How to Keep Productivity Up in the Summer Months
There’s a reason many business note that productivity in the summer decreases. According to research compiled by Grasshopper, “25% of office workers felt their productivity decreased in the summer time.” Furthermore, 63% of respondents stated they left the office earlier during the summer while 60% report taking their lunch outdoors during this time of year.
However, there are steps business owners can take to maintain or even increase productivity in the summer. Consider the following methods for boosting productivity in the summer months for your office and employees.
Encourage Summer Planning
At the beginning of the summer, ask your employees to submit time off requests as soon as possible. This allows your business to workaround people’s vacations and develop plans for managing workloads when employees are out of the office. The better prepared your company is for employees taking time off from work, the more efficiently your staff can operate with people out of the office.
Rethink Your Weekly Schedule
Some businesses have found giving employees every other Friday off or shifting to a four/10 schedule (four-day work weeks with 10 hour workdays) offsets issues of decreased productivity in the summer. Also, business owners can offer employees the option of working remotely on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and require they are in the office on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Rethink your company’s normal schedule to accommodate your employees’ desire to enjoy the summer.
Complete Forgotten Tasks
Start a company-wide initiative to complete tasks that normally fall by the wayside during busier times of the year. These tasks can range from monthly one-on-one calls with clients to weekly office tidying time.
Or maybe you turn it into a fun competition, such as seeing who can clear out their email inboxes thoroughly at the end of each week. Try to make it engaging and rewarding for everyone to encourage them to take the time to complete these often-forgotten duties.
Assign a Major Project
Maybe your business needs to update its website or possibly you’ve considered starting a company blog with posts written by employees. Launch a major project that requires input and efforts from every department in your company. Celebrate the project’s completions on the Friday before Labor Day weekend with a BBQ or happy hour.
Embrace the Weather
Schedule meetings outside at a picnic table or invite people to join you for lunch al fresco. Getting outside with your employees during the summer helps boost morale as people get to enjoy the sunny, beautiful days of summer while still completing their work and building relationships among teammates.
Make Good Use of Downtime
If you’ve noticed that during the summer business is always slow on Wednesdays, make that a day where you and your employees donate time to a local charity. Adopt a stretch of road near your office and keep it clean. Work with an animal shelter and volunteer to take adoptable dogs on walks.
Working with a non-profit organization will build camaraderie among your employees and improve their overall mood as they will feel good about themselves for volunteering.
Annual Reviews and Budgets
Normally, reviewing employees and devising an annual budget takes place during the hustle and bustle of the year-end holiday season. Instead, schedule these important business processes for the summer. This gives your employees incentive to work hard and demonstrate their value to your business as they prepare for their annual reviews.
Reward Productivity
Jane Smith in accounting really knocked it out of the park on a big project this summer, or Bob Johnson in sales landed a major client.
Reward good work and maintained productivity in your office with recognition, whether it’s a certificate awarded to the employee or a team party for a specific department. Extra incentives and increased recognitions from managers and executives will encourage employees to increase their productivity so they can be rewarded.