Is It Time to Hire Overnight Staff?

Overnight staffing may not seem feasible to many business owners. With labor costs your highest expense, having someone available overnight to answer calls, dispatch services, or sell goods is nigh impossible. Besides, why did overnight employees ever become the norm anyway?

Do you remember when the phrase “24/7/365” came into our vocabulary? It seems like it coincided with the advent of extended hours, 24-hour grocery stores, and other businesses that competed by being open every single day of the year.

Once upon that time, the new idea of being able to access a store or business at any time of day was considered amazingly convenient. No longer did we have to plan around “bankers’ hours” to get errands completed. With the dawning of the internet age, the world grew accustomed to round-the-clock ability to place orders, send emails at any time, and even talk to a human in the wee hours of the morning.

For business owners, however, this presents a challenge. You don’t want to lose customers, but you yourself can’t be on call 24/7 and remain sane. Do you need to consider overnight employees? It might be time.

Increase Security

A brick-and-mortar store with valuable inventory might find that an overnight employee protects the store and saves money by restocking inventory, responding to emails requests, and answering phone calls. Perhaps your insurance is less expensive with a visible employee rather than a dark storefront. The savings could be enough to offset some expense while increasing security. Another bonus: the employee smooths the next day’s operation by keeping things moving, organized, and ready for the busier daytime hours.

Increase and Diversify Revenue

Depending on the operations, email orders and calls may come in at night. Sure, you can fulfill these in the morning, but if you have clients around the world, servicing them when it’s convenient may expand your client base and improve revenues. In our world of immediate online access and gratification, you could stand out with stellar accessibility for distant markets. So go ahead and schedule an employee to maximize your availability around the clock.

Financial Considerations

People are expensive, for sure, so the financial investment in an employee should pan out to long-term gains. If having an overnight employee is not profitable, is it something that still makes sense for your long-term growth plans? Perhaps an overnight answering service is an option. Or extended hours instead of a full-time overnight shift.

Growing a business with 24-hour availability is a challenge. So, take the time to evaluate how your operation might improve its income and security by hiring overnight staff to work outside of traditional hours. If it is time for you to hire an overnight employee, you can rest assured knowing that your business is moving forward 24/7.

Author Profile Jon Forknell is the Vice President and General Manager of Atlas Business Solutions, Inc., a software marketing company specializing in employee scheduling software, including ScheduleBase employee scheduling software, and other business software solutions. In the past, Jon has been recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as a SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Atlas Business Solutions was named as one of Software Magazine’s Top 500 Software Companies in 2004 through 2007, and 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018.