Happy 2023. Year of the Lunch & Half Day Saturday

You've no doubt heard the talk around the "great resignation" involving staff changing careers and taking stock of their lives. This was first mooted in late 2021 and all of us in small business thought that it would only apply to Corporates in the big office towers in the city. Wrongo. We too have had labour challenges just like the rest of the small business sector. Staff are seeking more meaningful work, not full time anymore and are looking for employers that can provide them with fulfilling work places & more of a balance.

So how to meet all of those requirements of our team whilst still providing excellent service for you our customer? Shorten the work cycle days & take a trick from the Europeans & stop for lunch as a team. Let me explain how I came across this:-

When I was based in Holland working with a software company on a contract around 2013 it struck me how amazing it was that the whole company down tools at Midday and they all went to have lunch together. I was amazed that business could pause collectively and it gave time for them all to forge deeper connections with their co-workers.

They also didn't work any more than 38hrs per week and were closed on the weekends.

So back to 2023. Our little business has had 4 staff cycle out in 2022 and it made me think long and hard about how we can be a better employer whilst of course still providing excellent service to you our customer.

Stopping for Lunch seemed a radical concept at first. I mean could we actually close the business for an hour and not loose all our customers? Of course we can, not everyone comes in between Midday and 1pm. OK. What about the work week. Can we close weekends? NO. People need us on the Saturday.

So the balancing act we have come up with is as follows:

From January 1, 2023 we will close the building for 1 hr at Midday so the whole team can stop for lunch. Whilst staff lunch breaks are only 30minutes long we will also then have an opportunity to upskill and train for 30 mins each day as needed Or enable the team to catch up on any outstanding admin work they may need to do to look after you our customer.

On Saturdays we will shorten our work hours to a half day shift 8am to Midday. This will enable our staff to still have a weekend whilst still working the Saturday when needed.

The opening times for the FLOWERHUB group, including our retail market Southside Flower Market will be:-

Monday to Friday:  8am to 4pm
Saturday: 8am to Midday

We hope that you will not be inconvenienced by our holistic moves to try and create a better workplace for our team which in turn will ensure that we can continue to provide better levels of customer service for you, when you need us.

It will be an interesting year ahead. Have a happy and prosperous 2023.