Unplanned worker absences can have a major impact on a food facility, with the holidays being prime time for vacation requests and call-offs due to weather, illness, and car trouble (real or feigned). In response to a SHRM survey, an estimated 72% of US businesses said that workers take unplanned time off around the holidays. Not only do such absences add to the load of those who are working, respondents stated that it increases workplace stress (61%), disrupts others’ work (59%), and hurts morale (48%).
How do you manage unplanned shortages, temporary fill-ins, and holiday-focused workers without sacrificing food safety?
The best step, of course, is planning ahead, but since we’re already in the holidays, and you may have some unexpected absences, let’s focus first on how to keep your reduced workforce focused on the food safety spirit while in the holiday spirit.
You likely have some temporary and/or cross-trained workers in areas in which they are not accustomed to work. In that case, clear communication, reiterated training, and an open door for questions and issues are very important to ensure that all truly understand the duties to which they are assigned, and the food safety procedures required for each.
It also is important to recognize the efforts of those who are working, particularly if they had wanted to take time off, but were unable. Provide some extra incentives to entice workers to come to work and keep those who do motivated – providing holiday donuts or cookies during a break; catering a lunch; taking an unscheduled break for festivities; or offering resources such as stress management tools.
For temporary workers, or anyone in a new position, it can be of value to assign a mentor to each. The mentor needn’t oversee all the person’s work but should be available to provide assistance or answer questions.
If you find yourself significantly short-staffed, it can be helpful to incentivize a few trusted workers to be on call. Providing on-call pay with increased pay if called in can be enough to ensure you have backup if things get dire.
Once you get past the holidays and your regular staff is back, take some time to plan for next year. Review your existing attendance policies or develop a formal, written policy and holiday coverage plan. Include procedures for time-off requests, and emergency notifications, with the preferred contact methods and advance notice expectations.
Not only will this provide guidelines for your supervisors, but it also sets consistent practices across the organization and provides a document which can be referenced when you begin to get time-off requests. Adding options such as flexible or part-time shifts over the holidays can make a difference, as well as designating any crucial dates and no-time-off days, if needed.
Even with advance planning, you’re likely to get last-minute call-offs, so you’ll need to be prepared for that as well. Having plans in advance for on-call workers and a pool of industry-knowledgeable temps, incentives for working on days with high vacation requests, and cross-training workers can help ease the stress for both the workforce and the supervisors who are managing them.
But if you do run into a problem over the holidays, TAG is here to help, and we will be available throughout the holiday period to support our clients as needed.
TAG wishes you all the best of the holidays and safe eating!
