The sun is shining, the air is heating up, and it's harder to concentrate when working.
That's a familiar story for many of us when temperatures start to rise, and one that can take its toll on workplace efficiency.
One study of 600 office workers found that productivity dropped by around 20% when the weather got hotter, with projects taking 13% longer to complete and people becoming 45% more distracted.
Here are 5 tips to help you work smarter in the summer months:
1. Keep in touch with colleagues
Even if you feel fine, someone you work with might not.
Asthma sufferers can struggle more in spring and summer months due to changes in the environment, which may exasperate their symptoms.
People with allergies can also experience problems thanks to increased levels of summer air pollution, a greater risk of insect bites and more dust mites.
Keeping doors and windows closed and making sure the environment is as dust free as possible will help to limit the effects.
Air purifiers can significantly improve indoor quality by removing virtually all particle pollution, including dust mite allergens, mould spores, pollen grains and ultra-fine particle pollution from traffic.
2. Personal air flow management
Changes in temperature can make people feel uncomfortable and distract them from their work. Individual, desk-side or desk-top fans give each person control of their own thermal comfort.
3. Safe outdoor working
The risk of overheating, dehydration or sunburn become more real for anyone working outdoors when summer comes around.
Outdoor workers should be given supplies of sun protection cream with a high SPF, plenty of cool water and be encouraged to take regular breaks out of the sun.
4. Water
It's never more important to stock up on water and make sure water coolers don't run low in the summer.
Experts recommend that we drink a little more than the recommended two litres of water if it's hot. Feeling thirsty is a sign we're already a little dehydrated, so it's best to start sipping before this happens.
If you're feeling a little parched, you may have lost around 1% of water in your body, and dehydration happens when 2% of water has been lost. Signs of dehydration include feeling tired or faint, muscle cramps, infrequent urinating and very dark urine.
5. Flex working hours
One of the issues some employees report in hot weather is lost working time when people unofficially leave early or take longer lunch breaks.
Making it easier for employees to work flexibly, even just over the summer, could help improve morale and loyalty, and help ensure people are working when you need them to. Ideas include 'summer months only' compressed hours, flexible working or an early leave on Fridays.
Companies such as Vodafone have found that, for employees, work-life balance is as important as basic salary, with flexible working having a bigger impact on job satisfaction that more traditional benefits such as shares, bonus schemes and pensions.
With Banner you can...
With Banner you can help your people work well in all weathers. For more details please contact our facilities supplies team on facilitiessupplies@banneruk.com
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