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January 04, 2006
Staying open around the holidays
Our company takes Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day as holidays. In the past, when one of those holidays fell on a Saturday we observed it Friday; if on Sunday we observed it Monday.
In 2005 we looked at the calendar and saw a four-day closure around Christmas. We would be closed on December 23rd, when a lot of shopping was still happening, and again on December 26th when people who had found our product under the Christmas tree might be calling for technical support, or to exchange or upgrade.
We decided to stay open on Fridays and Mondays around holidays that fall on the weekend. Employees could then take the holidays as floating days in the surrounding months.
Some departments just closed down on Friday and Monday around Christmas, but all of our customer contact departments (sales, customer service, technical support) stayed open with reduced staff. We had fewer calls, which fit well with the reduced staff, and the customers who did call were surprised and delighted to find us there.
As far as I know, every employee got the holidays they wanted. Some moved New Year's Day closer to Christmas for a longer break, some saved all three days for an extended vacation in the first quarter, and some took the old schedule.
The customers got service on the standard schedule, the company got sales on three days when there would normally be no revenue, and the employees got holiday flexibility. I know this is old news in retail businesses, but it was a profitable innovation in our five day work week.
Posted by Bob Pritchett at January 4, 2006 06:01 AM
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