As 2024 comes to a close and the holiday music has officially hit the airwaves, it’s easy to fall into the trap of “I’ll save that task/meeting/event for January.” But for leaders, right now is the optimal time to reflect, strategize, and set your team (and yourself) up to hit the ground running in the new year.
Trust me, I’ve been there - managing large teams, trying to balance year-end deadlines, focusing on employee well-being and ensuring they’re taking time off, and attempting to preserve my own sanity. Spoiler Alert: It’s possible, but it takes planning and the right tools.
Here is my early holiday gift to you: my go-to strategies for effective workforce management at year-end. These are actual methods I’ve used to keep teams motivated, efficient, and ready to tackle whatever January throws at us, as well as a recommendation that I am committing to implementing myself before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st.
Address Burnout (Don’t Just Talk About It)
The holidays can be a tough time for your team, especially in industries like healthcare where the work doesn’t stop. Year-end is the perfect opportunity to focus on employee well-being. But words are not enough - your team needs to see meaningful action, and a true effort to address the issue. There is still time in the year to make this happen, but you have to move quickly.
Consider sending out a quick pulse survey to gauge how your team is feeling, or to ask what they need most from you.
Then, DO SOMETHING with the data!
Take actionable steps to address their concerns: adjust schedules to allow for extra rest, implement fun team activities, or provide mental health resources if things have reached that level. Even small gestures can go a long way in making your employees feel valued and recharged for the year ahead and set you all on the path to success in 2025.
Audit Your Workforce Data
Maya Angelou said it best: “You can’t really know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.” I surely can’t argue with that. Before you can plan for the future, you need to understand where you are now.
The absolute best way is to look to your data and see what story it tells. What trends are you seeing? Are overtime hours creeping up? Do you have unapproved time-off requests piling up? Did your turnover hit an uncomfortable level over the last year? Don’t let yourself go into the new year without knowing the reality of what you’re facing.
When I managed a large clinical team, workforce audits were my lifeline and helped me spot issues before they became a burning platform. Leveraging your available workforce management tools makes this easier, as most of the top vendors in the marketplace can provide real-time insights into staffing patterns, labor costs, and compliance risks.
A quick audit now can save you a lot of headaches in the new year. Not sure how to use your system to get this data? Call me, I can help!
Streamline Processes for Efficiency
There’s no better time to Marie Kondo your workflows than now. Look for clunky, manual processes that are slowing your team down and replace them with automation or better practices.
Not sure where to start? Ask your team! I promise, they can probably rattle off ten different processes that are causing extra work or headaches. Oftentimes, these processes we learn to live with “because it’s how we’ve always done it.” And yet, with just a little bit of planning, you can eliminate sometimes HOURS of extra work from your workflow.
Going into the new year, consider if it’s time to explore tools that leverage automation. These days, you can automate just about everything - scheduling, compliance tracking, even performance reviews. The ROI will speak for itself.
Set Realistic Goals
New Year’s Resolutions are upon us! This time of year is all about setting the stage for success. Work with your team to set achievable goals that align with both their personal growth and your organizational objectives. You don’t have to set out to take your overtime from $5 million per year to $0 in a years’ time, but you can certainly set the ball in motion to reach that goal within a reasonable timeframe.
Make these goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). Bonus points if you can tie in performance management software to track progress throughout the year. When goals are clear and attainable, your team (and you!) can start the new year feeling focused and empowered instead of overwhelmed.
Celebrate Wins and Recognize Effort
Before you dive into planning mode, take a moment to celebrate. Acknowledge the hard work your team has put in this year. Whether it’s a formal award or a simple shout out during a team meeting, recognition is one of the easiest ways to boost morale.
I want to share something with you that I have let fall to the wayside but personally am making an effort to bring back in the new year.
During my years working with clinicians at the bedside, I made it a point to write personal thank you notes to my team members. I can’t tell you the impact it had; I’ve had former employees from ten years ago send me messages that they still have those cards. It didn’t cost me anything but time and a stamp, and yet the impact was enormous. And it made ME feel good to recognize these awesome people who deserved the pat on the back!
If you can pair recognition with data, like showing how their efforts reduced overtime or improved compliance or whatever the issue du jour is within your organization, it becomes even more meaningful.
Maybe we can all hold each other accountable for making the time to celebrate and recognize the amazing team members who keep our individual organization’s trains on the tracks in 2025!
Plan Your Staffing Strategy
You didn’t think I could let a single article go by without talking staffing, did you? The new year often brings new challenges, whether it’s those pesky seasonal surges, budget cuts, or staffing shortages.
Review your staffing model and consider whether it’s time to adopt a more flexible approach, like a float pool or cross-training employees. If you took time for the goal setting session I mentioned above, you may already have a handful of employees who are primed and ready to be upskilled into a new area of the business!
If you’re planning to invest in workforce management tools, this is also the perfect time to do it. Many organizations put off tech upgrades until it’s too late, and then it’s a rush to the finish line.
Don’t let it be you – the stress isn’t worth it.
Whether it’s upgrading to a new workforce management platform or integrating analytics tools, now is the time to think about how your organization can future-proof your staffing strategy.
Ready, Set, 2025!
The end of the year is a unique opportunity to reflect, reset, and recharge - not just for yourself, but for your entire team. These tips aren’t magic cures, it takes work and careful consideration of what you want the year ahead to look like for your organization.
By leveraging workforce management best practices and the amazing tools we now have at our disposal, you can ensure that your team isn’t just surviving the holidays but thriving into the new year. And who doesn’t want that?!
Take it from me: the effort you put in now will pay dividends come January, and beyond. So, before you’re up to your eyeballs in lists for Santa and year-end PTO requests, pull out that data, celebrate your team’s wins, and maybe even automate a task or two. Your future self, and your team, will thank you.
Here’s to a productive and stress-free start to 2025!
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