New guide urges leaders to ‘slump-proof’ their teams before holiday season hits

Everyone deserves a guilt-free holiday

With the summer holiday season looming, business leaders are being urged by leading people development company Insights to act now or risk their operations grind to a halt due to the well-known, but often unaddressed “summer slump.”

A new guide from global people development company Insights has been produced in response to previous research that workplace productivity can decline by up to 20% during the summer months, while project timelines can lengthen by 13%.

“Too many leaders plan for absence, not impact,” David Bowes, Head of People at Insights told That's Business. 

“You’re not just losing a person for two weeks, you may be losing your team’s planner, your motivator, your quiet fixer. These personality gaps can derail performance if they’re not anticipated.”

To help leaders keep performance on track whilst ensuring employees can take a guilt-free, interruption-free break, Insights has released A Leader’s Guide to Combating the Summer Slowdown, a practical playbook for maintaining team momentum as headcounts fluctuate.

Key recommendations include:

• Don’t just fill seats - fill roles with the right personalities. Identify essential responsibilities and match cover to team strengths.

• Prevent burnout by planning workload balance. Avoid overburdening the few who remain.

• Clarify what’s critical. Set clear boundaries on what needs doing now, next, and later.

• Communicate the gaps. Let the team know what skills or behaviours will be missing during absences, who’s stepping up, and how others can support.

• Empower decision-making. Make sure authority and timelines are clear and pair less confident team members with peers for backup and reassurance.

“Slump-proofing the summer starts well before anyone checks in at the airport,” adds David.

“Smart leaders know the real risk isn’t people taking time off, because all employees are entitled to a guilt-free break with family and friends, but the lack of planning for how their absence shifts team dynamics and leaving team members underequipped.”

The downloadable guide also includes templates for communication planning, tips for building flexible cross-functional teams, and insight into aligning work to people’s natural strengths.

Download “A Leader’s Guide to Combating the Summer Slowdown” at the link below:-

https://www.insights.com/resources/how-to-combat-the-summer-slowdown/

Significant win for APSCo as rolled up holiday pay legalised

The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has met with enthusiasm the announcement this week that rolled up holiday pay will be legalised for agency workers including umbrella workers, a move which the trade association has called for in its consultation response.

In an announcement earlier this week, a number of crucial steps were confirmed that recruiters and umbrella companies will welcome, including:

- Retaining two distinct ‘pots’ of annual leave and existing rate of holiday pay (4 weeks at normal rate of pay and 1.6 weeks at basic rate of pay)

- The introduction of rolled up holiday pay for irregular hours workers and part-year workers, which would include some agency workers

- Plans to legislate an accrual method to calculate entitlement at 12.07% of hours worked in a pay period for irregular hour workers and part-year workers in the first year of employment and beyond

- The simplification of TUPE requirements and reduction of administrative burdens for small businesses

Tania Bowers, Global Public Policy Director at APSCo, comments: “This is a significant win for APSCo and its members. We've highlighted for years that rolled-up holiday pay is necessary and will protect agency and umbrella workers. We’re pleased to see our recommendations have been seriously considered and adopted in this consultation response, including the rate of holiday pay and the simplification of TUPE requirements.

“The plans outlined are, in our view, the only fair way to pay irregular workers and ensure they are no longer at risk of losing accrued holiday pay due to the way they are employed. However, it's now important for recruiters and umbrella companies to assert to workers and end clients individuals must take the holiday or pay they are owed and the Working Time Regulations.

“This new development is perhaps the first example of the UK Government being able to utilise the increased freedom of decision making that has been afforded following Brexit. What will be key now, though, is the timing of this transformation and whether or not it will be legislated and enacted under the current Parliament.

“How to fairly compensate holiday entitlement for the flexible labour market is a key topic of conversation at the moment, with the Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) also issuing a new brief on the treatment of holiday pay following the Supreme Court decision of Harper versus Brazel.”

https://www.apsco.org