Seasonal work and busy periods — Christmas, sales and Black Friday
How the nature of the material determines the method
Some weeks a year determine disproportionately much for a shop's total turnover. Christmas shopping, New Year's sales and recent years' Black Friday week are all periods where customer flow multiplies and where preparation is the difference between a shop that manages the pressure and one that drowns in it.
§Before the storm — the preparation
Good peak season starts weeks, not days, in advance. Stock must be replenished, extra shifts must be planned, and everyone — also new and temporary employees — must be instructed in the most common tasks: the till, stock replenishment and the campaigns running. The better prepared the staff, the less chaos occurs when the first customers flood in.
- 01Order extra goods in good time — suppliers are also busy in high season
- 02Plan the week's shifts for the team and let everyone see their own schedule.
- 03Thoroughly instruct new and temporary employees before the busy period starts
- 04Test campaign systems and price labelling before the sale begins
- 05Agree who does what if there is a queue or rush at the checkout
§Sales and actual prices.
When the shop reduces prices to sale or Black Friday the marketing law's rule applies that reduced prices must be real: a 'before-price' must have been the price the goods were actually sold at for a reasonable period before the reduction. Setting the price artificially high just before a 'big discount' is misleading marketing and undermines customer trust. As an employee you rarely set the prices but you must be able to stand behind the offers you sell if a customer asks.
§Rest time and working hours in peak season
Even in the busiest week the ordinary rules about rest apply. The Working Environment Act and the regulation on rest periods and days off generally require at least 11 consecutive hours of rest within each 24-hour period. This means a shop cannot just squeeze extra shifts on top of existing ones without considering when employees last had time off. As an apprentice you have the same right to rest as all other employees and you should speak up if a shift schedule in practice does not give you the rest you are entitled to.
§Keeping the overview in the midst of busyness
When the shop is filled with customers it is easy to lose track of routines: goods receipt price labelling and tidying can be postponed because customers fill everything. The experienced employee finds small gaps in the rush to keep track of the essentials – and knows that a couple of minutes' tidying in the middle of the day saves an hour of chaos at closing time.
§After the season
When Christmas shopping or a sale is over, there's often a natural decline where returned goods, exchanges, and an increase in complaints must be handled. Also use the period to evaluate: what went well, what would you do differently next year? Those experiences are worth their weight in gold when the next peak season approaches.