With the arrival of hot weather, many businesses switch to flexible hours, also known as summer hours, to allow their employees to work a reduced workweek, whether on-site or remotely. While some may argue that flexible hours reduce productivity, summer hours can be a great solution to keep employees from getting distracted about the upcoming weekend or fretting about what their children are up to while alone at home. If you believe that a summer schedule means suspending all business operations and resuming them when autumn arrives, well, you are mistaken.
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By reading this article, you can learn about summer hours, their importance to employees, and tricks to provide flexible hours for your staff.
Why is it Important to Have Summer Hours?
Before we discuss why employees need flexible hours and tricks you can use to create schedules during the summer, let’s first review what summer hours are. Also known as summer Friday, it is a way of generating a flexible schedule that lowers the overall number of hours employees work over the summer.
The Benefits of Flexible Hours on Employees
By providing flexible hours over the summer, you will be benefiting your employees in several ways, such as:
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Building trust between you and your employees: It's a great approach to show your workers that you trust them to do their jobs while also setting aside time to have some fun.
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Improving employee flexibility: Summer days appear to be a particularly hectic time for most employees. Some of them may like to take a vacation or spend time with their loved ones. As a result, giving your employees a flexible work schedule allows them to fit their job around their personal schedules.
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Boosting their morale: By providing your employees with flexible hours, you are not only providing them with a work-life balance, but also strengthening their morale. Therefore, your employees will be happier, more productive, and more willing to contribute to the company's long-term objectives.
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Promoting good mental health: a flexible summer schedule provides employees with a conducive working environment, which is vital in promoting their health.
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Reducing employee stress: Summer hours are a superb approach to reduce workplace stress because some employees find it difficult to focus due to the heat or because they are unable to go on vacation with their families.
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Tips for Creating a Flexible Summer Schedule
Now that you have understood why your employees need flexible hours, let's have a look at some of the tricks you can use to schedule flexible hours.
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Reduce working hours: You might want to consider shutting an hour earlier than usual each day and allow your staff to leave work at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.
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Initiate work from home opportunities: Summer is a great time to initiate remote work for your employees. Allow them to work from home or any other location they are comfortable with, so long as they can securely complete their tasks with minimal distractions.
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Adopt flexible schedules: Some business owners believe that a summer schedule harms business productivity rate; hence they tend to restrict the use of flexible work schedules. If you find it simple to enable your workers to change their schedules ahead of time, take advantage of it.
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Have a well-designed time-off policy: Develop a clear policy that answers critical questions like; when employees should file the vacation leave request: the number of days of time-off entitled to each worker; steps to take when multiple employees request leave on the same dates.
Whatever decisions your organization makes in this regard, we recommend that the senior management team clearly communicates the company’s policy and the reasoning behind it to employees so they may plan accordingly. Clear communication and consistent application of the policy are crucial to avoid potential morale problems or exposure to discrimination claims based on the administration of the organization’s flexible summer schedule policy.
How to Help Your Employees
Good work-life balance is vital to most employees. A flexible schedule can be a fantastic way to get the most out of your staff throughout the summer. Now that you know how to create flexible hours, don't let the summer season negatively impact your personnel. Are you looking for more ways to support your team and improve your company culture? Contact us to learn more about how we can help you run your business with ease.
