How To Manage Staff Holidays At Peak Periods

As anyone who is responsible for workforce scheduling knows, ensuring adequate staff cover in summer and at popular holiday times can be a real headache. Add to that the problem of parents having to take time off to care for their children at half term and staff scheduling can turn into a logistical nightmare.

Many businesses experience a downturn in turnover during peak holiday periods as most of their customers are also on holiday. In such cases, it may make economic sense to run the business using only essential core staff or even close down completely for a week or two.

However, not every business owner can afford the luxury of being able to shut down completely for the holidays. Indeed, some sectors, notably travel, leisure and hospitality, experience even greater demand for their services during the holiday season.

Using workforce management software will make it easier for you to handle holiday cover. It also avoids the risk of leaving your business understaffed or employees feeling demoralised if they can’t get time off.

Factors to consider

When drafting your holiday coverage schedule, there are many things to bear in mind:

·         Determine staffing requirements – Use Employee scheduling software to analyse past records in order to predict how much staff coverage you are likely to need during peak holiday periods. Summer months and Christmas are often slow for many industry sectors, so you may need fewer workers or be open for shorter hours.

·         Communicate clearly - Let staff know well in advance what is needed to keep the business running over the holiday period. Ensure they are aware of the company holiday policy, which days (if any) the business will be closed for the holidays and exceptionally busy periods when they cannot take time off.

·         Be flexible – Does everyone need to be physically present in the workplace? If working remotely is a viable option, some employees could spend more time with their families during the holidays and still get their jobs done.

·         Be fair - Most employees will want the same days off, but you should be aware that some may need more time off because they have to travel a long way to spend the holidays with their families. Using a software system that combines employee records with employee scheduling will keep managers aware of such special requirements.

·         Rotate holidays – Workforce management is far more likely to work without complaint at holiday time if employees know they won't be forced to do the same next year. Staff management software can help you to keep track of who took which days off during the holiday season so you can ask different people to provide cover over the holidays the following year.

How To Manage A Field Workforce More Efficiently

In today’s tough economic climate it has never been more important for service companies to find a competitive edge that will keep them ahead of others in their sector. This applies to any service that employs field staff - from cleaners to building maintenance services, service engineers and even IT specialists.

Whether you are a small cleaning company employing a dozen workers or a large contractor with several branches and fieldworkers nationwide, you need the right tools to stay on top.  A key priority is finding a workforce management software that is cost effective and simple to use.

Workforce Management Challenges

Managers need an effective workforce management system that enables real-time communication and gives them more control over all aspects of their field service teams: logging jobs, employee scheduling, dispatching jobs to their fieldworkers and statistical data.

Business owners who employ fieldworkers often find themselves struggling with day to day coordination and employee scheduling as their company grows or if they get a big new contract. Fortunately, a variety of specially-designed software packages are available these days to enable managers to cope with the challenges of workforce management. They could turn out to be far more cost effective than using manual employee scheduling systems as they require fewer staff to oversee the workforce.

Software solutions

Investing in workforce management software can help companies that employ field staff improve profitability by managing their workforce more efficiently and reduce the amount of paperwork. 

Such applications can often be tailored to best suit the needs of any field service company, providing employee scheduling managers with the features they need when they need them. This makes them suitable for almost any service company, whatever the budget or workforce size as the cost varies according to the number of users.

Employee scheduling software gives managers responsible for staff scheduling total control of their workforce by connecting key people in real-time through SMS, email notifications, iPhone and Android apps or secure access to a specific section of the company website.

Some cloud-based systems like Get Scheduled have the facility to create custom reports that increase productivity by providing up-to-date and detailed information on the field working team. Ideally, the workforce management software should also provide seamless integration with the company’s accounting software packages.

To succeed in a highly-competitive market, companies need to provide their customers with the best possible service and workforce management software most definitely helps them achieve this. 

Tips To Help You Choose The Right Sport PR Agency

Whether you represent a small sport federation or are running a major international sporting event, it is essential to choose the right sports PR agency to represent you.  As a client, you need to feel certain that their strategy for promoting you will be compatible with your organisation’s goals. Otherwise you might run into serious problems along the way.

If you want to select a sports public relations agency that will do a fantastic job at promoting you there are several factors you need to consider:

Expertise and Experience – To ensure a successful PR campaign, you need a PR agency that knows the job inside and out, so the more experienced and well-established they are the better. As such, your safest bet would be to choose a London sports agency with several years of trading behind them.  If your budget is modest, you could consider hiring a newly established agency but this might turn out to be a bit of a gamble. Can you afford to take the chance?

Reputation - Ideally you want to hire a PR agency that has a proven track record of success, so do your research to find out who the leading sports public relations agencies are and what clients they deal with. When you have prepared a short list of PR agencies that might be suitable for your organisation, ask each one for contact details of other clients they have worked for. Make sure you speak to these former clients to find out about their experiences in dealing with that agency before you decide.

