We seem to be struggling to get the economy back on track and there are a lot of clever people looking for solutions.
Caroline was updating our 2020 calendar earlier with the public holidays, our regular team meeting dates, my speaking commitments, our days off due to birthdays, and school holidays. We have felt the impact of school holidays on training dates for a number of years already as when setting training dates, it is important that we ensure that everyone will be able to attend.
A question worthy of reflection, we believe, is how is the mixture of school holidays impacting productivity?
A tendency exists in teams not to meet, and to put things on hold until everyone is available to meet.
Consider the variety of holidays:
- Government schools
- Three-term private schools
- Four-term private schools
- Provincial deviations (these will impact National companies)
How many times in a year are one or more of your key team members away due to school holidays?
Do you put things on hold in an attempt to ensure that everyone is present?
With the length of the holidays, many parents cannot cope with the demands of working and ensuring that the children are entertained and or safe. This conflict can bring in a further distraction.
South Africa needs to do two things:
1) Boost our economy.
2) Improve our education.
Could it be time to rethink the school holiday programme?
I look forward to your thoughts.
I think the biggest challenge is childcare. With most parents not having a support structure of grandparents or aunts & uncles to send the kids to over holidays – they are almost forced to take time off themselves.
If one had safe, affordable options to have the kids looked after (daycare is not cheap, even though some do actually operate in large parts of the school holidays) then parents would be free to continue working.
The flip side (playing devil’s advocate) would be – do they want to be at work, or is the holiday and easy place to lay the blame…