Summer is a tricky part of the year for anyone owning or managing a business. Kids are no longer in school, outdoor activities are more available, and society is pushing for people to take vacations. As a manager or entrepreneur, you will need to find a way to accommodate a loss of workers during this season. From what I’ve seen in the business world, these are a few ways you can handle this situation. Schedule Vacation Early This tip won’t necessarily help you for this year, but it can help you in subsequent years. If you run a business that is required to have x number of employees available at all times, you should consider requiring your employees to schedule their vacations at the beginning of the year. This way, you can ensure that every day there are enough people working to cover the tasks. With this policy in place, you can get a good idea of how to handle periods of time with less workers, but also be flexible by allowing people to swap weeks or shift their vacation, as long as it does not leave the office understaffed. Just keep in mind that this method works best when you prorate PTO. Work From Home If your employees who are going on vacation will have downtime while traveling, maybe they can pitch in by working from “home”. This is a great option for someone spending most of their first vacation day in an airport or on a bus or train. You can offer a work from home day as an alternative to a PTO day, so they get to keep one day and you get some more work from them before they’re gone. Contract Hire If your business operates on a tight schedule and employees will never be able to catch up after vacation, consider hiring a temporary worker to fill in the gaps. You could utilize college students or new grads, and the best part is they will often have time during both summer and winter breaks, which is when most vacation time is used. Numerous studies show that taking time off helps employees be more productive, so you would not only be investing in getting the work done, but also investing in the future work your employees will do after returning from a worry-free week at the beach. Summer may be a difficult time of the year for many businesses, but incorporating some of these policies will help lessen that burden. Take some time today to reflect on how your company operates during peak vacation season and see if including some updated procedures would help. This article was originally published at AliBeheshti.com