Please note. This article gives general information only. It is not legal, tax, accounting or professional advice, we are not experts on the rules, and nothing here is a guarantee of any outcome. Rules change; please check current rules with your CA or adviser.

Every year the same thing happens a week before Dhanteras. Footfall rises, the owner adds a few extra people to the floor, and by the second festive evening the queue at the billing desk is longer than ever. More people did not fix it.

We have worked with jewellery and retail businesses since 2000, and festive staffing is one of the most common things we see go wrong. The cause is rarely the number of people. It is that nobody was told what job they were doing. This guide shares some general, practical ideas for preparing your showroom team, permanent and temporary, in the days before Dhanteras (Friday, 6 November 2026) and Diwali. It is basic information to start a conversation in your showroom, not a prescription.

Why adding staff does not shorten the queue

A showroom on a festive evening has several kinds of work happening at once: welcoming families, showing designs, checking old gold, billing, packing and answering phone calls. When extra staff arrive without defined roles, they all drift towards the same place, usually the counter where the most senior salesperson is standing.

The result is familiar. Customers are shown the same tray by three people. The billing desk waits for someone who is busy elsewhere. A family that wanted to ask one question stands for ten minutes because nobody felt it was their job to help.

One idea worth trying is to decide roles first and headcount second.

Three counter roles that can work on a busy floor

You do not need a complex structure. Three clear roles cover most of what happens in a festive showroom. Adapt them to your own floor.

1. The greeter. Welcomes every family at the door, offers water, finds out who the purchase is for and what the occasion is, and hands them to a sales guide. This person does not sell. Their job is that nobody who walks in is ignored.

2. The sales guide. Stays with the customer, shows designs, explains the difference between options and helps the family decide. This is your trained, experienced staff. Protect their time: they should not be sent to fetch packing material or chase a bill.

3. The closer at billing and packing. Handles the bill, the payment and the packing, and explains the bill in plain words. If your showroom takes old gold in exchange, the exchange desk sits close to this role.

On a quiet day one person may play all three. On a festive evening, you may want to separate them. Write each role in three or four lines and put it on a card.

A first-day card for temporary staff

Many showrooms take on temporary staff for the festive weeks. They are often capable people who simply have not been told how your showroom works. A one-page card, read aloud on the first morning, can save a lot of confusion. Some points you may want to cover:

  • Which role they are playing today, and who their supervisor is.
  • Where to stand and where not to stand (for example, not behind the display counters).
  • What they should pass to a senior colleague rather than answer themselves, if that is your policy: price negotiation, old-gold valuation, hallmark and certificate questions, and any complaint.
  • The standard greeting and the standard sentence for ‘please wait, someone will be with you shortly’.

Keep it to one page. Rules on engaging temporary or contract staff differ, so please check the legal and payroll side with your CA or adviser.

A roster that can survive the festive rush

It can help to plan the roster for the busiest hours, not the average day. Walk through a typical festive evening and mark when footfall peaks. Then:

  • Put your most experienced sales guides on the floor at those hours.
  • Stagger breaks so the floor is never short at the same time. Write the break times on the roster, not in people’s heads.
  • Name one person who covers each role at every hour. If the greeter goes on a break, someone else is named as cover.
  • Keep one senior person free of customers. Their job is to move around the floor and fix whatever is stuck.

Share the roster with the team at least two days early, so people can arrange their own day and raise problems before the rush starts. Working hours, overtime and weekly-off rules vary, so please confirm them with your CA or adviser before you finalise the roster.

Rehearse the billing desk

The billing desk is where a festive evening is often won or lost, because it is the last step before the customer leaves. A short rehearsal on the day before the rush can be worth the time. Run three mock bills with the team: a simple sale, a sale with an old-gold exchange, and a sale with a split payment. Watch for:

  • Steps that only one person knows how to do.
  • Questions that make the line stop, such as how a charge on the bill is explained. Agree one calm sentence that everyone uses.
  • Packing and gift-wrapping, which are often slower than the bill itself.

If your billing software or ERP is used by only one or two people, consider training a third now. A festive evening is a bad time to find out that nobody else can raise an invoice. How charges, taxes and exchange values appear on the bill is a matter for your CA, not for this article.

The old-gold desk needs its own plan

Old-gold exchange often brings a customer into the showroom in the first place, and it is an area where trust is won or lost. Decide in advance who is allowed to value old gold, where it is done so the customer can see it, and what is explained to the customer before they sign anything. Temporary staff are usually not left to handle this alone. Exchange terms, deductions and the way they appear on the bill have billing and tax aspects, so confirm your approach with your CA. Our guide to written SOPs for jewellery and retail stores shows how to put such steps on paper.

Brief the team in five minutes every morning

During the festive weeks, a short standing huddle before opening can help. Cover only four things: today’s roster, any offer or scheme running, anything that went wrong yesterday, and one thing to do better today. Five minutes keeps temporary and permanent staff working from the same information.

Plan the day after

The festive rush ends, and the customers who bought are the easiest people to bring back. Decide now who will call them after the sale to say thank you, and when, with the customer’s consent and in line with your own communication policy. A short, polite call a few days after a purchase is a habit worth building into your counter routine. Our jewellery sales training page explains how we help showroom teams build habits like this.

Frequently Asked Questions

How early should I start preparing my showroom team for Dhanteras?

Ideally two to three weeks before. If you are starting later, focus on three things: clear counter roles, a first-day card for temporary staff and a billing-desk rehearsal.

How many temporary staff does a jewellery showroom need for Diwali?

There is no fixed number, because it depends on the size of the showroom and your footfall in earlier festive seasons. Start from the roles you need covered at the busiest hours, then count the people. Rules on engaging temporary or contract staff vary, so please check with your CA or adviser.

Can temporary staff handle old-gold exchange?

That is your showroom’s decision. Many showrooms keep old-gold valuation with trained senior staff and give temporary staff a clear handover point. Exchange terms and how they appear on the bill have billing and tax aspects, so please confirm your approach with your CA.

Do we need an outside consultant for festive preparation?

Not necessarily. Many showrooms manage with a written roster, role cards and a billing rehearsal. If you want an outside view of how your team sells and how your processes run, you can read about retail business advisory or talk to us.

Next step

If you would like help getting your counter team and festive processes ready, book a consultation with APJ Advisory. We will look at how your showroom runs today and talk through practical options. You can also read about designing the in-store experience for the festive weeks, and our guide to policies and SOP designing.

Quick question? Ask Khushi, our website assistant, using the button at the bottom-right of this page. She answers in English or Hindi and can book a consultation for you.

Please note. This article gives general information only. It is not legal, tax, accounting or professional advice, we are not experts on the rules, and nothing here is a guarantee of any outcome. Rules change; please check current rules with your CA or adviser.