What’s the one staff issue that could be resolved before the end of the year? Maybe you need to have a difficult conversation, make changes, or end a relationship or a practice that no longer serves you. You’ve still got time to do that.

Employers often put off giving bad news in December and wait until the new year for fear of being deemed cruel, but they risk the issue escalating, becoming more difficult to manage or costing more money to resolve.

Ask yourself, if it were not December, would the time be right to deal with that issue? If the answer is yes, you could find a palatable way to handle it now.

There are often amicable ways to resolve issues between you without resorting to being the ‘bad guy’.

Treat your employees like adults and have adult conversations. They are probably aware of the issue anyway and might feel a sense of relief if it is addressed now rather than hanging over them during the seasonal break. You might enjoy your holiday more too if it’s no longer on your ‘to do’ list for January.

There should be no surprises when managing people and so if you haven’t done so already, maybe you could at least lay the groundwork for the change that you want to see in the new year. If you have a poor performer, you could meet with them to feedback on their shortcomings, explore any underlying cause and set some reasonable KPIs.

If you were planning to delay a dismissal until the new year, you have already committed to pay them a month’s pay between now and then. Maybe it would be easier for all involved if you had the conversation sooner rather than later, paid them what they are entitled to and offered them that extra month’s pay (plus a little more?) to end their employment now.

Get in touch if you’d like to brainstorm your strategy to get that issue off your ‘to do’ list today.