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Laboring on Labor Day
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September 7, 1998: 8:29 a.m. ET
More than 40 pct of small companies will make staff work during holiday
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - All work and no play can make you dull, but 40 percent of small business owners could not care less, according to a new study.
They're making sure business does not go unattended over the Labor Day weekend by having staff available to handle any unexpected situations or customer calls.
But many small business owners admit productivity will suffer after the holiday weekend.
Of the 500 small business owners surveyed by Sprint, 48 percent said they will need up to an additional day after the holiday weekend to become fully productive again.
The remaining six percent indicated they would need two or more days to regain their pre-holiday productivity level.
But many business owners planning to work on the holiday expect to maintain a high level of productivity.
Approximately one-third said they expected to be fully productive on Labor Day and another 29 percent said they expected a 75 percent level of productivity.
In addition,
- 22 percent said they would operate at a 50 percent level of normal productivity.
- 15 percent expected productivity levels to drop below 50 percent.
The survey further revealed that productivity on the Friday before the holiday weekend would decline significantly after 2 p.m.
When asked what time of day they expect staff productivity to decline on the Friday before the holiday, 43 percent of respondents said between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
But 29 percent said that staff productivity does not decline at all on the Friday before the holiday weekend.
The survey also found that more than half of small business owners believed productivity would return to normal by the time their offices opened for business the day after the holiday.
About one-quarter expected productivity to return to normal between 10 a.m. and noon.
In addition,
- 10 percent said productivity returns to normal between noon and 2 p.m.
- 5 percent said productivity returns to normal between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Finally, small business owners were generous about time off when it came to prominent CEOs.
Southwest Airlines' Herb Kelleher, Bill Gates of Microsoft and television diva Oprah Winfrey ranked highest on the list of executives small business owners said deserved a Labor Day break.
Walt Disney's Michael Eisner and Howard Schultz of Starbucks rounded out the top five.
The Sprint survey is part of a company program to develop small business customers by advising them on efficient phone use.
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Sprint
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