4 Things You Can Do to Keep Employees Engaged Through the Summer
Remember summers as a kid?
Nine long months of school culminating in three months of total freedom. No homework to worry about. No dress code. No teachers. And best of all, you probably had nothing to do all day but ride your bike and play with your friends.
For many of us, those were good times. Unfortunately, a three-month long summer vacation isn’t a perk that most of us get to take with us into adulthood.
Summer hasn’t lost its luster, though. Many working adults—especially those with kids—still associate summer with freedom and vacations. It’s no surprise that employee engagement and workplace productivity drops by about 20% during the summer months.
How do you keep employees productive and engaged as the days get longer and the temperatures rise?
Here are a few things you can do right now to improve performance management and keep employees engaged at a time that’s often less productive:
- Keep the communication channels open. Good communication is—or should be—a foundational element in any workplace. While some of your employees may be in and out of the office with vacation, it’s important to stay in touch and keep your relationship with workers alive and well.
- Encourage vacation. Do you have a vacation planned? Don’t forget that your employees need one, too. While they may be trying to focus on that big project you’ve assigned, it’s still important to take a break.
Don’t let your employees turn into zombies by working all year without a vacation. Encourage your staff to take time off appropriately, rather than costing your organization time and money with low productivity.
- Encourage vacation. Do you have a vacation planned? Don’t forget that your employees need one, too. While they may be trying to focus on that big project you’ve assigned, it’s still important to take a break.
- Plan team building activities. If you’re not doing this already, planning and organizing team building exercises can go a long way toward boosting employee morale.
There are lots of ways you could approach this, and some activities will be better suited to some workplaces than others. If you haven’t tried any team building activities, just try doing something around the office like a lunchtime potluck. Another great option is taking an afternoon to volunteer somewhere locally as a group.
- Plan team building activities. If you’re not doing this already, planning and organizing team building exercises can go a long way toward boosting employee morale.
- Be flexible with employee scheduling. Some of your employees may already have requested time off during the summer, but you know there’ll be some last minute requests. While you certainly want to be sensitive to your own bottom-line, the negative effects of low employee morale may take a higher toll on your organization than granting a last minute time off request.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not sit inside all summer. Your employees probably don’t want to either. So, plan ahead, loosen up the office a bit, and take advantage of the extra sunshine to boost your employee morale.
