Picture this. It’s 28°C outside and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. Sunlight pours through your windows and there are two different types of ice lollies in the freezer. It’s BBQ for dinner tonight too.
All you want to do is go outside, tuck into those ice lollies and soak up the sun, but instead you’re here, sitting in front of your desk and dreading an afternoon of meetings that definitely could’ve been emails.
According to a study by Captivate Network, workplace productivity drops by as much as 20% during the summer months. Projects also take 13% longer to complete and teams are up to 45% more distracted. That’s the summer slump.
Although some dips in productivity are to be expected at this time of year, how do you—as a business—keep your team motivated and engaged, even on the sunniest of days?
Set clear weekly goals
If you haven’t already put a goal-setting process in place, now is the time to do so.
Each member of your team should have a clear set of deliverables that they’re expected to complete by the end of the working week. This will allow your managers to track productivity and also give everyone on the team some much-appreciated flexibility.
As long as they meet those goals, they can work whenever they like.
Create a fair holiday policy
When 70% of your team is away on holiday within the same month, things are bound to slow down. Most projects reach a bottleneck and those who are still working are either left with little to do, or they’re overwhelmed trying to cover for everyone else.
At the beginning of every year, set a policy where only a certain number of people can be on holiday at the same time in the summer months.
This will encourage your team to book their holidays in advance and make sure there’s always enough people to keep those projects moving.
Prepare some back-up projects
You might be able to put a holiday policy in place for your team, but you can’t do the same for your clients, customers and suppliers. Some projects will naturally grind to a halt because every email is met with a cheery out-of-office message. So, then what?
Prepare your team with some back-up projects that they can work on during that down time. It could be a proactive pitch, some internal operations, or even some personal development.
Remember, nothing adds to the summer slump quite like an empty to-do list.
Add some sun to your meetings
Not every meeting has to happen in a boardroom. When the sun is shining, you could go for a walk instead, or grab an iced coffee and have your meeting in a nearby park.
Even for those working from home, if you don’t need to see each other’s screens, you can have a good old-fashioned phone call and walk while you talk.
This simple action of turning meetings into time outdoors will stop your team from feeling trapped at their desks and encourage general wellbeing across your entire company.
Make your office the coolest spot in town
A study from the University of Chicago found that productivity dips by 4% for every degree above 27°C. In other words, we don’t work our best when we’re too hot.
For a lot of people working from home in the UK, they don’t have air conditioning (it’s not very often that we need it). And so, when temperatures soar to uncomfortable heights, it can be difficult to stay focussed.
If you have an office, you can create a safe haven for your team. In an air-conditioned room with lots of cold water at the ready, they’ll be back to pre-heatwave productivity in no time.
If you don’t have an office, do not worry. There are plenty of air-conditioned office spaces that you can access using the Hubble Pass. Some even have roof terraces!
Offer more flexibility
A lot of businesses now have a flexible working policy in place—but how can you adapt that policy for summer?
Perhaps people are allowed to work on any day of the week. So, if Thursday’s a scorcher, but Saturday’s set for rain, they could do their work on Saturday instead.
If someone wants to go to Spain, but they don’t want to use their annual leave, it’s no problem. They can pack up their laptop and work two weeks from beautiful Barcelona.
If you’re thinking of revisiting your hybrid working policy, we have not one, but two ways to make that easier.
Work from anywhere, anytime with the Hubble Pass
The Hubble Pass enables your team to work from pretty much anywhere.
With it, they can access hundreds of on-demand coworking spaces, private day offices and meeting rooms all over the world.
So, for Dan from HR who wants to go to Barcelona, he’ll have somewhere to work that doesn’t get sand in his speakers.
Find your perfect office with Hubble HQ
Do you want to find a longer term home for your business that’s close to parks for outdoor meetings, has air conditioning and, most importantly, supports your hybrid team with everything they need from an office?
Well, wherever you are, Hubble can help you find that dream workspace that works, not only for your organisation, but every individual that works within it.
