In my thirty plus years of training and development within the personnel services industry, I have come across countless owners and managers who lament, "Well, December will be poor, what with Christmas week and all..." When I find them, I ask a question I already know the answer to. "How do you know?" They tell me, "It is always like that! Every year, has been for the XX years I have been in the business..." and so on. Folks, it is a self fulfilling prophecy!

If you let off half your team for all of Christmas week and maybe the week after, well, yes, you will suffer in revenues. But, the nature of the holidays is to relax and let  things slide, and if you do, you set up that fulfillment all over again. Of course, I don't mind giving time off over the holidays, long stretches, even, if they have earned it! Now, there is a progressive thought! A star performer who has a solid pipeline can afford time off, and someone, even you, can help watch over that productivity. But, frankly, not only do you have bills and salaries to pay, your people have bills to pay, too, and if they are not working hard at earning that extra time off, it is my philosophy that they might get a day or two, but they need to bet back in harness as soon as possible!

And, don't let them whine about how hard it is to reach people. Of course it is, and the answer is that they make more calls to more and different people. It's a great time for new business development, setting up relationships for next year. Think the business is over the last week of Christmas to the New Year? When I had my own firm back in the late seventies to early eighties, I was told by several clients that they needed last minute placements to finish off their recruiting budget, else they would probably get shortchanged next year. My company was very productive in five out of those seven years, before the big downturn in 1982, and even then, we were a mile ahead of most of my competition. The money was out there, we just had to work for it. Well, I have shared that with managers, of both big and small companies over the years, and it is interesting to see how many have learned that it still holds true. Not for every client, of course, but how do you know? You make calls, you do business, and look under the rocks.

And guess what? You won't find it accepting that it is going to be slow, sending off your workforce, and kicking back. If your people find one more direct hire, or five more contract fills, maybe another ten temps, would that ease that slowdown? You bet it would!

Keep going! Keep looking for new and better people, all the time, anytime, and have a GREAT HOLIDAY SEASON!!! The best to all of you and let's have a GREAT NEW YEAR!!