Keeping your employees working safely and comfortably in the summer months
Let’s be honest, not many of us want to be at work on a sunny day. The summer season brings with it a host of challenges for businesses and their employees. It can be difficult to avoid the ‘summer slump’ when employees are in holiday mode, distracted by sporting events, or juggling school holiday childcare with work priorities.
Not only that, businesses must also ensure they are providing a safe working environment despite the hot weather.
In this guide, we look at workplace wellbeing in the summer to help you keep your employees safe, comfortable and motivated.
We will cover:
- How the summer months can impact workplaces
- The importance of taking a proactive approach to wellbeing during summer
- Employer’s legal obligations: working in hot temperatures
- Summer safety tips for the workplace
- How to keep outdoor workers safe in the sun
- Don’t forget about home workers!
- Great ways to motivate employees during summer
How the summer months can impact workplaces
As we head into summer, many employees will be planning their annual leave and may feel overwhelmed at the thought of completing their work in time for their holiday or returning to an overflowing inbox. The holiday season will also place additional pressure on remaining team members who may be expected to cover for their colleagues.
With a range of different sporting fixtures and festivals planned this summer, employers may see lower productivity, presenteeism and an increase in sickies.
Employers also need to be mindful of working parents whose normal routines will be disrupted during the school holidays. It isn’t easy to find suitable holiday childcare, particularly in more rural parts of the country. Many parents experience financial hardship during the school holidays due to the increased costs of childcare, food and activities amid the cost of living crisis. A poll by Family Action found that 76% of parents worry about the expense of days out, and 46% say they feel more stressed and anxious about the summer holidays than excited.
Hot temperatures can also impact on employee health and safety. In recent years, we have seen greater extremes of weather, with 2023 recording the hottest global temperature since records began. In the UK, we aren’t really prepared for heatwaves, and not all office buildings have air conditioning or good ventilation meaning many of us will be working in uncomfortable working environments. Sleep can be disrupted during hot weather, resulting in employees who are tired and less productive. Some workers may be particularly vulnerable to heat, for example pregnant, menopausal or elderly workers.
Furthermore, working in direct sunlight or high temperatures can result in dehydration, heat exhaustion or heat stroke, and can lead to longer term conditions like cancer. The weather can also affect employee safety in the workplace, for example if they are operating machinery. Typical symptoms of heat stress include: inability to concentrate, muscle cramps, heat rash, severe thirst, fainting, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, headache, confusion, convulsions, loss of consciousness and potential death.
The importance of taking a proactive approach to wellbeing during summer
Investing in the wellbeing and safety of your employees and supporting them during the summer season will pay dividends, resulting in a motivated workforce with higher productivity and engagement levels. It may also have a positive impact on the service levels provided to customers. No one likes being served by a disgruntled worker.
Employer’s legal obligations: working in hot temperatures
There is currently no law on maximum working temperatures. However, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations require employers to provide a ‘reasonable’ indoor temperature in the workplace. What is ‘reasonable’ will depend upon the work activity and the environmental conditions. There is also a legal obligation on employers to manage the health and safety risks to all employees, including the risks posed by the environment such as excessive heat.
Employers must carry out a risk assessment to determine what temperature is suitable for their work environment (as this will vary from one work environment to another), and to put controls in place to achieve it. This may include seasonal controls for the summer period. Employers should consult with workers or their representatives on the best way to manage hot temperatures.
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance and templates for completing a risk assessment here. The HSE also provides a heat stress checklist that should be used if workers are at risk from extreme temperatures.
Summer safety tips for the workplace
The HSE recommends a number of different ways to keep your employees comfortable in hot temperatures, including:
- providing air conditioning, ventilation and fans;
- using blinds and sunscreens and repositioning desks to avoid direct sunlight;
- working in cooler parts of the building;
- placing insulating materials around hot plant and pipes;
- providing cold water;
- introducing flexible working patterns;
- providing regular rest breaks; and
- relaxing the dress code.
