Handling Employee Vacations

[Joe Marconi]

If not managed correctly, employee vacations can kill your business. Having everyone take vacations back to back, as in the summer months, will not only kill production, but kill morale.

 

The reality is that people do look forward to their vacation time. There is nothing wrong with this; people need down time and enjoy time away with their families. But we need a balance too.

 

The other issue is that sometimes the owner of the business is the last person in the shop that schedules time off. The owner needs down time too.

 

With the summer months approaching, what's your policy on vacation time?

[alfredauto]

We are going to simply close the shop for 2 weeks. We all get the same vacation at the same time. Trying to operate short handed as in the past caused too much stress.

 

I can't emphasize enough how important a little down time is. This year I'm taking the wife to Bosnia/Herzegovina and Croatia. I took my 1st vacation four years ago, prior to that I was always "too busy". 20 years of work work work is not healthy for anybody.

Edited May 2, 2015 by alfredauto

[weighit]

I used to close down the shop for 3 weeks, last two weeks of August and 1st week of Sept. All employees got a 40 hour pay check each Friday we were closed sent to their homes so they were there when we reopened and not crying the blues they had no money. I needed a vacation and that was when we wanted to go, so it was the best way to let customers know well in advance that we would be closed. Customers that wanted our services either loaded up the shop before we left, or left they car/items in the shop so they could be the first things we worked on when we reopened. All the employees got the same 3 week paid vacation. I did not have any employee I felt could run the place in my absence for 3 weeks, a day or two yes, long run, no.

[FROGFINDER]

I like steering a ship that could sail without me. If my family or country needs me I may be hard to reach.

I like closing for vacation at a certain time. Helps you plan.

[alfredauto]

Just got back last week from 3 weeks off. Took a full Saturday to evict the spiders from the shop 😯 I assumed the first week back would be slow but it was the opposite. Everyone is rested up and focused. Based on last week we will turn a small profit in July even being closed 3 weeks.

 

If any of you guys are tired of the same old vacation spots Croatia is the place to be. An overnight flight gets you there, and the friendly people and uncrowded beaches on the islands are magic to your body and spirit. Almost everyone speaks English but learning a couple phrases in hrvatski is easy and goes a long way to being an accepted American tourist. Did I mention its rediculously cheap? We stayed on the beach on Vis island for about $20/night. It wasnt a 5 star resort but clean, safe, and 30 second walk to the sea. A real nice sit down 3 course dinner averages $12-$20 per person including drinks. For $20 thats a rich mans meal with high end fresh fish with soup and vegetables, all freshly prepared. They let you smoke in the restaurants too if thats your thing. Street food like cevapi & ajvar with fresh bread is like $3 for a filling meal. Beer is about $1.25 for a half liter bottle of premium beer at a cafe. Cheaper at the grocery store. We rented a power boat for $40/day to explore some secluded islands. Gas included. We hired a private guide to take us around off the beaten path for about $100 for a 12 hour day, all inclusive. For the guide he was happy as can be because his normal salary is $500 a month before taxes. $100 there is like $1000 here. The other nice thing about Europe is the public transportation is outstanding. We toured most of the whole ex yugoslavia by train, bus, ferry, and the occasional taxi. Working on cars every day its nice to let someone else drive. I visited a couple shops over there, nobody rushes to get anything done. $13/hr is the standard rate for mom & pop garage. The shops that service the taxis charge much more.

[bstewart]

nobody rushes to get anything done.

 

You'll find this in a lot of places around the world. The whole idea of always being in a rush for everything is mainly a North American idea.

What we would call being 1-3 hours late is actually "on time" for many cultures around the world.

In a lot of places, showing up for dinner at 5 can mean showing up any time between 6 and 9, and it's totally OK with the hosts because of a far more relaxed attitude.

In North America, we place so much structure around time that in many cases, being "on time" is actually viewed as being late in some people's eyes, because they always show up EARLY for everything.