Avoid The Summer Slump: Best Ways to Boost Your Employees’ Productivity

A study conducted by Captivate Office Pulse found that over the summer period, employee productivity drops by 20% and projects take 13% longer to complete. If that is not scary enough, the study also discovered that 45% of workers are more distracted and workplace attendance drops by more than 19%.

All of these statistics have reasonable explanations. The heat alone is a major factor in reducing workforce productivity, as it makes it harder to focus. With colleagues and bosses making use of their vacation days, it is easy for deadlines to feel less urgent. In addition, with children being out of school, many parents end up missing workdays. All of this results in July-August being two of the worst months of the year when it comes to employee productivity. However, there are some tricks to avoid the slump and increase productivity in the workplace.

What is employee productivity?

Before discussing ways of increasing employee productivity, it’s important to understand what it is and how it is measured. In the most basic sense, an employee’s productivity is calculated based on the amount of output from a project compared to the amount of time it takes. The way to create proper employees’ productivity measurement is by establishing an average for comparison. 

For example, let’s say your employees work with data entry. You need to know what the average time for one report is so you can deduct from that whether a certain employee is productive or not. If it takes 10 employees an average of an hour to complete a report, the one who completes it within 15 minutes is extremely productive. This, of course, needs to be sustained over a period of time and with a good quality of work. Now that we’ve established what workforce productivity is, let’s discuss ways of increasing it during the summer period.

Tips to increase productivity in the workplace during the summer

Many of the ways of increasing employee productivity lie in providing your workers with extra perks to make up for the hot summer days. On many occasions, benefits are used to attract top talent into your company. However, you can also utilize these benefits as a way of increasing retention and workplace engagement. This, with a combination of goals and incentives, can keep your employees on the right track.

1. Offer summer hours, as well as work-from-home options

Half of the battle to stay productive during the summer lies in being indoors while the sun is shining. If you allow your employees to see more daylight, they will be much more grateful when they are in the office, and willing to get the job done. Starting a little bit later, finishing early or offering a half-day on Friday can contribute greatly to team morale. 

On top of that, allowing your employees to work remotely will prove that you trust them to get the work done on their own time. They can do so while spending time with their families, pets or even while traveling, which will keep your company’s profit up even when your employees are on holiday.

2. Introduce a summer event schedule

A good way to get your employees to feel like they are not missing out on all of the summertime fun is to create something for them to look forward to. With a schedule of events ranging from work picnics, after-hour drinks, weekday brunches, and even a work retreat, they won’t have time to consider how all of their colleagues are abroad and they are the only ones left behind. This will also act as a great way of bonding your team in the long run and ensuring they work well together all year long.

3. Set goals for the end of the summer, with great rewards

If you want your employees to keep their eye on the prize, what better way to do so than to literally offer them a prize? In order for them to stay focused and motivated, you can create a number of reward schemes. For instance, you can offer the employee with the highest attendance rate free movie tickets or restaurant vouchers. You can also create a competition between two teams — whichever achieves the most sales receives a bonus or a team night out. When creating this scheme, you should ask your employees what matters to them the most, as some will value time off over cash rewards.

Other things you can offer your employees can be as simple as relaxing the dress code to allow for them to dress for the heat or to provide ice cream on Fridays. Anything that makes your employees feel valued will help avoid the summer slump and increase productivity in the workplace.