u/Darkmark8910

I love this show! And I'm also a history buff from Chicagoland, so have some biases. Nonetheless, here are some of my hopes:

1. Larry & Marian go to the Middle West & set up a company town on behalf of George's company. This would nicely link George's business ventures with Larry's architectural aspirations plus Marian's ideals.
   1. Company towns were a response to management wanting a better, more controlled, & more patronizing relationship toward their workforce. These company towns were usually built in remote areas by business owners to include churches, stores, town halls, social areas, parks, streets, & so forth, plus factories. Homes & streets were set up based on profession, so managers lived on one street, supervisors another, frontline workers another. Classic examples include Pullman Town, built in the early 1880s. These towns conveniently were fenced in to keep rowdy (AKA union) folks out.
2. Bridget encounters anti-Irish prejudices, which makes Armstrong rethink her prejudices toward Miss Scott & improves John & Bridget's friendship.
   1. Anti-Irish thought was common in America. Remember when Bridget said she heard "they" were taking all the jobs in New York? It would be interesting to see "NINA" (No Irish Need Apply) signs, or others see her hair color + freckles & reject her outright. John could then accompany Bridget out as a gentleman with a guest to stick it to the bigots.
3. If Larry & Marian go to the Midwest, they encounter the American Protective Association.
   1. Similar to #2, but the APA collapses IRL after the 1896 election, being shown to be a paper tiger.
4. To help with her stresses & with her grief, our queens Bertha & Peggy start consulting with the occult.
   1. This was a common pasttime amongst the wealthy of the time. The Lincolns were famous spiritualists who utilized their practices to speak with the dead. I could see Peggy consulting one to speak with her deceased son, while I could see Bertha doing similar to seek divine advice for reconciling with her family.
5. Our new administrator Gladys encounters the Great Fern Felony Wave in rural UK. Back then, ferns were the orchids of our time, but the fern craze had been going on for decades, so wild ferns were in short supply. Florists started hiring thugs to strip rural estates of any ferns they could find to resell them as massive markups.
   1. I suspect Gladys would be outraged to find fern poachers on her property *and* would be outraged to find out how much they were spending on fern arrangements at the dinner table.
6. To continue #5, the fern craze briefly reaches America after Gladys and other "dollar princesses" inform their American families about the craze, bringing it into style for awhile in New York.
   1. Suddenly, confused household servants start harvesting ferns in Newport. Bertha tells them to throw out floral arrangements for fern arrangements. We see Mr. Church take off his shoes to venture into the mud & pull ferns from Central Park.

Context: I lead an 8-person accounting team at an American medium-sized family-owned insurance company with around 250 employees. My team has 1 lead financial accountant, 5 accountants/analysts who work under the lead analyst, 1 accounts payable & payroll lead, and 1 assistant for the payroll & accounts payable lead. My own boss, the CFO, has a decade of experience & is flexible. The two team leads have 30 & 25 years' experience, respectively, in their roles. They prefer to manage their own people and I'm happy to delegate that to them. We use somewhat-niche accounting software.

My Work History: I've been a manager before, but started at this organization 1 month ago. My entire team is of Latino descent, mostly women between the ages of 40 & 60, and worked their way up within the organization. I'm of generic WASP background and one of the few who were externally hired. I was brought in to resolve issues that the previous manager couldn't resolve - partially technical issues that the C-Suite concluded & she admitted she couldn't fix due to burnout, partially issues with team leading.

My History at Company: Since I arrived last month, my team's bought into the vision I've had for the department. We're making serious strides - the CFO's thrilled and we're making tangible progress, closing multiple months' of backlogged work in days. More reports are being created, folks are visibly catching up, and we're celebrating the progress we've made. I've already put the two team leads in for bonuses & will ask them which of their team members should have one, too.

My question isn't a performance concern, though. It's regarding the prior manager's inability to get the team leaders to cross-train their subordinates & teams.

We're in a situation where the team leads can't take more than a few days off without someone needing to call them. This seems unfair to them and risky for the company as, were they to need to leave for whatever reason (care for sick relative, long-distance move, retirement, medical issues, funeral abroad, etc), team members will try to call them & ask work questions OR make avoidable mistakes.

I want the team leads to spend time cross-training the team. They'll have time to do it in about 4-6 months. And I proposed a simple incentive: if you can get the team cross-trained enough to take a 2 week vacation, you get a bonus 2 week vacation on top of your normal PTO. The team leads already like the idea; who doesn't like extra vacation? CFO loves it too.

My question is thus: how can I structure this 2 week bonus vacation incentive that it'll ensure they get the team cross-trained enough to take a two-week vacation without disrupting company operations? I can't very well test the entire team with pop quizzes, nor do I want to do anything draconian. This is meant to be an enjoyable, motivational carrot, not a stick.

My thought is to tell them that they can have a 2 week "staycation" at home, and they have strict orders not to turn on their company laptops or answer company calls unless it's myself, HR, or the CFO. I figure if we aren't cross-trained enough that I have to call them repeatedly to set up zoom calls with the team & resolve work issues, then they won't get a true 2 week staycation.

Buuuut, ideally I'd like them to be able to do anything they want on their 2 week staycation. They've been working harder than they have for awhile, putting in extra unpaid hours at night / on weekends, so deserve it.

Ideas welcome!