Although spring has just started, business owners should start planning a summer vacation. Plans should balance the need for a summer break and business activities.

Employee Vacations

A helpful place to start is to examine your vacation policy. Do you have one? Is it written? Are your employees aware of it? Spend time examining and updating it. After you’re comfortable with your policies, meet with your team and review the policy. Give employees a deadline in which to submit their request for vacations. Don’t guarantee automatic approval, instead, let them know that you will work to accommodate everyone’s request while retaining sound business operations.

Complete your review promptly so you can schedule workload. You must consider deadlines or events near the requested dates. Work with team members to determine coverage in their absence.

Business Owner Vacations

For several business owners, arranging a summer vacation may be challenging and unimaginable. Worries about customer care and stress about missed business opportunities can cause small business owners think they can’t take time off.
However, if you’ve decided that you will take a summer vacation, determine the timeframe and update key clients or customers. When feasible, provide them a minimal two to three weeks notice. Identify your stand-in’s and communicate your confidence in their ability to help should a problem arise.
If you think a week or more away from your organization is not workable, take a day trip or a three-day weekend. Even a brief rest period can produce miracles and bring you back to work relaxed and with restored energy.

This feature provides more ideas on planning summer breaks in business.

Now Is the Time to Think about Vacations

While it’s early Spring, it’s not too early to begin focusing on vacations for you and your employees. There’s no law requiring you to offer paid time off, but most companies do for their full-time employees. Still, when it comes to vacations, those in the U.S. lag considerably behind their European counterparts where the minimum of four weeks paid leave is the norm. Here are some issues for you to think about as summertime, and vacation time, approach: Your vacation policies What are the rules in your company? Review them now to determine whether changes should be made. How much … Read full story…

I concur with Alice Breden, advisor for American Express, when she said:

Small business owners work very hard, and it’s important that they take time off to recharge. Advance planning can make it easier for them to take a much-needed vacation and quell concerns about their companies running smoothly in their absence.

Get moving and start planning for summer vacations. It’s never too early.