We have all been there. The rising number of employees off over the summer months – especially now the kids have finished school until September – means some departments will be lacking in numbers and some work could get left behind.
One area you cannot afford to let this happen in is the back office, and especially payroll. Employees will forgive a lot of things, but not having their wage hit their accounts at the right time is not one of them. Not only would it mean many people missing mortgage or rent payments for that month, it would also create a mistrust between employees and management. Once trust is lost, it is not easy to get back.
Ensuring you have enough staff to cover all areas is difficult during these months, and with sick leave and particularly Covid continuing to be an issue with staff needing to take time off, you really need a back-up plan.
Emergency cover
While you may never need to use it, you should ensure you have some emergency cover in place just in case you are facing a crisis at short notice. You can do this by training staff to do a different job within the office so they can step in if needed, or you can speak to your accountant and find out if they could give you the assistance you need for the short term if things went wrong.
Never underestimate the importance of admin staff
There is no getting away from the fact that your back-office and admin staff are key to running your business efficiently. Without them, all sorts of problems would arise that could create some costly errors for the company as a whole.
So, make sure they have all the back-up they need as you come into a period where many staff are off on their holidays and the workload becomes a bigger burden for those left behind.
We can help you meet your obligations
If you think you may have difficulties covering all of your admin and back-office roles over the summer, then please get in touch and we can help to suggest solutions for you.