Vacation seasons come around every year. Yet, many tech teams, especially those managing platforms like SAP S/4HANA and Salesforce, still struggle with short staffing during summer breaks and holidays.
Enterprise-related tech talent shortages can create real challenges. A smaller team may struggle to fix problems like outages or bugs. Other departments might be affected if your SAP system isn’t managed properly. And when Salesforce support is slow, it can hurt sales and customer service performance, sometimes even costing you clients.
In this article, we’ll talk about common reasons why businesses still fail to manage their tech staffing shortage during vacation seasons—and smart ways to fix these issues.
Common Reasons Why Tech Teams Struggle with Talent Shortage During Vacation Seasons
Even with vacation time being predictable, staffing gaps still catch tech teams off guard. Below are the most common reasons why enterprise teams struggle to stay fully covered:
Enterprise Skills Are Tough to Cover on Short Notice
Because of today’s rapid technological advancements, enterprise platforms like SAP S/4HANA and Salesforce simply require very specific and high-level technical skills. These roles have always been tough to fill, creating a widespread skills gap that’s not limited to vacation seasons.
Recent research by the Americas SAP User Group found that 49% of organizations are still short on S/4HANA talent.¹ Meanwhile, a study from Mason Frank says that a third of companies have been understaffed on Salesforce talent for months because of unfilled vacancies.²
If hiring for regular enterprise projects is already hard, it’s even tougher when you’re trying to cover people on vacation.
Read more: The It Talent Crunch: Why Sap S/4hana Experts Are in High Demand (and How to Secure the Best)
Lean Teams Have No Built-in Buffer
One of the reasons for this staffing difficulty is that many enterprise teams are built with just enough staff to keep their systems running properly. This can be caused by limited budgets and other practical issues.
In lean teams, every member is usually irreplaceable, handling a lot of responsibilities. So, even if only one or two employees go on leave, it can result in serious coverage issues.
Poor Planning Leads to Last-Minute Pressure
While everyone expects vacation seasons to slow operations down, the way people plan for them doesn’t always match the reality.
If teams fail to coordinate schedules and responsibilities early in the year, the people left working during vacation seasons will struggle to manage the remaining roles.
Lack of Handover Leaves Gaps in Emergencies
Someone may be available to cover a worker on leave, but they won’t be able to help properly without clear instructions. Enterprise systems are powerful but complex tools. They may have basic functions, but the way companies use them will vary from one case to another.
If these particular items are not documented and communicated well, it can lead to big problems. This is especially true when emergencies happen during vacation seasons and no one knows the proper protocol except the people on leave.
How Enterprise Leaders Can Prepare for Tech Talent Gaps
Talent gaps during vacation seasons aren’t always easy to avoid, but they can be planned for. With the right strategies in place, enterprise teams can stay covered without scrambling. Here’s what can help:
1. Create a Skills Matrix
A skills matrix is a map of the various skill sets of your tech team. By identifying who possesses which skills, managers can ensure that important tasks are covered, and everyone knows who to call during emergencies.
For instance, if two employees know Salesforce administration, you’ll immediately know through your list that they can shift schedules during vacation seasons.
2. Cross-Train Employees
Once you already have a list of skill sets and responsibilities, you can now also figure out who needs more training on a specific task or skill—and this is where cross-training comes in.
Cross-training involves offering continuous learning or mentoring opportunities so your team can get more skills beyond their regular scope. This strategy enhances flexibility, allowing staff to step in with enough competence when colleagues are on leave.
So, if a junior developer trained in basic system administration can handle minor issues when the main administrator is on vacation leave, your operations will have no problem running.
Read more: Talent Mobility’s Impact on Retention: Can Internal Movement Keep Employees?
3. Use Leave Management Tools
If you already use a skills matrix, it also helps to have a similar system for tracking schedules, specifically time offs. Leave management tools like BambooHR and Deputy show you who’s planning to take vacation so you can plan ahead.
If two main role-players have time off next week, managers can move deadlines or shift tasks to avoid problems. You can also use these tools to send automatic reminders and handle approvals, saving you time and energy analyzing schedules.
4. Balance Workloads Strategically
Once you have the scheduling in order, another thing you should balance is workload. Smart balancing means you consider all the factors before you assign tasks to ensure nothing gets missed. Below are a few key factors to consider when distributing workloads effectively:
- Employee Availability. Check who is working and when, including dates and time ranges (if you have flexible or remote work schedules)
- Project Deadlines. Identify which tasks cannot be compromised and must be finished soon. Keep in mind that some tasks can’t even begin until smaller ones are completed.
- Skill Level. Use your skills matrix for this. Not everyone will have the same skill level, so be flexible and strategic. A team member might have amateur tech skills in a specific task, but if the task is critical, you don’t have to push for matching them.
5. Document Everything
Good documentation means writing down everything related to managing your enterprise systems. This includes overarching processes, system setups, and day-to-day tasks.
This can be as general as a step-by-step guide for basic Salesforce use. Or, it can be as specific as documenting how your company’s finance team runs its customized SAP S/4HANA report every Friday. Some instructions might be too specific, but during vacation seasons, you never know which problems might come up.
6. Have a Backup Talent Pool
Talent pools or talent pipelines are a list of tech workers you already know can do certain jobs. This can include existing employees who already know your company culture or outside contractors you’ve already screened in the past.
If you’ve worked with temp employees before or a staffing agency that provided you with contract hires, make sure you have them in your database. This strategy saves hiring costs and talent acquisition time because you avoid prolonged hiring cycles and reduce dependency on external recruiting during crunch time.
Plus, this not only helps you during vacation vacancies, but also in wider tech talent shortage problems, like when an employee calls in sick or when someone quits unexpectedly.
7. Automate Routine Tasks
Thanks to consistently emerging technologies, enterprise systems can be enhanced with automation so your working team during vacation season will have less work to do. This means investing in tools like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) bots, workflow automation, or Application Programming Interface (API) integrations. To start, here are some enterprise management tasks that companies usually automate:
- Data Entry
- Analytics and Reporting
- Managing Inventories
- Purchase Orders and Approvals
- Payroll Processing
Read more: Sustainable Hiring in a Tech-driven World: Growing Talent While Embracing Automation
8. Outsource Tech Roles with Staffing Agencies
There can come a time when you realize your current team really can’t handle a major tech talent shortage during vacations. When this happens, your best option is third-party staff augmentation. You can partner with staffing agencies that can provide tech professionals who can do certain jobs, like help desk support or routine system maintenance.
With these firms, you can simply outsource software development professionals, cloud experts, or even basic IT support that can provide 24/7 help during crucial seasons. All you need to do is to clear out what you need from the agency so they can offer their best solutions.
Staffing firms are also very helpful for your company because they already conduct the full recruitment process with the best hiring practices so you don’t have to.
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From enterprise and cloud applications to application maintenance and support, we have a wide range of tech workers ready to contribute to the stability of your enterprise systems.
Ready for a stronger tech workforce? All you need to do is call us today to get the best enterprise staffing solutions at your disposal!
References:
- Craig, Ryan. “The Biggest Tech Talent Gap Can Be Found In The SAP Ecosystem.” Forbes, 1 Jan. 2024, www.forbes.com/sites/ryancraig/2024/01/01/the-biggest-tech-talent-gap-can-be-found-in-the-sap-ecosystem/.
- Mason Frank International. The Digital Skills Gap. 2025, www.masonfrank.com/insights/salesforce-careers-and-hiring-guide/digital-skills-gap/.
