“Wake up! Wake up! C’mon, first day of school.” ~ Nemo in Finding Nemo
Late August and early September is the time for many children and adults to return to the classroom. Whether or not you have a child back in school now or you are beginning an educational program, if you are a small business owner then back-to-school has consequences. They may be positive or negative, but all require your attention. Here are some ideas.
Increased traffic
It’s a fact that in most locations, traffic increases when primary and secondary schools start for the Fall. This is especially so in the morning hours when parents, teachers, teen drivers, and school buses are on the road.
What to do. School hours may coincide with business hours, making it more challenging for employees who drive to work to arrive on time. It can also complicate business deliveries, which may necessitate changing routes and building in more time. Be sure to also allow extra time for getting to morning business appointments or during afternoon school dismissals. And advise employees driving on a company business to be especially cautious in school zones—lookout for children and flashing yellow lights.
Increased foot traffic
Back-to-school sales and sales tax holidays may be behind you, but the fun is just beginning. If you have a bricks-and-mortar location near a school, hopefully there’s an increase in customers—students and their parents as well as teachers and other school staff, especially after school it out for the day. I remember that the pizzeria near the middle school in my neighborhood was very quiet in the summer but packed at 3 o’clock Monday through Friday when school was in session. Other retail establishments near schools may also get an inflow of people.
What to do. Be prepared to handle the additional customers. Your staff should be trained to deal with young customers, offering them assistance. These young customers may have Apple Pay (those under 18 can get it through Apple Cash Family, so be sure you can accept this form of payment.
Time off for school events
Employees may want or need to take time off to attend school plays, sporting events, and parent-teacher conferences. Federal law does not require businesses to allow employees to take time off—paid or unpaid—for these reasons. Some states, however, have mandatory time off for school-related matters.
What to do. Check whether your state has a mandatory time off law for school-related matters, and if so, whether your business is exempt because it is “small.” Even if you aren’t required by law to permit this time off, you can do so in a number of ways:
- Allow employees to use their paid-time-off (PTO). Also consider fractionalizing this use. For example, if PTO is based on 8 hours a day and an employee only needs to be off for 2 hours to attend a child’ school activity, then the employee still has 6 hours of that one PTO day available for future use.
- Offer flexible scheduling. Allow an employee to arrange the needed time off by working on a different day or for different hours. But you cannot give compensatory time off in lieu of payment for overtime work by a non-exempt employee.
Employees pursuing education
Children aren’t the only ones who go back to school at this time of the year. Employees may be enrolled for college or graduate school classes or continuing education programs. Business owners may do the same.
What to do. Career development is a vital way to retain valued employees and groom them for new positions. One survey found that 25% of employees are likely to quit if they don’t have career development support from their company. Add to this AI anxiety (a reported 71% of employees); training and upskilling would ease this anxiety. Be sure to convey a supportive attitude toward additional learning. Also consider:
- Supporting education through tuition assistance and student loan repayment. If you have a written education assistance plan that’s nondisciminatory, you can pay up to $5,250 annually per employee. This benefit is tax free to them and not subject to payroll taxes.
- Allowing flexibility scheduling. Employees who take classes may need to leave early or want time off to study, and you can make it easy for them to arrange their time for this purpose.
Final thought
Review your business policies and practices in light of changes occasioned by back-to-school calendars. Maybe you ’ve been doing this annually. Maybe you never thought about it. Do it now.
Read more about this topic in the list of blogs here.