Be particularly mindful of vulnerable workers who may be more likely to suffer from the heat, such as those mentioned above. We would advise speaking to vulnerable workers to understand how the heat may impact them, and to identify whether extra precautions are needed.
How to keep outdoor workers safe in the sun
Outdoors workers are particularly susceptible to the effects of direct sunlight and high temperatures. In addition to the tips above, here are some suggestions for how to keep outdoors workers safe during the summer season:
- provide shade where possible, including rest areas;
- offer different working hours to avoid the hottest part of the day (for example, an early start and early finish, or long lunchbreaks);
- provide sun protection such as sun cream, sun hats and clothes that provide UV protection;
- plan strenuous work for cooler periods;
- encourage workers to drink cool water rather than carbonated drinks;
- provide education on hydration, sun protection and heat stress;
- ensure you have trained First Aiders who are familiar with the early symptoms of heat stress; and
- offer medical plans that enable employees to access skin cancer screening and allergy testing.
Don’t forget about home workers!
It can be easy to overlook employees working from home. However, the legal obligation to ensure the health and safety of employees applies to home based workers as well those that are office based. Don’t worry, you don’t need to pay for an expensive air con unit to be fitted. Instead, consider the options we mentioned above such as regular rest breaks, flexible hours, providing a fan, reminding them about staying hydrated etc. If it’s not possible to keep their house cool during a heatwave, you could offer the option of temporarily working from a different location such as a local office or co-working space.
Great ways to motivate employees during summer
Let’s face it, most of us would rather not be working on a sunny day. This can make it hard for businesses to maintain productivity levels and avoid summer apathy. Below we’ve outlined some summer wellbeing tips to keep your people happy, motivated and productive.
Summer hours in the workplace
Offering the option of flexible working will remove some of the stress experienced by working parents and will give employees the chance to adjust their hours to suit their lifestyle. This will show that you trust your employees and value them as people, thereby boosting morale and engagement levels. It’s also likely to reduce the chances of presenteeism and people pulling sickies. And who wouldn’t love ‘summer Fridays’ in the workplace when you get to leave early and spend time with your family or friends!
Summer socials
Create a work environment where people want to be at work, by organising summer wellbeing activities and social events. Why not arrange a volunteer day supporting a local charity? Or perhaps a family picnic on the beach, or an office yoga session. Even simple initiatives like buying ice creams for everyone in the office or organising a bake sale, will add a bit of fun to the workplace and will show you care.
Spend time outdoors
Spending time outdoors and in nature has been widely acknowledged as having a positive impact on mental health. Encourage your team to spend time outside during the working day to boost their wellbeing and productivity. You could provide an outdoor seated area for rest breaks, or why not arrange walking meetings where you walk and talk?
Allocate annual leave fairly
July and August are always popular times of the year to book annual leave, particularly in the days before and after the August bank holiday. Make sure you have a fair process in place for approving leave requests to avoid demotivating your team. If there are limits on the number of employees that can be off at any one time, then make sure your people are made aware of this so that it doesn’t come as a nasty surprise when their leave request is declined. Most businesses take a ‘first come, first served’ approach, while some use a ballot system for the most popular days.
Encourage employees to disconnect
It’s important that employees get an opportunity to rest and re-energise while on annual leave, as this will support their physical and mental health. Research has shown that taking regular annual leave has a positive impact on work productivity and performance and reduces the risk of workplace stress. Businesses should encourage employees to disconnect completely while on annual leave by switching off their work phones and devices. Allowing greater flexibility on the employee’s first day back in work will enable them to catch up with emails etc and will avoid them feeling overwhelmed.
Check in regularly
Most importantly, we encourage you to check in regularly with your team members to see how they are. This will make the team feel supported and enable a trusting relationship to develop. It will also help you identify if anyone is struggling emotionally so you can step in and assist.
How we can help
If you would like advice on workplace wellbeing during the summer, please contact our team on 0330 223 5253 or office@fitzgeraldhr.co.uk. We would be delighted to help you.
Further reading
We hope you found this guide useful. You may find the following articles on our Knowledge Hub an interesting read:
