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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, February 7, 2005

No time like the present for scheduling vacations

By Erika D. Smith
Knight Ridder News Service

AKRON, Ohio — Vacations are fun, but scheduling them often isn't — even for the smallest of staffs.

How many times have several employees wanted the same week off in the middle of July?

How many times have employees bought plane tickets and told you about it just two weeks before takeoff?

Or, how many times has an employee tried to pull rank, using his seniority like a baseball bat?

It can get ugly.

"Vacation. It's fraught with peril for managers," said Alex Hiam, an author and executive coach with the firm Insights for Training and Development.

Employers can't make everybody happy all the time, but it is possible to minimize anger and resentment among your staff.

The key is starting early. Like, now.

"It's better to argue about it in advance," Hiam said.

The smallest of businesses tend to schedule vacation on the fly. Employees put in requests for time off one by one, only days before they need it.

This can not only put employers in the lurch, but it can also put the smooth operation of your business at risk. And that, Hiam said, should be your first concern.

At Akron City Hospital, that's definitely the case. With operations done around the clock, a certain number of nurses always have to be on duty.

"Our priority is the safety of the patients," said Brenda Spear, administrative director of patient care services.

The hospital is planning its summer vacation schedule right now. Nurses are encouraged to submit requests and trade days among themselves, but the rules for time off are well known to the 600-member staff.

"We don't have big, big problems with vacations," Spear said. "The expectations are clear."

That type of policy is crucial, echoed Tim Dimoff, president of SACS Consulting and Investigative Services Inc. in Akron.

Employers, large and small, should explain the parameters of their vacation policies — usually in an employee handbook and at subsequent meetings.

That policy, for instance, could include restricted times of year for taking days off. Or, it could specify whether preference is given based on seniority or some sort of annual rotation.

"It's not bad if there are restrictions and your employees know about it," Dimoff said. "Don't make it a surprise."

Translation: Don't decide the day Bob demands two days off in December that no one can take time off that month because it's your busiest season. Let employees trade days off among themselves once the schedule is set.

If you feel up to it, you could make vacation planning a group process. That will not only avoid the surprise factor, but will also make employees more loyal to the policy because they had a hand in the decision-making, said Bob Nelson, head of Nelson Motivation Inc. in California and author of "The Management Bible."

Employees should be asked to comment on what went wrong the year before and to make suggestions on how to fix it. But be warned:

"You're going to have to keep guiding the conversation to the process, not the person. They're going to want to keep talking about why Joe always gets the best vacation week," Hiam said. "I don't care if Joe gets the best vacation week. What does Joe do differently? He puts in his requests early."

More and more employees are asking for flexibility with their days off, Dimoff said. They want to take half-days or a few days at a time instead of entire weeks. As a result, many companies are now lumping vacation days, sick days and personal time into a single pool of time off.

Another thing business owners should consider is whether they should let employees build up their vacation time over years or have it expire. On the one side is flexibility for employees. On the other is the risk that people can retire and demand a lump-sum payout, or try to take five weeks off at one time. Restrictions in an employee handbook can come in handy for the latter situation.

In the end, companies have to decide which employees they are going to make happy.

That's true for the scheduling method you choose: Seniority versus an annual lottery versus a rotation for the best vacation weeks.

Who are you trying to please the most?

If you value the employees with the most years of service, go with seniority. If you run a small business where everyone is valued equally, then try a rotation. Just have a reason. "Align the things that are important to people with what you're trying to get from them," Nelson said.

It all comes down to fairness. And, if handled correctly, vacation time can be an incentive to employees. Just remember to plan ahead, have clear policies, but remain flexible.

"Just because you have a policy doesn't mean it's locked in stone," Nelson said.