The summer holidays can be a challenging period for organisations and employees alike. With many team members taking time off for a well-deserved holiday or simply for childcare, maintaining morale can become tricky.
However, with thoughtful planning and supportive measures, employers can ensure a smooth and productive summer. Here are three key areas to focus on: supporting working parents, managing heatwaves, and assisting employees stuck abroad after their holiday has finished.
1. Supporting Working Parents
For working parents, balancing the work responsibilities and their children can be stressful and summer holidays often mean juggling work responsibilities with childcare. With 51% of people saying they cannot afford activities or time away with their kids, more people will have their children at home while having to work as well.
Here’s how you can help working parents:
Offer Flexible Working Hours
Offering flexible working hours allows parents to balance their work responsibilities with their childcare needs. For example, you could allow parents to start work earlier and finish later, to ensure they have time during the day with their kids.
Alternatively, allow working parents to temporary work reduced hours so they don’t have to sacrifice too much of their annual leave to spend with their kids. A 4 day working week or a shorter working day can be helpful measures.
Remote Work Options
Where possible, provide the option to work from home. This flexibility can reduce the stress of commuting and give parents more time to spend with their children. For those parents whose children are not in clubs throughout the summer, it means they can be at home while their children are at home as well, saving money on expensive day care.
This should be managed well as usually children take priority over work responsibilities, so employers should discuss with their employees how they will manage the two responsibilities and ensure that the parent makes arrangements so the children are looked after while still being able to focus on their work.
2. Managing Heatwaves
Although unlikely for this summer in the UK, heatwaves can significantly impact productivity and employee well-being. For most of the country, a heatwave is when temperatures are 25 degrees or over for 3 consecutive days. Here’s how to keep your workplace cool and comfortable:
Temperature Control
Most offices in the UK do not have effective air-conditioning, but where it is available, it should be allowed to run on hot days. Alternatives are providing fans to allow circulation of air and ideally have windows open to allow fresh air in (in the absence of air-conditioning).
Most window covers such as blinds can also be very effective in keeping the heat of the sun out of the office.
Water Stations:
Set up water stations with water coolers and encourage employees to drink water regularly. With tap water not being the best in the country, people may try to drink more coffee or tea, but these are both dehydrating drinks. Providing cooled water and other healthy soft drinks where possible, employees can find a way to cool down, stay hydrated and be more productive (1% dehydration can lead to a 12% productivity loss). Providing fresh fruit and other hydrating snacks can also help.
Dress Code Adjustments
Relax the dress code to allow for lighter, more breathable clothing. Allow people to wear shorts, t-shirts and dresses where otherwise not allowed. This can make a significant difference in comfort levels during hot days. You may want to be clear in what is allowed and what is not, as people may take the lighter clothing too serious.
Flexible Working Arrangements
Consider allowing employees to work earlier or later in the day to avoid the peak heat hours. Days are usually the coolest in the morning, so allowing people to work early from 6am onwards, can ensure that people have to work less during the hot hours of the day.
Remote work options can also be beneficial during heatwaves, especially if the office environment cannot be cooled down enough to ensure a comfortable workplace.
3. Assisting Employees Stuck Abroad After Their Holiday
With people traveling abroad there is an increased risk that flights are delayed, leaving people stranded. This can be stressful and impact their ability to return to work on time. The important thing to remember is that in the vast majority of cases, it is not the employee’s fault, so employers should remain empathetic and supportive to their employee’s predicament. Here’s how you could support them:
Leave Flexibility
Be flexible with your leave provisions. If an employee is stranded and unable to work, consider extending their annual leave or offering unpaid leave options. Usually, employees only need 1 or 2 extra days to deal with a delayed flight, but if it is longer, you may need to think how this impacts the team at work as well and allow for a contingency plan, especially if this crosses over into other team member’s leave.
Clear Communication
Maintain open lines of communication with employees who are travelling. Allow people to focus on their journey home, while asking them to keep you updated maybe once a day where possible on their ETA back in the office.
Remote Work Options
If employees are able to work remotely, allow them to do so. Most employee will not bring their work equipment, but they may have brought their personal laptop or tablet. As most office work is now done over the cloud, any device with internet connection and the correct login should be able to access work files and emails remotely.
This will allow for work to continue without delay, while the employee does not have to book additional days off or use unpaid leave to cover their delay home.
Conclusion
Supporting your employees during the summer holidays requires planning and flexibility. By addressing the needs of working parents, ensuring a comfortable work environment during heatwaves, and being prepared for travel disruptions, you can provide a supportive and productive workplace.
