As 4th generation family coming into my families agency there has been a bit of a dispute about a long time agreement of the office being closed from 12pm-1pm. Since starting here it seemed like a "cute" idea , but not something a small business can really practice in this world any more. I have asked multiple employees about what they think of this and most think its kinda odd. Since starting I have made a point to work over this hour to answer the phones and take my break after 1. It seems based on call logs and who calls during the noon hour that there could be a lot of missed business and opportunity. to me it makes sense we should be open that hour since the rest of the world uses that time to handle things they cant while at work. My question to anyone on here who maybe owns or works for a small agency is if anyone knows or does such a practice still with their business.
Office closed middle of day
- Thread starter wies0106
- Start date
- 2,262
Had an offer to work at an agency which "shut down for lunch because everybody needs a break". It was apparent that the real motivation behind closing for an hour was to make sure no one reached 40 hours in the work week. 9-12 and 1-5 just did not add up to 40 hours. the pay was decent based on a 40 hour week but insufficient for 35. I open our agency in the Summer by 6:30 AM so I can offer people an opportunity to get F2F before they start their work day
- Thread starter
- #3
I can assure you the reason for us being closed is not to avoid employees making the 40hr/week mark. Maybe its something I should go look back as to why it started this way or if it was a common thing 40 years ago for small businesses to do. At this point It seems more like a convenience factor for the owners to feel that its a specific hour of the day where "they" can shut down from things going on at the business.
- 2,262
Prior to Affordable Care Act, restricting people to less than 40 hours was a means to not pay benefits
1Mississippi
New Member
- 10
I've dealt with several businesses as the client that close for lunch. It's annoying & inconvenient. One told me it's so they don't constantly have an issue about who gets to take lunch at what time. I have no idea if there's another reason, such as keeping employee hours down. Chances are it has cost the agency some business through the years - hard to really know though. If it were me, I'd be more concerned about the "this is the way we've always done it" vibe and the owners lack of confidence in the rest of you to handle things while they take lunch.
- Thread starter
- #6
For me and a potential business partner of mine that will hopefully be buying the owners out over the next few years it has been a major concern to both of us. They are both In a early retirement mindset and in maybe half the day the office is open these days. its that 12-1 office closed mindset that still seems to stick with them. unless there is a customer/agency concern that specifically wants to talk to one of them we pretty much handle everything.
- 11,277
One of my doctor's offices is consistently closed for lunch from 1pm - 2pm. It sure makes things easier for scheduling and covering for people rather than the shifting of personnel and working at "half-speed" or "half-capacity" over a 2-3 hour time frame.
Just one hour and done. At least their customers are used to it.
Just one hour and done. At least their customers are used to it.
- Thread starter
- #8
DHK, That is a good perspective to take into consideration as to what is the workload like for those 2 hours of the day when doing this. I have been covering the phones from that 12-1 hour and so far it hasn't felt overwhelming at all. not to say that couldn't change once longtime customer's realize they can call during that hour now that they couldn't X amount of years back. The Biggest concern I see from doing this is how much business did the agency miss out on when someone called us and we were closed so they called the next agency listed on google, etc.
- 4,707
We close from noon to 1. But we really don't care if we miss a sale anymore.
- 5,290
Closed for an hour at lunch may not make sense for a newer agent, but may make a lot of sense for an older agent.
Similar threads
