Much like ice left out in the sun, employees can wither away in the summer heat, and their engagement levels and productivity can melt away with them. Ensuring workplace well-being and employee engagement can be particularly challenging during the summer months, when the weather begins to impair a worker’s ability to concentrate on their tasks. Not only does the heat demotivate employees, but it can also prove to be a serious threat to health and safety. Heatstroke, dizziness, discomfort, and an increased risk of rising tempers put everyone on edge, not to mention the additional pressures faced by employees who work outdoors or near heavy machinery that runs a higher risk of faltering.
Improved summer productivity may be the goal, but prioritizing employee well-being and safety in the summer months should be a more central point of focus for organizational operations. When employees feel supported and appreciated, their cooperation with workplace goals becomes a given.
Employee engagement can suffer under the summer heat, but it can be addressed with a little dedication towards safety and well-being. (Image: Pexels)
Sandals On the Ground: It’s Time to Brainstorm Some Summer Employee Engagement Initiatives
For students, the summer months are often about vacations, beach days, and leisurely afternoons enjoying the sunshine with friends. For adults, the picture isn’t always quite so rosy. While an increase in concerts, sporting events, and outdoor activities is certainly possible, most workers remain glued to their desks, committed to workplace obligations that don’t stop for the sun. Planning summer engagement initiatives is just as much about helping workers stay cool and beat the heat as it is about giving them a chance to get a nice tan in or a day out with their kids.
Comprehensive workplace benefits around employee well-being should consider workplace heat safety alongside building employee engagement through some summer fun. While it’s best to get creative with how you approach employee engagement and well-being in the summer, we have a few tips for embracing summer in the workplace.
Prioritizing Ventilation and Cooling
One of the most obvious factors to keep an eye on is the cooling systems within the workplace. ACs are an obvious consideration to keep in mind, and good ventilation is just as essential. Employees seated next to windows may have to face the sun more Set featured imagethan others, which means that a flexible seating arrangement might help them find more comfortable spots to work. This cooling and ventilation is just as important in warehouses and factories as it is within corporate workspaces.
Japanese company Do Hiemon Box just unveiled a “Human Refrigerator” built to cool people down in minutes. While that is an unusual, untested prospect, it does serve as a reminder that cooling can be an active priority. Table fans, umbrellas to walk between buildings, and hats as employee merch can help make cooling down a hands-on experience.
Relaxed Dress Codes and Casual Comforts
The recent spike in heatwaves across the globe is no small matter, and keeping cool isn’t easy in a three-piece suit. Organizations may invest in central cooling to help keep the temperatures low, but rising electricity bills are no joke, and employees traveling to and from work still remain at risk of falling victim to the heat.
Regions like Tokyo have begun allowing male employees to wear shorts and t-shirts to work for the summer, allowing workers to come to work without restrictive clothing. A similar, more inclusive policy for all employees might be useful for any organization, helping them dress more comfortably to suit the weather.
Cooking Up a Storm in the Kitchen
Ensuring that there is a steady stream of water bottles and dispensers is essential throughout the year, but particularly during the summer months. Stocking up on ice can also help employees enjoy a cooling drink over a lukewarm one. Generous employers don’t have to stop there. Treating employees to cooling drinks and desserts, or healthy salad bars once in a while, can have them beaming from ear to ear, giving them just the push they need to head back to work with a smile. Summer productivity doesn’t have to be boring.
Workplace Heat Safety Measures for Those Who Work Outdoors
Hard hats and hi-vis vests are essential safety gear for some roles, but in the summer months, making visors and sunscreen a part of the employee safety guidelines doesn’t hurt matters. Employees who travel around or work outdoors can benefit from tools and advice to help them stay safer, even if they don’t encounter particularly unsafe working conditions. It can also be helpful to aid employees with travel arrangements to ensure they aren’t walking around in the heat.
Parallely developing emergency measures, equipping workspaces with first aid resources, and training employees on how to respond to any issues can also be one way to keep matters under control. Especially within equipment-heavy spaces, regular checks on machinery to ensure nothing fritzes out in the heat are non-negotiable.
Summer Fridays and Functional Flexibility
Employee productivity can slip in the summer, and it’s easy to be both exhausted and distracted during the endless weeks of heat. A few allowances, like Summer Fridays, can help employees step away from work a little early, freeing them to rest up at home or make the most of summer break and spend time with their families.
For parents in particular, the pressures of childcare can increase during the summer. Flexibility in scheduling can help them work from home and manage their family responsibilities with greater ease.
Boosting Benefits Planning to Address Gaps In Support
Addressing workplace well-being in the summer months does not have to be drastically different from your strategy for the rest of the year, but making some minor adjustments doesn’t hurt either. Working parents are likely to be particularly grateful for summer camp, daycare services, and flexibility in schedules to accommodate their children being home for the summer break. Employees may also appreciate having access to more weather-appropriate meals in the office break room, shorter meetings or training in comparison to the typical programming, and the opportunity to build workflows that reflect their altered needs.
Regular PSAs to remind workers to stay safe are just as useful as reminders about the benefits available to them. Supporting employees where possible creates a culture based on goodwill, which is always healthy for business as it defines how operations proceed, not just in the summer but in the months that come after.
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