Employers get advice on giving time off
By Joyce M. Rosenberg
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Summer brings a new source of angst for some small-business owners: their employees' vacations.
Company owners know that workers need vacations, but some give the time off only grudgingly.
"They don't take many vacations themselves. ... They think employees should be willing to make the same sacrifice," said Leigh Branham, owner of Keeping The People Inc., an Overland, Kan., human resources consulting firm.
The problem is that vacations are disruptive to a company's routine. Other workers must fill in for the vacationing employee, but often aren't familiar with the routine. Tasks might not be handled as efficiently during the worker's absence — and sometimes they aren't done at all. Then there are questions about procedures or customer accounts that no one can answer except the absent employee.
An owner's anxiety is understandable, said Max Messmer, CEO of the staffing company Robert Half International Inc.
"Because they're smaller, it's harder to do without one particular employee," Messmer said. But he's an advocate of cheerfully giving workers vacations: "You really want your employees to have some time away, to recharge."
Leslie Yerkes, president of Catalyst Consulting Group in Cleveland, said small-business owners can make vacation periods less stressful with some planning.
"If you look at the whole year, you can plan for coverage and it has less of a negative impact," she said. "But I'm afraid that they don't plan and it feels like a crisis then and the employer resents that."
Yerkes suggests owners sit down with staffers at the beginning of the year and plot out a vacation schedule. That will give employees time to learn how to do co-workers' jobs, and it gives the owner time to consider bringing in temporary help, and budgeting for such an expense.
A change in attitude — looking at vacations as a positive rather than negative phenomenon — might also help.
Vacations are also an employee benefit that enables a company to attract and retain good workers. And, Branham noted, a positive attitude about vacations will be particularly helpful for baby boomer bosses looking to hire Generation X employees.
Branham noted many companies give workers two weeks vacation after the first year, three weeks after five years and four weeks after 10 years. But he also said that it might pay in the long run to be more generous than that, particularly if you're in a business that must compete for talented workers.
And Branham said, many people starting a new job are used to having several weeks of vacation. He suggested being flexible during that first year of employment.
