The last quarter of the year tends to bring added administration and a significant number of "Oh yeah!" and "Don't Forget!" thoughts and reminders. This is in addition to the added work that comes from year end processing.
October is an opportunity to start some of those tasks to avoid the time crunch. You can also ensure that your people do too by implementing solid processes now, so you can avoid challenges in December.
One key area that tends to get pushed to the eleventh hour is time and attendance management. This can have a negative impact in many ways:
Financially
Productivity and efficiency
Customer care and service.
Having an HRIS or HRMS that tracks and manages your vacation requests and balances is an easy way to take this burden off your management team. If you do not have a system in place to assist with this, you can also reduce the scramble through a few easy steps. Regardless of if you use automation or hardcopy be sure that October includes these practices:
Communicate to staff that their remaining vacation balances need to be used and when the deadline for vacation requests occurs.
Remind staff of the approval process, including the need for days to be approved before travel arrangements are booked.
Share the process for managing days that are not booked off before December 31st if you are on a calendar vacation year. This includes assignment of vacation, any carryover permitted and other related policies or practices.
If you have blackout dates or other high demand or busy periods, be sure that they are set and if this is a manual process, be sure that managers are aware of restrictions on vacation approval.
October is also an opportunity to have those crucial conversations with staff that may have already maximized any time off allocations, met, or exceeded time bank allowances or other leave entitlements so that there is no excessive absenteeism or time off surprises when winter colds strike or school break hits. These can be difficult discussions but are easier when handled proactively. It's much easier to prepare someone for a time off request to be unpaid before they ask than it is to explain after they return.
Lastly, take this quarter to review your HR metrics and review the related financial data that impacts profitability to set strong goals and clear measures for next year.
People are your biggest asset (and likely also your biggest cost) so knowing the impact that they have on business outcomes will feed dealership growth for 2024.
This is the last quarter of the year, and the last chance for staff to choose their vacation days, the last chance to ease the load of year end and the last set of metrics to review.
If you would like to learn more about HR Metrics, using your HR system to ease year end workload and simplify processes, or are interested in how we assist dealerships daily, let's talk!
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