Are you a business owner worried about taking a summer holiday?

Life can be tough being a small business owner. You generally work long hours, rarely switch off, there can be a lot of stress and financial worry and the one thing that could really help is a holiday, but here’s the catch, many small business owners feel unable to take a holiday as they just feel they can’t step away from their business for any length of time. There are a number of things that can contribute to this and we’d like to offer up some suggestions around those things to help small business owners feel like they can take much needed holiday and recharge their batteries.

One of the main reasons for not taking a holiday is that many small business owners feel that the business can’t take the financial hit of them going on holiday. Whether that’s closing the business for two weeks or paying someone to cover you, this is a common worry, especially in the hospitality industry where it’s generally not possible for the rest of the team to pick up the slack, but more on that shortly. If you're a small business owner, the chances are you’re working at least 5 days a week, plus doing a lot of evening admin. Can you afford to pay someone to cover that while you’re on holiday while also paying yourself? It’s worth looking at this in a slightly different way before reaching your decision. So financially, yes, there’s going to be a hit, no question, and it depends on your business and how it’s doing whether you can afford that or not without running into cash flow problems. If you have a bit of cash to spare in the business, you still might not want to deplete your funds to go on holiday, but this is where we urge you to think a little differently. We feel that there’s a chance you could get this money back over the course of the year, as a proper, relaxing holiday can recharge your batteries, improve your mental health, provide some much needed relaxation and more, and you may come back more creative, productive, energised and come up with some new ideas for your business that could earn you more longer term. There is of course no guarantee and it’s really hard to quantify the potential benefits of a holiday but we feel it’s really worth considering if you’re contemplating a holiday but worried about the financial hit.

We mentioned earlier that covering holiday is especially hard in the hospitality industry. This is because hospitality generally runs on precisely the staff levels that it needs. If there’s too little staff then people get served too slowly, mistakes are made and it’s generally a bad customer experience. If there are too many staff then not everyone is working to their full levels, so money is wasted paying for people that don’t need to be there, so most bars, coffee shops, restaurants work with exactly the amount of staff that they need. When one of those members of staff goes on holiday, they need to be replaced so the right staff levels are maintained, hospitality isn’t like, say a marketing department working in an office where the rest of the team can potentially pick up the slack for two weeks or things can be pushed back. This of course is an additional cost on top of the holiday pay for the staff member who is away. The business owner is effectively paying for two people doing one job over that two week period. Multiply that for every staff member and holidays are a costly business in hospitality.

Another reason for business owners not wanting to take holiday is that they don’t trust anyone to run things while they’re away. This is understandable, nobody can possibly be invested in your own business as you are, so it can be hard as a business owner to feel comfortable that your beloved business is in good hands while you’re away.

This is where taking the time hiring and training great staff can really help you out. It’s not easy, but finding someone you can trust to run things in your absence is a godsend. It will mean interviewing quite a few people and training once you’ve hired the right person, but this is the chance to get them passionate about your business. If you can get them to see your vision, understand the goals of your business and by into your ethos then the chances are they’ll do a great job of running things while you’re away and you can relax, safe in the knowledge your business is in good hands.
This is actually a good thing to do with all staff, if you can train them well, get them passionate about your business and buy into your vision then you’re likely going to have a happy team that will work hard, provide great customer service and help move your business forward.