While summertime won’t officially begin until June 20, 2024, it’s not too soon to begin planning for it. Running your business smartly requires planning and preparation. Here are 3 areas to be thinking about now so you can be ready when the calendar says summer.
1. Vacation and holiday planning
Summertime is synonymous with vacations. Schools are out and the weather is conducive to play. From a business perspective, summertime requires some special planning with respect to time off.
- Vacation scheduling. As a general rule, most employees want to take their vacation days during the summer. A small business needs coverage and can’t have all employees off at the same time (although some businesses choose to close for a week for this purpose). The sooner you begin to set your vacation schedule for employees, the better for the business and them (they can then make plans on what they’ll do on vacation). Preparing for your staff’s summer vacation was covered extensively in a previous blog. Don’t forget to plan time off for yourself. According to a study some years ago reported by SCORE, only 57% of small business owners take vacations, and for those who do, 67% check in at least once a day. For the sake of your health and mental well-being, take time off.
- July 4th Looking ahead to this date, take note that this national holiday falls on a Thursday. Will you give your staff a long weekend by closing on Thursday and Friday? Will you hold July 4th sales for customers?
2. Summer intern planning
Many businesses use summer interns for various reasons. Interns can fill a void left by employees on vacation. Interns can be a source of additional help when summer months are busy. And interns can fill a gap when permanent employees are hard to find in this tight labor market. Whatever the reason, the sooner you begin to look for the right intern, or multiple interns, the wider the pool of available candidates there will be. You can find summer interns in various ways:
- Post openings on your social media sites.
- Contact local colleges and universities.
- Use websites for job openings, such as Indeed and LinkedIn.
Caution: Don’t think that using a summer intern is a way to obtain free labor. You must pay for an intern’s services unless you meet 7 tests listed by the DOL for an unpaid intern. There’s more information about summer interns in an earlier blog.
3. Weather planning
Almost all areas throughout the U.S. experience some differences during summertime as compared to the rest of the year. What does this mean for your business?
- Hurricane and tornado season. The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1. The Eastern North Pacific hurricane season begins May 15. While there’s no official tornado season, the peak usually occurs from May to June. Businesses need to be prepared. This is so even if they’re not located within an area that usually experiences hurricanes and/or tornados; their suppliers might. Check your insurance coverage now and do disaster planning. There’s more information in a previous blog, with resources to help you create a disaster and recovery plan.
- Outdoor workers. If your employees work outside, be sure to address their safety in the summer heat. OSHA has a resource on protecting workers from the effects of summer heat.
Final thought
“Preparedness is like breathing. If you don’t, you perish.” ~ Anonymous
It’s not too early to begin planning for the “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.” Then you can enjoy that time of the year.
