Summertime is around the corner and we all know what that means. Energy levels around the office go up while productivity and motivation tend to go down. Why? Let’s face it, we would all rather be outside enjoying the warm summer days. However, the reality is that businesses need to continue running regardless of the weather outside. How can you leverage the positivity in the air and keep employees happy and productive? We have a few ideas that will surely help you achieve your goals and engage your teams during the summer time.
Take your work outside
Is your team having a hard time coming up with new innovative ideas during your brainstorm sessions or deadlines are approaching while nothing is being done? Why not step outside and enjoy the nice weather? A recent survey by FlexJobs found that 76% of employees say they are more productive when working outside of the office. Leaving the office behind and changing your surrounding can help spark creativity and help you come up with new ideas or finish your work on time. It is highly likely that the only thing your employees are thinking about during those hot summer days is being outside, therefore make it happen! Although not everyone may have the ability or willingness to work outside, make it an options for those who want to try it! It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to set up a temporary workstation outdoors, so test it out and see if it brings you positive results!
Bond with your team
We shouldn’t have to tell you that team bonding exercises are a very important way to create a healthy workplace and play a crucial role in growing a successful business. There’s no surprise that summer is one of the most popular seasons for team activities since it allows you to suggest a wide variety of outdoor activities and it’s a time when spirits are high and employees are happy. However, it is important to keep those employees happy and productive, so make sure they have the opportunity to unwind and create long lasting relationships with their coworkers outside of the office. Take advantage of this summer by hosting an office barbecue, beach outing, hike or camping trip. Create memories and relationships to help your team be happy and work well together. In return, you will have a motivated workplace ready to take on the heat.
Encourage/Take Vacations
Everyone needs a break once in awhile. This is why it’s important to encourage your team to take vacations and recharge their batteries. Unfortunately, some staff actually believe vacationing is not necessary and counterproductive. That’s why your role as a manager or business owner is to ensure that your team has the green light and is encouraged to take some necessary time off during summer. It’s proven that taking time off helps reduce stress and make you more productive. A study from the University of Vienna suggests that after taking time off from work, vacationers have fewer stress-related physical complaints such as headaches, backaches, and heart irregularities, and they continued showing these positive effects five weeks later. Vacations are the medicine workers need to stay productive. Especially during the summer. Allow your staff to recharge and transform from a liability to an asset.
Stay Organized
While we suggest that vacationing in the summer is crucial for productivity, it can also create some downtime if you don’t have the right set of tools in place to maintain a steady stream of work when you have missing pieces in your team. To prevent any downtime and keep the employees in the office from pulling their hair in the absence of others, set expectations for the summer ahead of time. Create a list of goals and objectives for your team and keep track of your progress along the way. This will allow your team to know when they should take time off based on the performance of the team. It will also help your team members stuck at the office to manage their time more efficiently to avoid missing an objective at the end of the month. Help your team focus by clearly defining the objectives so they can be productive and better prepared. This will allow them to work regardless of the conditions outside. Another trick to keep production high while team members are missing is implementing simple tools that allow you to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks. The results of the automation allow your team to keep production high and focus on more important tasks.
Overall, we believe that the summer is a great time for both employees and businesses to thrive. By applying the tips mentioned above, we believe that you’re chances of producing great results are very high. Remember, the key to an engaged employee is to keep them happy. There’s plenty of opportunities to do so throughout the year, therefore make sure your employees are a top priority and are inspired to do great things.
