11 Ways to Avoid the Summer Slump [Infographic]

Summertime is naturally more relaxed and care-free in the office, as employees head out for family trips and the sales season slows down. However, it seems all that relaxation and vacation can take a toll on employee productivity, with 53% of workers reporting that they feel distracted from June through September. 

This phenomenon, now dubbed “the summer slump”, occurs in offices across the world – and it’s probably happening in yours, too. 

In addition to vacations, factors such as high temperatures contribute to this sensation. Summer also marks the mid-year point, so if your employees aren’t on vacation, they are likely experiencing work-related stress and fatigue from not taking enough time off since the holidays. 

To stop the summer slump in its tracks, you need to actively encourage your employees to stay engaged – management techniques can make or break your office this summer. Untraditional leadership ideas work best for this, so challenge yourself to think of out-of-the-box ideas to adopt during summertime to prevent the slump from taking hold. 

We’ve also compiled a list of tips for you to consider for your office this summer. Some of our conventional tips and tricks include:

1. Flexible hours during summer months: Adopting summer hours, such as half-days on Fridays, can boost employee morale, and studies show it doesn’t affect how much work gets done throughout the week. This can be a great way to keep your employees in high spirits. Remote work days is another alternative that allows flexibility for your workers. Flextime in general (and not just during the summer months) is a great way to boost employee morale and productivity by the way.  
2. Relax your in-office vibes throughout the summer: Try adopting a more casual dress code during summer months — this will also help your employees beat the heat and avoid getting weariness from business attire. You can also try relaxing your pet policy, and allow employees to bring their pooches in during the summer months. 
3. Ditch tradition: You need to get creative to keep employees engaged. Making work fun by hosting offsite meetings and team building events is a great way to do just that and since you’re likely to have more free time in summer months than you do in busy fall, this is a great season to host some fun department events. 

If you’ve already seen the first effects of the summer slump taking hold in your office – don’t panic. This is completely normal. The infographic below has 11 tips on how to avoid or stop the summer slump in your office.

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