It’s almost summer, and that means many employees are looking to take some time off. As managers we want our employees to use their vacation days, but we do have to ensure we have everything covered during the absences. Below are three tips to help you maintain uninterrupted, peak productivity even during the height of the vacation season.

Create a Team Tracker

One of the first things you can do to head off being short-handed is to maintain a team calendar that shows everyone where they are as far as projects, deadlines, and yes, vacations. This helps everyone in coordinating tasks and projects, and also encourages accountability. A large calendar (paper or whiteboard) in a meeting room or any common area filled in with project timelines, deliverables and each team members’ vacation days is a good way to quickly assess as well as visually track where everyone is. There are also many team management calendar programs and apps that let you accomplish the same task electronically.

Make Telecommuting a Seasonal Option

For many working parents, summer means opportunities to spend more time with their kids. Yes, there are typically exciting getaways planned – that promised trip to Disneyland, or to a long-anticipated big family reunion, or a cruise or journey abroad to nurture budding adventurers. In many cases, however, parents take time off so they can be present with their children. Telecommuting is a win-win scenario in these situations case, because it lets the team stay productive while your employees enjoy a motivating and productive work-life balance.

Bring in Extra Temporary Help

Bringing in Temporary employees to fill in for vacationers can be a smart, flexible – and quick – for keeping up with demand, meeting deadlines and making sure no slack is created by having a leaner full-time team.