It’s easy to get distracted during the workday with thoughts of summer activities and excitement that loom outside our office window. We all get caught up in summer’s grip and lose sight of responsibilities and customer needs that wait for us at the office.
Here are a few tips to increase employee moral and boost productivity through summers’ distraction filled days:
- Offer Summer Hours: Offer employees flex hours or the option to come in early a couple days a week and as a result, leave early. This gives employees a few more hours in the day for whatever summer activities await them.
- Hire An Answering Service: It’s tempting to leave the office early or take a long weekend during the summer months. Hiring a 24/7 answering service can bring peace of mind when you are out of the office and relieve employees of basic call taking duties. A good answering service should be able to take messages, transfer live calls, book appointments, and basically act just as your receptionist. Rest assured that when you or your employees are out of the office, customers will still be greeted by a live, friendly professional.
- Summer Competition: A healthy competition to encourage your employees to reach a specific goal or simply infuse fun into the office can make the summer months more interesting and create some diversions from summer distractions. Prizes such as an extra day of PTO or tickets to a summer concert or game will certainly spice up the competition.
- Mix Work and Play: Organize a social outing with co-workers during the summer months. This doesn’t have to be elaborate or time consuming. Something as simple as taking your employees out to lunch, organizing an after-work happy hour, or offering late afternoon snacks to beat the afternoon hump can do the trick.
Beating summer’s distractions isn’t as hard as it sounds. And when it comes down to it, summer IS a time for a little fun. Just remember, summer fun doesn’t have to affect productivity in your workplace. With a little flexibility and some outside help, you can fight summer distractions and stay productive.
