Summer is here! Yet, to most of us, so are the days of constantly seeing your friends’ vacations on social media, nearly fainting of heatstroke on the commute to work, and thinking more about your next getaway than your next project. In short, we would rather out on a terrace, enjoying the sun, than putting in extra hours on a boring Excel file. Naturally, summer is not the best time of the year for workplace productivity; in fact, a recent study shows a decrease of 20% work rate in workers during the summer period.
Why is there a productivity decrease during summer time?
Summer season is the period during which companies experience a decrease of their output (unless you are a company that specializes in tourism). This can be explained by many factors. During summer recess, employees tend to take longer lunch breaks, to be absent in unexpected ways, to arrive late at work and go back home sooner, to dress more casually, and most of all, to be distracted. Warmth creates an uncomfortable work environment, therefore, the level of distraction goes up to 45% higher.
Pieces of advice to increase productivity during summer
Be aware of the warmth
It is too hot in 50% of offices, and working in too much warmth is distracting, bothering, and uncomfortable, so it is bad for productivity. It can also create health issues. Provide at disposal fresh water, air conditioning or fans. Allow your employees to dress more casually, for example, wearing a suit during a heat wave is not appropriate.
Use time wisely
In some departments or some areas, the amount of work decreases during the summer period. However, you should not let your employees be bored and do nothing. Assign them new tasks, motivate them to catch up on late projects, to organize their mailbox and files, and to get on the same page for ongoing projects. Set new priorities up if the usual ones are less present.
Be more flexible
Allowing your employees to telework in the case of heat waves can be beneficial. Transportations in these conditions are unpleasant, moreover, employees have an average of 55 minutes’ commute time by day, which can be removed thanks to telecommuting. Allow your employees to take breaks, they improve productivity.
Use Wimi to reinforce summer time productivity
Wimi is the all-in-one solution, specialized in team work which gathers all the necessary tools for a transparent, effective and agile team work into one interface. You can try Wimi free of charges for 14 days by clicking here. Wimi can be extremely useful, especially during the summer, available from any computer or mobile device (Android & iOS). Finally, do not worry, Wimi allows you to work anywhere you are, whether that be a plane, boat, island, or camp site.
Sources
How can your company fight the warmth?
Decrease of productivity during summer time – 5 pieces of advice
4 pieces of advice for more productivity during summery period
