After a weekend of sizzling heat, the warm weather seems here to stay. 

When working in these hot conditions, work may not be the number one thing on your employees’ minds. They may even be tempted to pull a ‘sickie’ to make the most of the sun, or they may be clock watching and daydreaming about future holidays.

None of this bodes well for employers, but the good news is that there are lots of measures employers can take to boost employee engagement and productivity during the summer months.

Here are six key things you can do without making a huge dent in your budget: 

Provide some free food

Providing your staff with a nice treat is a simple way to put a smile on their face and boost morale on sweltering hot days. This could be some ice lollies and ice cream, or you could organise a low-key picnic or barbecue at lunchtime. 

It’s essential to think about different dietary requirements, for example, some of your employees may be vegetarian or avoid certain foods for religious or health reasons.

The team at Ellis Whittam enjoyed some well-deserved treats on a hot day!

Enjoy the summer of sport

With the World Cup and Wimbledon in progress and an action-packed calendar of sport coming up, your employees’ attention may be diverted from work. However, these major sporting events provide a wealth of opportunities to organise some fun workplace activities, such as fancy dress competitions, raffles, quizzes, sport’s day etc. You could also allow people to watch some of the big matches in a conference room and make it a company event. Aldi are closing their stores early on the day of the World Cup Final to allow their staff to watch the game.

Embracing it, rather than simply seeing the inconveniences means you are making your workplace a fun place to me. It also helps bring the whole business together and nurture stronger inter-business relationships.

Learn three key tactics for employer this World Cup here.

Getting ready for the World Cup Semi Final at Ellis Whittam means a 5-a side penalty shootout!

Do your bit for charities

Corporate social responsibility is not a tick-box exercise – it has real value for your business and your employees. Allowing your employees the chance to nominate charities, letting them lead projects, giving them a budget to work from and seeing how ideas come to fruition can boost engagement significantly.  It is also a fantastic way to get your employees to embrace your workplace culture, values and goals.

Our BREWS team works throughout the year to create social events aimed at raising money for our nominated charities.

Consider taking things outdoors

If you are lucky enough that your office does have some outdoor space, use it! Find a bench under a tree and have your weekly team meeting. A simple thing like this can break up the day and boost morale.

Relax the dress code

If possible, think about relaxing the dress code. It can be hard to concentrate in a hot and stuffy office so consider whether employees can lose the jacket or tie, or have more open shoes to combat the heat.

For Ellis Whittam – the recent hot weather has meant relaxing the dress code – but boundaries were set.

Recognise hard work

There are some employers that think that the only way to reward hard work is to give employees a pay rise, but employees do value perks.

You could allow them to leave early on Friday if they have completed all their tasks or hit certain targets, or you could arrange a fun awards show showing your appreciation for their contributions to the business’ success. If an employee is getting a promotion, have a celebration to show the opportunities that are within the business. Recognising each person’s hard work will undoubtedly boost morale, enhance their performance and make your employees more productive.

We need our employees to work hard in order to make our business succeed, but being a bit creative can help make the workplace a fun place to be (and one that employees don’t run out of when it hits 5.30pm!).