Summer calendars seem to fill up before the snow on the ground melts. With all the weddings, hikes, family reunions, trips to the lake house, picnics, baseball games, youth sports, backyard barbecues, swims at the beach, sunsets and vacations, your team can start to think that work is a distraction.
It’s the age old question of work-life balance, and in the summer, that balance can easily become misaligned. Today’s employees are looking for employers that allow them to fulfill their professional, personal and social goals. Therefore, it’s best to embrace the sunshine and convert the positive mood of summer into corporate goodwill.
Instead of a defensive posturing to keep people from leaving, focus on inspiring and engaging the team. By delivering a fulfilling summer experience that aligns personal goals with those of the company, you can unlock the retention power of summertime — and have a little fun along the way.
Here are 12 ways you can capture the recreation and warmth of summer to ensure your organization is refreshed and revitalized for the rest of the year.
1. Flexibility
Offer flexible work hours or remote work options to accommodate employees' summer schedules. Employees appreciate the ability to schedule the hallmarks of summer, family vacations and outdoor activities. This is also a chance to get creative with scheduling. You could allow the team to compress a work week into four days of their choosing, instead of the typical five. Having a random Wednesday off can do wonders for morale.
2. Summer Fridays
Implement a summer policy that extends the weekend. This could mean allowing employees to leave early or take the afternoon off on Fridays during the summer months. If you really want to signal to employees that management values summer Fridays, call a company-wide hard stop in the early afternoon. Less rigid ideas seek to capture the mood of a three-day weekend by relaxing certain policies or baking in a little fun on Fridays, such as allowing casual dress, establishing no-meeting Fridays, hosting happy hours, planning team lunches and more.
3. Outdoor team building
Organize outdoor team-building activities or social events, such as picnics, barbecues or sports tournaments. Getting some fresh air, competing in a potato sack race and eating alfresco with colleagues is a bona fide way to foster camaraderie and elevate moods. But not every gathering has to be highly structured. Consider taking meetings outside, holding walking one-on-ones or setting up shaded outdoor workspaces for those who want a change of scenery. These informal moments can be just as powerful in strengthening connections and creating a sense of shared experience.
4. Wellness initiatives
Launch wellness initiatives tailored to the summer season, such as outdoor yoga sessions, hydration challenges, guided meditation breaks in a nearby park or healthy summer-themed cooking classes. To amp up wellness engagement, you could offer additional paid time off (PTO), wellness-related gift cards, company-branded fitness gear or other incentivized perks that are tied to walking, steps-per-day or other summer-friendly activity goals.
5. Learning and development
Create a summer school — of sorts. Provide opportunities for professional development and skill-building through workshops, webinars or online courses. With meaningful programs and educational opportunities, you can reduce turnover, spend more time upskilling (rather than training) and turn frontline employees into loyal, proud company ambassadors.
6. Recognition and rewards
Recognize employees' hard work and contributions with summer-themed rewards, such as gift cards for outdoor activities, baseball tickets or admission to amusement parks. When you reward someone for their unique contributions to your company — especially when you tie it to this special time of year — it validates their efforts and reinforces their sense of belonging. Remember to also celebrate these achievements publicly, whether through an email blast, company-wide meeting announcement, intranet announcement or other communication channel available through your human capital management (HCM) technology.
7. Volunteer opportunities
Encourage employees to participate in volunteer activities or community service projects during the summer months. This is especially effective if you organize volunteer opportunities during a workday by exchanging some “on the job” hours for team building, community outreach and social enhancement. Adopting a highway, volunteering as the workforce for non-profit booths at local festivals or helping a local food drive are a few opportunities to consider. Supporting a cause that is personally important to a team member can be doubly impactful, fostering morale and helping that employee feel seen and appreciated.
8. Programming for children
School’s out for summer. But, parents at your organization likely work year-round. To resolve this scheduling incongruity, consider offering parents some much-appreciated support. By subsidizing the cost of children’s daycare or camps during the summer, you can relieve one of the working parent’s main summer stressors. If you have the means, you could even consider an on-site childcare option for parents who love the peace of mind that comes with having their kids supervised, but nearby.
9. Staycation support
Provide resources or incentives for employees to enjoy "staycations.” This could take the form of expanded work-from-home hours or bonus PTO hours. But, most critically, you are trying to stay ahead of employee burnout. If employees find it harder and harder to disconnect from work, they are — counterintuitively — less productive and engaged. Summertime goes hand-in-hand with rest and relaxation at home, so doing what you can to make that a reality can go a long way with employees.
10. Creative project opportunities
Offer employees the chance to work on creative or passion projects during the summer. This could be something that aligns with their interests and skills but might not fit into their regular job description. Allowing time for such projects can boost innovation and employee satisfaction. Just make sure you’re not making things more stressful. If needed, reallocate less-pressing employee responsibilities, so you aren’t simply adding to an employee’s already-full plate.
11. Employee input and customization
Survey your employees to understand what summer activities or benefits they value most. Use this feedback to tailor your summer retention strategies to better meet their needs and expectations. This approach shows employees that their opinions matter and that the company is willing to adapt to keep them engaged. To place some guardrails on the direction of employee input, consider offering a survey with preapproved ideas and letting employees vote on which idea or ideas gets implemented. Make this process special or part of a summer kickoff event, and it could quickly become a fun annual tradition employees look forward to.
12. Cultural consistency
Actions speak louder than words. This is especially true in regards to corporate culture. If you’re trying to implement a summertime retention strategy, it is important that participation happens from management on down. Messaging can get muddied if separate rules or expectations apply to certain higher-up people. Companies that encourage workers to embrace summer with behavioral nudges, while demonstrating commitment and modeling from leadership, are more likely to have summer programming that pays off in the long run with boosted retention.
100 days of summer
Summer is a welcome and pleasant relief to an American calendar lacking in federal holidays. Consequently, there is little to break up long stretches of work for the rest of the year. That’s why there is so much emphasis put on the bookended flag holidays of Memorial Day and Labor Day. Your employees look forward to summer, and you can too.
How effective are your summer retention strategies? Strategies for retaining employees come in degrees, and deciding exactly how far you should go from a human to a systematic approach requires balance. An HCM technology like UKG Ready keeps your organization in balance by automating tasks, streamlining communication and, ultimately, supporting your efforts — so you can focus on engaging your employees in meaningful and lasting ways, year-round. Want to learn more about how UKG Ready can help you retain employees all year-round? Contact us today.
