Offer more, honestly · Every business
Summer Hours: When Shorter Hours Make Sense
Shorter summer hours pay off when the hours you cut were bringing in less than they cost to staff, and when customers learn about the change well before they need you.
Shorter summer hours make sense for a small service business when your own booking records show that specific hours, such as Friday afternoons or late Saturday, consistently bring in less than the staff and running costs of staying open, and when the remaining hours can absorb the customers who would have come then. They rarely make sense in a trade whose busy season is summer, such as HVAC, landscaping or pool service, where the better move is a rotating schedule that gives each person time off without closing the door.
The five-step test before you cut hours
- Pull last summer's bookings by hour. Count paid appointments or jobs in each open hour for June through August, using two summers if you have them.
- Price each hour. Divide the revenue booked in that hour by the number of weeks, then compare it with the cost of being open for that hour (staff on the clock plus a share of utilities and other running costs).
- Check where those customers would go. If the regulars who book Friday at 5 could book Thursday at 6, you keep the revenue; if they can't, you may lose them.
- Choose a clear pattern. Customers remember "closed Fridays in July and August" more easily than a different set of hours each week.
- Announce it early. Give at least four to six weeks' notice by email or text, on the booking page and on your Google Business Profile.
| Average paid bookings in the Saturday 3 to 5 p.m. window, per hour (Assumption) | 0.6 |
|---|---|
| Average ticket (Assumption) | $70 |
| Revenue per open hour (Calculated (0.6 × $70)) | $42 |
| Two staff at $22 an hour plus $4 of running costs (Calculated (2 × $22 + $4)) | $48 |
| Result (Calculated ($42 − $48)) | Costs $6 more per hour than it brings in |
Illustrative example; replace every assumption with your own numbers. If those bookings move to other hours, closing the window keeps the $42 and saves the $48.
Setting the hours in public
Customers check hours online before they come, so the change has to show up everywhere at once. Google's Business Profile help page describes special hours as the setting for temporary changes or closures of up to six days in a row; for a whole summer pattern, the simpler route is to change your regular hours for the season and change them back in September, and to confirm holiday hours such as July 4 separately. Update the website, booking system, voicemail greeting and any directory listings on the same day.
The announcement can read: "Starting [date], [business name] will be closed on Fridays through [date], so our team gets a summer weekend too. We've added appointments on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings, and you can book them now here: [link]."
Why it works
A large, well-documented test of shorter working time is a 2022 pilot of a four-day working week in Britain, analyzed by researchers at Boston College, University College Dublin and the University of Cambridge, among others. Of the 61 companies, 56 (92%) continued the shorter week after the trial, which ran from June to December, and 18 made it permanent; revenue rose 1.4% on average over the period, weighted by company size, and the number of staff leaving fell 57%. The companies volunteered for the trial, and a pilot of willing employers is not a test of a salon's Saturday or a clinic's evening schedule, so the result supports the idea that fewer, busier hours can hold revenue steady, not a promise that every closed afternoon will. Your own hourly booking records remain the deciding number.
Sources
- Lewis, K., Stronge, W., Kellam, J. and Kikuchi, L., with Schor, J., Fan, W., Kelly, O., Gu, G., Frayne, D., Burchell, B. and others. The Results Are In: The UK's Four-Day Week Pilot. Autonomy, 2023. 61 companies, about 2,900 employees.
- Google. Set special hours for your Business Profile. Business Profile Help.
Related reading: How Often Business Hours Online Don't Match, and What It Costs · How to Take a Real Vacation From Your Business · What One Empty Appointment Slot Costs Over a Year · How Demand for Services Rises and Falls Through the Year
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