You’re Not Getting Friday Off! Is managing people harder than it needs to be?
Booking a holiday should be straightforward, yet anyone who has managed a team will probably recognise the familiar process of checking who’s already off, chasing approvals and trying to establish whether the holiday tracker is actually up to date. When did workforce management become so difficult? What should be a simple request can quickly become a surprisingly drawn-out exercise, particularly when several departments, managers and working patterns are involved.
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For holiday park and marina operators, these everyday challenges are part of a much bigger picture. Managing a workforce that spans housekeeping, maintenance, reception, groundskeeping, marina operations and customer services requires considerably more coordination than the occasional holiday request might suggest. Add seasonal recruitment, multiple locations and the demands of delivering a consistent customer experience, and the effectiveness of those internal processes begins to have a direct bearing on how the business performs.
It’s an interesting contrast when you consider how much the industry has invested in technology to improve customer-facing operations. Booking journeys have become more sophisticated, financial processes increasingly connected and operational information more accessible, yet the systems employees rely on to manage their own working lives haven’t always received the same attention. For businesses whose success depends so heavily on the people delivering the experience, it’s worth questioning whether that balance is right.
That question sits at the heart of our latest episode of From Pitch to Pontoon, where we’re joined by John Stoddart and Matt Ball from Exelsys to explore the wonderful, occasionally ridiculous world of HR, the challenges of managing growing workforces and the role technology could play in making everyday working life easier.
Key Takeaways
- Employee experience directly influences customer experience. For holiday parks and marinas, effective workforce management helps employees stay informed, supported and equipped to deliver consistently high standards of service.
- Outdated processes become harder to manage as businesses grow. Spreadsheets, manual approvals and disconnected records may work for smaller teams, but can create unnecessary administration as employee numbers, departments and locations increase.
- Business growth requires a more considered approach to workforce management. Expanding through acquisition introduces different employment policies, reporting structures and working arrangements that need to be brought together effectively.
- AI is changing how employees interact with HR technology. From checking availability and requesting annual leave to supporting recruitment and training, AI can simplify routine tasks and make workforce management more accessible.
- Human interaction remains essential to effective people management. Automating administration gives HR teams and managers more opportunities to focus on employee development, workplace culture and situations where personal judgement matters.
The hidden cost of processes we’ve grown used to
One of the more interesting observations from our conversation came from John, who challenged the traditional perception of HR as a business expense rather than a function that contributes to commercial performance. It’s a distinction worth considering in the holiday park and marina industries, where the relationship between employees and customers is particularly visible. A well-trained, motivated team that understands its responsibilities and has the support it needs is better equipped to deliver the service that keeps customers returning, yet the processes supporting those employees can sometimes feel like an afterthought.
During the episode, we reflected on our own experiences of working in holiday parks where annual leave was managed through spreadsheets or paper forms, with employees and managers relying on manually updated records to understand their entitlements. These arrangements often emerge for perfectly sensible reasons, particularly in smaller businesses where a straightforward system is sufficient for the number of people involved. The difficulty comes when those same arrangements remain in place long after the organisation has outgrown them, leaving managers responsible for navigating processes that require increasing amounts of administration simply to achieve the same result.
John highlighted a recurring challenge he encounters when businesses move away from manual workforce management: rather than reconsidering how their processes should work, they often attempt to replicate the same steps within a new digital system. The result may be an improvement in how information is stored or accessed, but many of the underlying inefficiencies remain. If a holiday request currently passes through several unnecessary approvals, moving those approvals online doesn’t automatically make the process more effective. The greater opportunity lies in understanding why each step exists, whether it still serves a purpose and how the experience could be improved for everyone involved.
This becomes particularly relevant as operators expand, because growth has a habit of exposing weaknesses in processes that previously appeared to work well. A business operating one holiday park or marina may have a close-knit management team with an established understanding of how everything works, but those informal arrangements become harder to maintain when additional locations, departments and employees are introduced. Acquisitions add another dimension, often bringing different employment policies, reporting structures, working calendars and approaches to employee development into the same organisation.
Matt shared an example of a business that had completed 13 acquisitions, illustrating just how many variations in working practices can accumulate as an organisation grows. For park and marina groups pursuing similar expansion strategies, the implications extend beyond the HR department. Management needs reliable information about the people working across the business, employees need consistency and clarity, and new locations need to be incorporated without introducing unnecessary disruption. These considerations also become increasingly important when assessing how effectively a business can integrate future acquisitions and maintain oversight across its portfolio.
