Tag

Q4 workforce planning

FlexTal
In Contingent Workforce

Out of Office, Not Out of Luck

Employee leave coverage. Image shows a tidy desk with an "out of office" sign, a coffee mug, and a neat stack of labeled folders, with a coat draped over the empty chair.

Every team has a spreadsheet only one person understands. Color-coded tabs. A macro nobody has ever seen run. One cell near the bottom that must never, under any circumstances, be touched. Ever. You’re pretty sure the person who built it knows why. Then that person goes on leave, and the spreadsheet becomes everyone’s problem. That’s the real test of employee leave coverage: not who’s out, but what walks out the door with them.

Good news: this is fixable. Even better news: you have about a month. Thanksgiving is right around the corner, December is right behind it, and time off is no rare event on your team.The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 80 percent of private industry workers have access to paid vacation, and 49 percent to paid family and medical leave. Leave is built into the year. The question is whether the work is built to survive it.

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FlexTal
In Hiring Strategy

December Is Already Booked

photo depicting year-end contingent workforce benefit. Image shows a female manager staring at a December planning calendar, the calendar is already full of tasks. The words on the image state "December is already booked"

The annual ball-drop in Times Square is still about 12 weeks away, but, for many on your team, several December “to dos” are already done. Flights for the 23rd are already booked. Out-of-office replies are written and scheduled for the extended holiday weekend. Someone has finalized the Secret Santa plan, and the potluck sign-up sheet is printed and ready to hang in the breakroom. Senior employees have already gotten the last 10 days of the month approved as time off. What nobody has focused on is planning for the work that doesn’t take time off – even when employees do. Those gaps are where you can lean on a year-end contingent workforce, and October is the month to decide on one.

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