One of the most common dilemmas we see small business owners face is the desire to provide their team with a great work life balance. However, this can result in the business struggling to keep moving forward when they are a person down. For some of our clients, one person makes up a third of the business! If this is something you relate to, then you are in luck this April! Thanks to a lucky line up of public holidays and weekends, if your employees take 3 days of annual leave they will end up with a 10-day break!
Whilst there are obvious benefits in this for your employees, there are a number of great benefits for you as the employer. We expect the period from 19th April to 28th April to be similar to the Christmas/New Year period.
It is a perfect and rare opportunity for you to be able to effectively run with limited resources in the office.
Encouraging your team to have a break will increase productivity and promote a positive work-life balance. It is no secret that employees are motivated to work harder when they know they have a break coming up. Having some time off allows individuals to recharge and return to the office with a fresh sense of enthusiasm.
It is also a good opportunity for employers to encourage those individuals in their teams who rarely take a break, and have a significant amount of annual leave accrued, to have some well-earned R&R time. This will help to manage the amount of annual leave owed to staff and will ensure your team members are well-rested and not at risk of burning out.
Taking a proactive approach will demonstrate to your team that you care about their wellbeing and that you are happy for them to take time off. This can have a positive effect on your relationship and may even help to build on their trust and loyalty.
Running a small business is no easy task, and it is important that business owners ensure they are taking some time out as well. If it is possible, perhaps you should think about taking advantage of the public holidays as well. So, if you haven’t already done so, reach out to your team and offer for them to take some time out of the business. Isn’t the saying:
Photo by Jasmine Waheed