely response. They can be used to handle bookkeeping, and other important administrative tasks, perhaps in place of a staff member while they are away building sandcastles and sunning themselves.
Perhaps it is the sales or marketing role that will need support, as your key salesperson takes a break with their family. In that case, you simply need to set up your virtual assistant with appropriate access to your systems, so that inquiries can be followed up, marketing materials sent, and clients get to feel they are still being taken care of, as normal.
Using a virtual assistant may take some initial adjustment, but it is usually more an issue of cultural change, as working with someone who is miles away may seem a little strange, if you are used to calling across the office.
However, with modern communication including smartphones, email and Whatsapp, it is easy to maintain a conversation with someone who is working remotely for you. More and more company systems are online, making it easy to have a remote worker as part of the team.
Now is the time to plan ahead, before the summer break is upon you. Take a look at your team calendar, over the next three months, and work out where those pinch points of workload are likely to be. Call us today on 0161 211 9837 or contact us here.