As the holiday season rolls around, you may be planning for some facility closures in the near future. Whether you are planning a day or two of closures or have weeks marked off the calendar to get maintenance done, there are several things you need to remember before closing the office. Below are four steps you should take in the weeks leading up to your office closure to ensure a smooth transition into and out of the holidays:
Communicate with stakeholders
Your customers, vendors, employees, and other stakeholders need to know well in advance about your plan to close, even if it is only for a few days. Employees should be notified first via email or office calendar so they can plan for vacation time. Then, be sure to connect with customers and vendors to ensure they know to not expect communication during the closure. You should also communicate with vendors of any recurring deliveries or make arrangements with the post office to ensure no mail is delivered to the office while it is closed.
Leave a message
Be sure to record an automated phone message that explains the closure and gives a start date and a reopening date. This is crucial if you typically operate phones in-house, but should also be used if you work with a remote front desk service. You should also instruct employees to schedule “out of office” emails before their last day.
Reduce energy usage
One of the most important things you can do is to turn off unnecessary appliances during the holiday closure. This includes lamps, personal computers, printers, and other equipment that can easily be turned off at the switch. Be sure to back up your computer systems before doing this, however, as you don’t want to come back to a chaotic office if data is lost.
Use your time wisely
Planned factory shutdowns, also called “factory fortnights” in manufacturing, are becoming more common as an opportunity to enhance facility equipment and perform preventative maintenance on major equipment. If your facility shutdown is planned for an extended period of time (such as for a week at Thanksgiving instead of for just one day) you can schedule preventative maintenance services with MaintenX to make the most of your time.
MaintenX can help you make the most of your holiday season. Contact us today about scheduling preventative maintenance services during your holiday break so you can come back to a cleaner, more efficient office space.
