No Vacation as Marketing Strategy

That's why Engineers are rarely found in Human Resource departments.

You must REALLY like your coworkers if you find it so important to go on vacation at the same time as they do.

Most people take vacations to get AWAY from work... and prefer to be able to choose when to take them.

Hi Jeanne, unfortunatelly crisis doesn't give any chance to choose...people have to adapt themselves to what market offers and if that means to renounce vacation or accept established dates you have to...we are a small company, just 20 people, and we are like a family: everybody understand that company's health is the route to survival for everybody. This way we survived many crisis...we'll overcome also this one

A colleague contacted a French company yesterday, getting price & availability on some special-application glass. The delivery quoted was "5 weeks ARO¹ (excluding August)" .

¹ After receipt of order

Last year to satisfy a customer's request my company purchased structural steels in UK and Sweden because Italy was closed for vacation...we talk about crisis but we must roll up our sleeves to overcome it!!!

<...Italy was closed for vacation....>

Well, there's the problem.

"Italy was closed for vacation.."

Nice country you got there

Italy closed for vacation was a pun but it's funny to think at my beloved country with a big poster showing "CLOSED FOR VACATION".

I could base a marketing campaign on this...I should put my company logo in the centre of Sicily with a message "Working in the sun"...hehe

Hi Rosy. My company used to be closed for vacations for 3 weeks in August. But in the last 2 or 3 years this strategy has changed and the company is not closed and. The employees are going on vacation in July or August, by rotation or after deliberation with the supervisors (taking into account the needs of the company during summer). Of course this has the advantage that you have already mentioned. But, also, has the disadvantage that in some job areas the work cannot be -efficiently- done by (e.g.) half the employees. As an example, for the R&D dept -where I work- it may be more efficient to be tottaly closed for 2 or 3 weeks instead of being half-operative (in an idle mode) for 2 months. (So, we take care that the members of each project team go on vacation -more or less- in the same period in order to work efficiently.) So, I think that you have to consider the several needs of each department and follow a different strategy according to its needs.

Btw, some friends of mine are going to Sicily in the next week for almost 2 weeks. I couldn't come due to work... ... Maybe some other time...

Hi George, you are right maybe this kind of strategy is ok for companies like mine, we are a medium size family owned company and there is not a clear division between departments and roles...also we machine parts on the base of customers' specs and don't need at the moment a R&D dept...I will not have vacation too!!!