Is Summer Draining Your Employees’ Productivity?

Is Summer Draining Your Employees’ Productivity?

School’s out for summer! Although that used to be good news as a kid, it’s now felt as more of an extra hurdle to cross for parents and employers alike. As more parents take off work to care for their children, employers are often left wondering how to fill the void and keep up the productivity momentum from months prior.

Sound familiar? If so, here are three ways you can boost productivity. Hint: it starts with offering flexible work conditions.

Plan Flexibility Into Your Schedule

For parents, flexibility isn’t just important—it’s mandatory. While the kids are home for the summer, this flexibility is even more critical. Parents aren’t always able to find the most reliable childcare for their children, which will mean that they may need to work from home more often.

As an employer, one of the best ways you can embrace this need and keep employees productive is to plan for flexible work conditions when making your summer schedule. Instead of making employees feel as if they need to take personal leave just to care for their children, you can keep your team and projects moving by allowing for flexible work conditions.

This flexibility can sometimes spur other concerns, such as how the employee will work and whether they’ll be able to continue to produce the same amount or quality of work. The short answer to this concern is yes, they will, but it will take a little bit of help from you.

Get Rid of Boredom

Boredom stunts productivity, according to the findings of psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in his book, Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life. This is true regardless of age or the task at hand. Still, during the summer months when employees need to work from home more often, the easiest tasks to take away from the office tend to be those that are tedious and boring. This is a mistake.

When you’re striving to offer a more flexible workplace, make sure you don’t damage your employee’s productivity by assuming that they can only do simple jobs from their home office. Technology today has made it easier than ever to plug in remotely, which means they’ll be able to continue working on the thought-provoking tasks that will keep them productive and inspired, regardless of location.

Keep Open Lines of Communication

When your team works remotely during the summer months, keep communication lines open by using some of the many apps that are available. For example, an online chat app such as Slack will help teams continue to communicate and collaborate regardless of distance. An online scheduling app will enable teams to know who’s working and available for outreach, regardless of location.

Don’t Let the Summer Sun Slow Your Momentum

Employees can remain productive, even if they’re not in the office. By using modern technology, you can continue to get more out of your employees during this month when productivity traditionally slows down.

Author Profile Jon Forknell is the Vice President and General Manager of Atlas Business Solutions, Inc., a software marketing company specializing in employee scheduling software, including ScheduleBase employee scheduling software, and other business software solutions. In the past, Jon has been recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as a SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Atlas Business Solutions was named as one of Software Magazine’s Top 500 Software Companies in 2004 through 2007, and 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.