For many businesses the holiday season is the most exciting time of the year. It’s also an exciting time for employees, who look forward to taking a holiday break to spend time with their families. But it can be a stressful period. Here are some steps you can take to prepare your business for the upcoming holiday season.

Get ready for the festive rush

Businesses, such as retailers or those in the tourism industry, usually get an influx of customers or clients during this time of the year, especially around Christmas and New Year. You need to plan ahead for the rush to ensure your business won’t have any hiccups during this period. If you need to stock up on supplies do so on time. For example, if you’re a retailer, you need to ensure you have ordered enough store gift cards and gift wrap to handle an increase in demand. 

Create a schedule of employees’ leave days

Your employees should be able to take leave during the holidays. You need to discuss this with your team and create a schedule that will enable all employees to take some time off, but also ensure that you have enough workers around to ensure your business runs smoothly during the holiday season.

Schedule holiday working hours

If you’re planning to close down your business for a few days over the holidays ensure that you notify employees of any changes that might affect them. Request your employees to book holiday time off by a certain date and encourage them to be available in case of any emergencies. Should you be a retailer, you may have to extend your working hours for the holidays. Ensure your customers are notified about any change in operating hours, and that you have extra staff for the holiday season if necessary.

Decorate your office or business

While your employees have to focus on work and reaching targets for the holiday season, which can be very stressful, decorating your office ensures they don’t lose the season’s festive spirit. If you have a storefront, having a holiday display may also attract more customers to your business during the holiday season. Just ensure it showcases the products and services that are most in demand during the holiday season instead of crowding them.

Analyse online user experience and phone connectivity

Your physical office or business is not the only thing that needs a holiday makeover, so does your online presence. Ensure that your website is not slow – is it easy to navigate your website and place orders? See if you can add a festive theme to your site. If you have an active blog, it may be a good idea to hire a freelance writer to produce holiday-oriented content while you’re away, or you can get your blogs ready before you take your holiday break. 

You also want to ensure that your voice telephony solutions don’t decrease your business connectivity, performance and productivity during this period. Now is a good time to review your current phone system and phone plan. Evaluate how your phone system can better serve you, especially if you don’t have enough staff to answer incoming calls. If your business will be operating with reduced staff during the holidays you can let your customers know that answering calls might be slower.

By having a plan in place into the holiday season, you can ensure that your business hits targets whilst you and  your employees also have a celebratory festive season.