Flexible Hours | How to make Summer a Sizzling Sensation

We all long for the warm days of summer but when the sunny season finally comes around how many of use get the chance to enjoy significant time outdoors? Many of us in full time work find ourselves commuting to our place of employment, only to spend seven to eight hours in doors, with an increasing tendency to ‘lunch at our desk’ and not venture outside again until the end of the day.

It’s perhaps not surprising that in the UK there are a growing number of people suffering from vitamin D deficiency. The ‘sunshine vitamin’ is in short supply if we don’t get the opportunity to enjoy what little summer we get. In turn, this leads to feelings of tiredness and lethargy which must have an effect on workplace productivity.

So how can we improve this ‘Catch 22’ situation? The concept of ‘summer hours’ is recently something which has caught HR’s imagination. Within the workplace, productivity is not high in the productivity stakes – dropping by as much as 20% with projects taking 13% longer to complete as employees lose their focus in hot and humid conditions. Distraction also is an issue – increasing by 45% during the season.

Therefore, it clearly makes sense to introduce some workplace flexibility that will benefit employees and make the time they are in work more productive.