It is Hot…..it is VERY hot.
This week has been testing for us all hasn’t it with temperature consistently getting to and exceeding 30 degrees. As much as I love our office on Chester Street as a grade 2 listed building I can’t help think it wasn’t built with these sort of temperatures in mind so as an Employer it does throw up the questions of how best to handle the heatwave,
Any self employed person has a degree of flexibility in their working days and will have had the thoughts this week of whether to soldier on and work through the heat or take some chill time to rest or enjoy the sun in the back garden. The trouble is when you employ others those decision magnify. The workload isn’t going anywhere and clients still have accounting and tax deadlines to hit and need access to their accountants to answer queries etc, so just how we balance that against the fact that it isn’t necessarily the most comfortable working environment is tricky.
Some of the things I have been considering are encouraging more regular breaks, ensuring access to refreshing drinks / snacks ( I filled the fridge with cold soft drinks and the freezer drawer with ice lollies) and relaxing the usual dress code to allow lighter clothing. Of course we have all of the fans blowing and our portable air con unit at full blast.
One other solution we have been trialling is allowing more flexibility on start and finish times. Whilst as standard we have flexible hours we do always ensure we cover the core office hours until 5pm. However with today’s forecast to get to 34 degrees we have trailed the ability to start from 6am and leaving early when hours are done. Clients will be notified that due t the heat we are shutting early. This allows more work to be done in the cooler part of the day and hopefully keeps the team feeling a little fresher.
I am interested to know how others are handling the heatwave? What precaution have you put in place in your business?