That beautiful time of the year is drawing near … how will you be balancing work, family and recreation time?

As business owners we know how important it is to spend time with our family, to get away for a couple of weeks of good re-creation time and still have the business run smoothly, efficiently, and effectively. This doesn’t happen by accident and if its important to you, you know its important to your employees.

Types of summer schedules

There are numerous options for any business that considers implementing summer schedules. You can adopt one of the typical policies or borrow ideas from multiple models to create one reflective of the needs of your organization and employees.

Telecommuting

Employees work from home for one or more days a week. This option is especially helpful for employees trying to save on childcare costs over the summer or who want to avoid wasting time sitting in traffic. It also works for businesses that don’t need employees in one location but can’t afford to simply shut down operations for the day. This approach works best for jobs that require little face time with clients and involve more independent work.

Flextime

This model gives employees the most ownership of their time since it allows them to design their own work schedule. Based on their work style and personal obligations, some employees may take a certain day of the week off, while others may want to work a full week but leave a few hours earlier each day. This approach requires more coordination by the employer to ensure the office still has adequate coverage.

Compressed workweek

Employees work their full schedule in four days in exchange for having the fifth day off.

Summer Fridays

This approach can take various forms, including having every Friday off without making up the time, staggering Fridays off so there is always someone in the office, and working a half day on Fridays but enjoying a free afternoon.

“Setting flexible work schedules during the summertime helps employees recharge their energy and keeps them working at their peak levels. As a result, employees are working fewer hours but getting more done,” explained HR expert and serial entrepreneur Steve Wang.