There is a broader commercial point here. Operators understandably devote considerable attention to occupancy, revenue, customer satisfaction and the operational performance of individual locations, but the workforce responsible for delivering those results is an equally important part of the picture. Having the right people available, appropriately trained and supported by effective processes influences the organisation’s ability to maintain standards as it grows. Workforce management deserves to be considered within that wider operational strategy rather than as an isolated administrative responsibility.
Where technology makes the biggest difference
The development of AI introduces another interesting question: how much of the everyday employee experience could be improved by removing the need to navigate traditional systems altogether?
During the conversation, John describes an emerging use of agentic AI that allows employees to request something as straightforward as a day off using natural language. Rather than checking calendars, comparing colleagues’ availability and completing a series of forms, an employee could ask the system to book Friday off, provided nobody else in their team is already away. The technology could then examine the relevant information, establish whether the conditions have been met and complete the request accordingly.
It’s a relatively modest example compared with some of the more ambitious predictions surrounding AI, but that is precisely what makes it interesting. For an employee working on a marina, maintaining a holiday park or moving between operational tasks throughout the day, the ability to manage routine requests from a mobile device, without having to find time to sit at a desk, could make a meaningful difference. For managers, reducing the administration involved in those same requests creates more time to focus on the operational decisions and responsibilities that require their attention.
However, the conversation also explored the limitations of taking automation too far, particularly when we turned to the increasingly visible use of AI avatars to conduct job interviews. While technology can assist with identifying candidates, reviewing applications and coordinating recruitment activity, both John and Matt questioned whether replacing the human interview itself would improve the experience for either party. Recruitment is an opportunity for employers and prospective employees to understand one another, establish expectations and decide whether the relationship is likely to work. Removing that interaction simply because technology makes it possible risks overlooking something important about how people choose where they want to work.
That distinction offers a useful perspective on the future of workforce management. There are administrative tasks where greater automation could make working life considerably easier, and there are situations where the quality of human interaction remains essential. The opportunity for businesses is to recognise the difference and apply technology in ways that give employees and managers more time for the responsibilities that benefit from their judgement, experience and understanding.
For holiday parks and marinas, this feels particularly relevant. These are businesses built around real-world experiences and personal service, often delivered by teams working across different environments, locations and schedules. As the industry continues to adopt new technology, the employee experience deserves as much consideration as the customer journey, particularly when the two are so closely connected.
Perhaps the future of HR will be defined as much by the work technology allows people to spend less time doing as by the new capabilities it introduces. If better processes can make everyday responsibilities easier, support the development of employees and give managers greater confidence in how their teams are organised, the benefits have the potential to reach well beyond the HR department.
And if all of that means getting an answer to your Friday holiday request without three reminder emails and a questionable spreadsheet, that would be a welcome improvement too.
What is workforce management software for holiday parks and marinas?
Workforce management software helps holiday park and marina operators manage employee information, annual leave, absences, recruitment, training and performance. It provides a more structured approach to managing teams across different departments and locations, helping businesses maintain oversight of their workforce while reducing reliance on manual processes.
How can workforce management software improve operational efficiency?
Workforce management software can reduce the time managers spend on routine administration by simplifying processes such as holiday approvals, employee record management and training coordination. For holiday parks and marinas, where teams often work across different shifts and locations, this can improve access to information and make everyday workforce planning easier.
Why is workforce management important for growing holiday park and marina groups?
As holiday park and marina businesses expand, they often inherit different employment policies, working patterns, reporting structures and employee management processes. A consistent approach to workforce management helps operators maintain visibility across locations, introduce new teams more effectively and support business growth without relying on increasingly complicated manual arrangements.
How is AI changing workforce management and HR software?
AI is making workforce management systems more intuitive by allowing employees and managers to complete tasks using natural language. Emerging agentic AI capabilities can check team availability, process holiday requests and assist with routine administration, while other AI applications can support recruitment and training. These developments can reduce manual work while keeping people involved in decisions requiring human judgement.
Can better workforce management improve the customer experience?
Yes. In service-led industries such as holiday parks and marinas, employee experience and customer experience are closely connected. Effective workforce management supports better scheduling, training, communication and employee development, helping teams understand their responsibilities and deliver consistent service. It can also give managers more time to support employees and respond to customer needs.