If the sight of the Christmas aisle in supermarkets has sent you into a heated debate over whether it is too early to buy a mince pie, then you are not alone.
However, you cannot help but admire the tenacity of the shops that are stocking their festive treats, especially when those shelves get emptied on a regular basis.
You might not want to wheel out the turkey just yet, but it is time for your business to start preparing for Christmas.
How can businesses prepare for a Christmas lull?
To understand how best to prepare for Christmas, you have to anticipate the change in your revenue that the festive season will bring.
It might sound obvious, but keeping in mind whether things are about to speed up or slow down lets you get your finances in order to brace for the change either way.
For businesses likely to be quieter, the Christmas lull is an opportunity to get a few things straightened out while you are under less pressure from clients and customers.
Use the downtime for planned maintenance, system upgrades and staff training that are hard to schedule during busier months.
If you are set to be impacted by any upcoming changes to regulations, guidelines or procedures, then the festive quiet could give you time to make those final preparations to ensure you are ready for the year ahead.
Quieter weeks are also excellent for laying the groundwork of a January marketing push, as you can figure out how to capitalise on all those New Year’s Resolutions before they get forgotten.
Most importantly, if you know things are going to be quiet over Christmas, you need to take extra care with your finances now.
Do not overextend yourself and risk running into financial trouble when your revenue takes a dip.
You want a business to come back to in January, so keep costs manageable now while business is running as usual.
How can businesses prepare for a Christmas rush?
If your business gets busier at Christmas, early cash flow work is the single best way to ensure that you can capitalise on the success and translate it into growth for the next year.
Consider producing a forecast of how you expect your revenue to change and consider whether this money can be invested into aspects of your business or if it is best saved for when business quiets down again.
One of the core ways to capitalise on a busy period is with a robust team of staff ready to take on the increased load.
Seasonal changes bring with them seasonal work and if your business was unaffected by summer rushes, you may not have noticed some core changes.
Seasonal workers need to be onboarded quickly and effectively and your finances need to be able to accommodate their wages.
This means paying everyone at least the National Living Wage (NLW) or the National Minimum Wage (NMW), depending on their age, but you may want to include them in the Scottish Real Living Wage if that is part of your business’s ethos.
The current rates are:
- £12.21 for people aged 21 and over
- £10 for people aged 18 to 20
- £7.55 for people aged under 18
- £7.55 is the apprentice rate
- £12.60 is the Scottish real Living Wage rate (there is never a legal obligation to pay this, but it can have a positive impact on employee morale and professional reputation)
If your business is likely to be managing tips and gratuities for services conducted over the festive period, be sure to keep compliant with the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023.
We wrote an article about tips and troncs in the summer, but it might be your turn to learn more about this.
The most important things to remember are that employees are entitled to 100 per cent of the tips they earn and your duty is to enact a policy that allows them to be divided fairly.
This may involve establishing a tronc with a designated troncmaster who will oversee the allocation and ensure fairness in the process.
Tips cannot be used to supplement a wage, despite them being treated as a part of an employee’s income and thus subject to Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions.
Keeping your employees fairly paid and rewarded for their work, whether they are seasonal staff or regular members of the team, is the best present you can give them this Christmas.
In return, they can give you the gift of a thriving business that is in a good position to take on 2026.
We want to continue to support and guide you throughout the festive season and beyond, so be sure to seek professional guidance to make the most of this time.
Whether you expect to be busier or quieter, the best time to prepare for Christmas is right now.
