How to boost productivity in the summer months
Struggling to concentrate on warm, sunny days? Read tips on how to boost your productivity in the summer months.
The start of summer is almost upon us and the weather is starting to heat up. Whilst this offers up a lot of opportunities for socialising and activities inside and outside of the workplace, it can also present some difficulties for office managers and business owners.
Research has found that 52% of working Brits admit to working fewer hours between the months of June and August, and studies have also show that this ‘summertime slump’ costs businesses in the UK as much as £8bn each year. Therefore, each summer business owners are faced with the problem of how to prevent productivity slipping during the warmer months.
Fortunately, there are a few steps that you can take to embrace the warmer weather and keep productivity levels up all year round. Read on to discover what these are.
Be flexible
When the sun is beaming through your office window and the temperature is creeping up, it can be difficult to motivate staff. However, one of the main ways to combat this is by being flexible with your staff’s working hours.
Instead of requiring that your staff work their normal 9-5 work day, why not offer the opportunity for them to work longer hours on certain days and finish early on Fridays? This can help to ease your staff nicely into the weekend and encourage them to work harder throughout the rest of the week.
Top tip: Make sure that your staff track their hours so that the same amount of work is being carried out after introducing flexible working hours.
Embrace the outdoors
Whether it’s taking your team out for a well-deserved lunch, or engaging in sporty team-building activities, summer is the best time of the year to head outside with your staff and embrace the warmer weather.
This will help your team to feel like they’re not missing out on the sunshine, and it can make everyone feel more awake and happy in general.
Consider alternative working arrangements
For many professionals, working in summer presents issues with things such as childcare, as it can be a challenge trying to find affordable daycare, or finding family members that are able to take care of children.
Therefore, it helps to offer alternative working arrangements in summer, such as working from home or in a co-working space such as Accelerate Places.
Working from home offers flexibility, and ditching the daily commute can actually make your staff happier. Alternatively, co-working spaces provides all the mod cons of a normal office, however, desks can be rented for a day or on a monthly rolling contract. This means that your staff have more freedom when it comes to where, when and how they work.
Whilst it may seem like a challenging task to keep your team motivated and maintain high productivity levels during summer, all it takes is a bit of forward planning and flexibility. Simply listen to your team’s needs and embrace the opportunities that summer presents and you’ll benefit from a hard-working and happy team in no time.
Photo by Alesia Kazantceva
