I’ve been lucky that we have closed down for the final week of the yr for the final seven years that I’ve been at Buffer. We kicked off this on the finish of 2016 and have stored up yearly since then.

Closing down for the final week of the yr is a chance to pause and recharge. It’s like a reset, besides throughout the entire firm. I like telling individuals about this apply at Buffer as a result of they’ve so many questions on how we proceed to function whereas closing down for per week.

As we work with many small companies and creators who can generally battle with working over the vacations, it feels particularly necessary to share how we’re going about this.

So on this publish, I’ll cowl what it means to shut down for per week as a enterprise whose prospects are at all times utilizing it, why we do it, and particularly how our largest groups handle this day without work whereas nonetheless caring for our product and our prospects.

Let’s dive in!

What does it imply to shut down for per week?

On the finish of yearly, we shut down for the yr’s closing week. The precise definition of “closed down” varies from firm to firm – some companies will utterly shut down operations whereas others will solely shut specific sections of their enterprise.

This offers everybody on the firm some additional time to relaxation, and it creates an atmosphere the place nobody is fearful about lacking out on tasks or updates whereas they’re offline as a result of we’re all offline. We’ve executed this form of factor earlier than, closing down for an additional lengthy weekend in the summertime, and it’s at all times been refreshing for our workforce.

Once I say that we’re closed, that signifies that many of the firm is off (I’ll elaborate within the subsequent part), we aren’t releasing new options or altering our product in any respect, we aren’t publishing new weblog posts, and it’s deliberately a time of relaxation.

In our enterprise, creating instruments for small companies and creators constructing a model on-line, this time of yr can also be reliably gradual. So in contrast to another industries that will decide up over the vacations, we will lean into relaxation by closing the corporate throughout a naturally slower interval.

What does this seem like in apply?

For many groups at Buffer, closing for the vacations means a full disconnect. Our two largest groups, Engineering and Buyer Advocacy should create methods the place we will nonetheless serve our prospects and guarantee Buffer is operational whereas additionally making area for extra relaxation. So right here’s how Engineering and Advocacy sort out the week off.

How our Advocacy workforce handles per week closed

Our Advocacy workforce is a gaggle of absolute execs who’re caring for our prospects. This yr, they’ve helped remedy over 60,000 buyer help requests with a median first response time of simply three hours.

Over time that we’ve been closing, they’ve found out the precise stability to make sure we will nonetheless assist prospects whereas additionally giving our Advocates that additional relaxation.

To start out, we take steps to make this era seen to our prospects. They publish a transparent message stating that we’re shut down for the vacations in all the primary channels the place we talk with prospects. These embody a banner for people who find themselves in Buffer, an auto-reply to buyer help e-mail, a pinned tweet on our account, and a number of other different locations.

This yr, the message reads:

The Buffer workforce is observing an organization shut down between December 24 and January 1.
We’re nonetheless responding to buyer help emails and messages however will take longer than traditional to answer. We’ll get again to you as rapidly as we will. Joyful Holidays!

For Advocates, we ask that every particular person on the workforce works one full day or two half days in that interval. We’ve 21 individuals on the Advocacy workforce, and we’ll have two or extra individuals on-line most days. We don’t at all times have individuals on December twenty fourth or twenty fifth, or January 1st, and we’re okay with that.

The workforce has in place a transparent schedule, expectations when individuals are on-line with learn how to prioritize their work and get again to prospects, and tips for emergencies. (We’ve these tips in place on a regular basis, however it’s at all times good to assessment forward of the vacations.)

How our Engineering workforce handles per week closed

Just like Advocacy, for our engineers, we have to have some protection of engineers who’re on name in case one thing occurs.

For Engineering, their break seems totally different as a result of they’re on name, that means they’re obtainable if one thing breaks, reasonably than totally on-line throughout this time. That signifies that the load of being on name could be unfold amongst fewer individuals as a result of the chance of them needing to be on-line is decrease.

The best way that the on-call schedule works is that there are a number of specialised or senior members of the workforce who’re instantly positioned in all the on-call spots. Then we ask for volunteers from the remainder of the engineering workforce to be on-call all through the week.

Along with having of us on name, we additionally do a code freeze earlier than the tip of the yr. This merely means we cease transport new code and making adjustments to Buffer. The purpose of that is to extend our confidence that issues will go easily for the engineers on-call and our Advocacy workforce.

A number of questions from our group about closing down for per week

We reached out on social media to see what questions individuals had about closing down for per week, and we bought just a few good questions. Right here’s our response:

Do shoppers discover this irritating or ever complain?

We haven’t heard main complaints or frustration about this previously, and if ever issues haven’t gone as deliberate, we’ve adjusted our plan for the next yr. We be sure that to be very clear that we’re taking this day without work throughout our communication channels. We nonetheless have our Advocacy workforce spending a while on-line and might reply to something pressing.

Did this impression your backside line in any respect?

No, we deliberately select a gradual time for us to be closed. So it’s the precise time to take a break with none main impression. As well as, because the Advocacy workforce continues to be monitoring for pressing buyer requests and the Engineering workforce is on name, we will nonetheless leap on any points that pop up, and our prospects nonetheless have help.

I’d like to find out about the advantages your organization has seen and the way it positively impacts staff!

The largest profit we’ve seen from closing down for the vacations is that our workforce is extra rested and refreshed. It’s a singular alternative for everybody at Buffer to take a break, reasonably than it taking place in spots all year long. It means the power ranges within the first few weeks of the yr are at all times actually excessive for us. Taking this week off for all of us without delay additionally provides us a better alternative to calm down as a result of nobody wants to consider tasks which can be shifting ahead with out them or lacking out on workforce communication. In any case, we’re all offline. That is nice for us as a workforce, which interprets into being nice for our product and our prospects.

Do you’re taking breaks from work or your online business, and in that case, what’s your method? We’d love to listen to from you on Twitter or Discord.