Need to Know

• A good holiday policy will allow restorers to split the holidays up between their teams. Managers should make sure to ask their people before they write the schedule.
• The best time to set up a response plan is while it's still quiet.
• If holiday emergencies pull restoration crews off scheduled work, it's best to call the customer first to explain that some projects have been rearranged.

Move the celebration to a date you can keep

Holding the team dinner away from the holidays gives your team a celebration on a date you know you won’t have to move. When the holiday arrives, the team has already celebrated, so they don't need that day for it. Take the same approach to vacation and family time, and find the right moment for each person ahead of the season.

Rotate the holidays so no one carries all of them

Once you're big enough, let your teams split the holidays up.

→ Anyone who works Thanksgiving should not be working Christmas.

→ Anyone who works Christmas should not be working New Year’s.

→ Anyone who works New Year’s should not be on the next holiday.

Weekends can follow your regular rotation, and holidays deserve a separate look for each employee. Remember, planning around the holidays as a team is crucial. 

Ask your people before you write the schedule

Some employees would prefer to work Christmas. I have a daughter who would work Christmas Day every year. The pay on Christmas Day is good enough that she's happy to go to work. Talk to your employees before you assume anything about who wants which day, because working the holiday may be exactly what some of them want.

Set your response plan while it's still quiet

Every loss is different, even when it's a burst pipe in a commercial building or a home. Where the pipe burst and what coverage applies both shape the response, and so does your own capacity on the day the call comes in.

→ Who is on call?

→ How many trucks do you have serviced?

→ Where is your equipment?

→ How many jobs do you already have?

The standard part still matters. When a pipe bursts, the steps your team takes should be standard procedure, because this is an emergency response industry and the hardest part is the influx of jobs. Put that procedure in place while things are slower, and make sure you are properly staffed at all times.

The stakes reach past any single job. If a relationship you worked hard to build calls during the holidays and you can't respond, all the marketing and business development behind that relationship is lost.

Call the homeowner before they call you

When a storm hits, most restoration companies already have their people scheduled, and that schedule goes out the window because it's all hands on deck. Anything you had scheduled gets dropped. Most people don't reach out to those homeowners to explain that they've had to rearrange. They wait until the homeowner calls upset to ask why nobody showed up. If holiday emergencies pull your crews off scheduled work, make that call first.

Take care of your people and they will carry you through

During a very busy CAT, people on the estimating team I led at the time had vacations booked. I ran a contest with a $150 Visa card for whoever could get the most estimates written with quality. Everybody who was supposed to go on vacation told me they were staying to help. That is the epitome of a team, one that wants to be there and wants to help you.

A Christmas dinner in October, a fair rotation, and a conversation before the schedule goes up all tell your people you have planned around them. With the right person running it, that team will show up for you all day long.