Connections - Your PR agency has to be able to raise your profile within the sports community as well as the general public, so ask them how well connected they are in your particular sector. It goes without saying that any reputable sport PR agency would have good press contacts but knowing the most influential people in the sporting world will help enormously if you expect to get results in a short time.

Specialisation – Few people really understand how complex the sports sector really is. PR agencies are all different and each will have its own strengths and weaknesses. Many sport PR firms are generalists while others focus on a few sports and events connected with them, so they are likely to be better connected and have in-depth knowledge of the sports they promote. To achieve success in your PR goals, you need to choose a PR agency that is familiar with your particular sport and understands the mind set as they will have a better idea of the best way to promote your organisation.

Big Advertising Builds Big Brands

When you are trying to build a brand, the bigger the better as far as promotion methods go, which is why big advertising works so well. Unlike other forms of promotion, Out Of Home advertising has not been affected too much by the recession. In fact, it is a growing and fast developing sector, with all types of large-scale advertising being more in demand now than ever.

Types of Big Advertising

The generic term big advertising is used to describe a wide variety of large format print as well as other forms of advertising display, including:

Billboards – Normally found on the side of motorways, in shopping malls and town centres, their sheer size and eye-catching designs means that billboards are impossible to ignore.  This makes billboard advertising ideal for conveying marketing messages to thousands of drivers and pedestrians.

Posters –Probably the oldest form of advertising, posters have been used for over 200 years to promote events and products. They are still widely employed today to promote everything from films and tourist destinations to political parties. Poster advertising is popular with advertisers because of their ability to reach thousands of consumers at a relatively low cost. Some iconic poster campaigns have become legendary, among them the ”Hello Boys” advert for Wonderbra and more recently the Littlewoods Mylene Klass bikini poster which stopped traffic in  Glasgow.

Banners – Advertising banners printed on long strips of PVC can be used to promote new store openings, venues and local services. Their unique ability to target local audiences makes them indispensible to small businesses seeking to attract customers in their area. Passing travellers and tourists often rely on banners to find food outlets, accommodation, events and local attractions.

Building Wraps - These are the largest form of OOH Advertising, enveloping frontages and sometimes even entire buildings. They are printed on perforated vinyl mesh which allows the wind to blow through with our tearing the wrap or damaging the infrastructure.  Major advertisers know that nothing beats a building wrap for sheer impact. John Lewis, official department store provider to the London 2012 Olympics, covered its flagship store on Oxford Street in a giant building wrap depicting a Union Flag to show its support for the UK team.

Digital Screens - Large outdoor advertising display panels are becoming increasingly common, not only in venues and public buildings, but also in the street. Often used in conjunction with TV advertising, they can display advertising videos to engage audiences and increase recall and brand awareness. With developments in electronic technology, interactive digital screens may soon be able to offer passing consumers a unique personalised experience that will make them engage with a brand as never before.

Why OOH Advertising is Booming

Out Of Home advertising appears to have bucked the trend, not only surviving the recession but actually enjoying increasing popularity. While budgets for press and TV advertising are slowly decreasing, more is being spent on OOH advertising than ever before.

This trend is likely to persist. With longer working hours and increased leisure opportunities, consumers are spending more time outside their homes than ever before. It is therefore likely that OOH advertising will continue to benefit from the opportunities being created to reach ever larger audiences.

Advantages of OOH Advertising

By means of OOH advertising, companies wishing to build a brand can reach large numbers of potential customers at a much lower cost than peak time TV advertising.

The sheer size of the medium allows advertisers to get creative and make an impact on their target audience. The vivid colours, striking images and punchy tag lines used ensure that consumers are more likely to remember the brands behind the campaigns.

From billboards at the side of major roads to a building wrap which envelops the frontage of an entire building, OOH advertising is everywhere.  It enables advertisers to draw consumers’ attention all day from the moment they step out of their home, thus reinforcing the marketing message.

Integration with Other Media

A growing number of brands are now choosing to integrate OOH advertising into their wider marketing campaigns. An excellent example is HTC’s recent ‘Exceptional’ campaign to mark the launch of the HTC One mobile phone in the UK.

HTC ran an interactive banner advertising design competition which offered many of the UK’s young creative a chance to have their work installed onto blowUP media’s Giant Posters promoting HTC One Mobile in major cities. This campaign was a huge hit with the public and industry leaders.

Bright future

Fashion advertising is a sector that particularly lends itself to large format advertising. The success enjoyed by many OOH campaigns for clothing brands and luxury goods means that these big budget advertisers will continue using OOH media for branding purposes and tactical campaigns.

OOH advertising is a rapidly evolving sector. It is likely that in the near future OOH media will become even larger and more innovative, offering consumers increased opportunity for engagement and  interaction.

In the coming years, innovative forms of OOH infrastructure, platforms and advances in technology, particularly the development of electronic media, will provide brands with an unprecedented opportunity to reach out to consumers and dominate urban landscapes.