Should employers cancel holidays during staff shortage?

The Workplace doctor advises an Abu Dhabi manager who is short-staffed and finds the team struggling to stay on top of daily deadlines.

A manager wonders if the right course of action during a staff shortage is to cancel holidays. Lee Hoagland / The National

We are very short-staffed at the moment and the team is struggling to stay on top of the daily deadlines. While more people are coming on board, the mechanics of actually getting them here is a very slow process. As the team leader, how should I manage this temporary staffing crisis? Is it a case of cancelling all holidays until more employees are on board, or should I ask everyone to work longer hours to cover the shortfall? PP, Abu Dhabi

Every now and then, someone writes in with a problem and I think, yes I am dealing with this right now. So I can say from personal experience that this is a real challenge for managers. What’s worse: it really is your responsibility both to keep the team motivated and performing and to close that resource gap so that the team is back to full strength before lasting harm is done.

Your team does not like having to work hard to make up for a shortfall that, in their mind, is mainly the fault of management. They probably find it hard to understand why you did not see this problem coming and why you could not have done something about it before their backs were to the wall, working like mad just to stay in place. The fact that they have daily deadlines to meet will only make this problem seem more immediate to them – and to you.

Your workers may initially be strong, but as days turn into weeks and even months, with no sign of the pressure letting off, their attitude towards the organisation changes. You might not notice this, especially if you are busy trying to close the resources gap, but it will happen. Then, their behaviours will begin to change. You will encounter resentment, resistance, unfriendliness – maybe you’ll see an increase in office politics, in black humour, in squabbling or in absenteeism. You may feel that the atmosphere has changed and the happy, committed team you were leading six months ago is now resentful, pushing you away and creating a real sense of a changed culture.

The next step in this downwards spiral is a drop in performance. Once this happens, it is very difficult to to restore behaviour and attitudes. You cannot afford performance decline as well as resource shortfall, so you need to act fast.

You must communicate with the team frequently. Constantly update them on progress. Tell them when you interview people, tell them when you have made a job offer, tell them when you have acceptances. Make sure they know exactly when reinforcements are coming and when the resources gap will be closed. People will put up with a lot more when they know when it is going to end.

Personally, I would try very hard not to ask people to cancel holidays or work longer hours. Look for ways first to get people to work smarter and to make the very best of the time they do spend at work. How are your processes? Are they as efficient as they can be? Look for ways to help people to work more efficiently and effectively.

What about the workload? See if there are deadlines that can be extended, or see if new jobs or projects can be pushed back by six weeks. You talk about daily deadlines – is there any flexibility? What you must do is make sure the team knows what you are doing to make their lives that little bit less tough and that you are doing all you can.

Temporary staff can be useful, depending on the work involved. Or you can look elsewhere in the organisation and seek people who are not fully utilised and who could contribute to your team for a few weeks or months. Sometimes these short-term crises give you an opportunity to give certain people more responsibility and authority on a short term basis. This then becomes a career development opportunity for them, which might make them much more likely to go the extra mile for a while longer. This is a very good example of turning a negative into a positive, especially if you are able to discover who in your team really does have potential.

Something that is entirely free of charge to do is make sure that your team members know exactly how much you appreciate their efforts. It costs you just seconds to say thank you or to praise someone who is making that extra effort.

Doctor's prescription: People will work much more willingly if they do not think they are being taken for granted.

Roger Delves is director of the Ashridge Executive Masters in Management and adjunct professor at Hult International Business School. He is co-author of the book The Top 50 Management Dilemmas: Fast Solutions to Everyday Challenges. Email him at [e-mail] for advice on any work issues

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter