Why summer can turn up the heat for business owners
We all look forward to the summer season rolling round, right?
The dreamy promise of warm evenings in the back garden with the BBQ fired up and a week or two booked abroad where the sunshine is guaranteed.
But the reality of navigating the summer months can be more of a logistical nightmare than a strawberries and cream dream. A unique set of challenges can leave us business owners feeling frazzled and wondering whether it would be simpler to just not take time off.
Come the summer, we working parents face the greatest juggling act of all: work and childcare. Parents face condensing their working week into fewer days to take some kind of so-called "flexi-time".
Organising kids' clubs or wraparound care from grandparents and friends becomes an annual feat of strategic ingenuity, but a 2021 poll by TUC found that two-thirds of working mums still feel like they lack sufficient childcare. Which isn't a complete surprise when schools are closed for up to 13 weeks of the year.
Child-free colleagues and friends face their own set of challenges too. Team tension can bubble up as they struggle to take time off due to parents aligning time off with school holidays, while a "skeleton staff" approach can pile work onto those left manning the fort.
You've already heard of absenteeism and presenteeism... but what about leaveism?
I don't know about you but despite counting down the days to my holidays, flipping that switch from work to holiday mode can be surprisingly tricky. The Westfield Health's wellbeing index says I’m not alone. Many others are experiencing what I’ve been guilty of:
leaveism, the act of working during time off.
According to their survey, a fifth of time off is spent worrying about work.
And in a poll I ran on LinkedIn just last month, 70% of respondents checked their work emails while on holiday.
The result? We’re never truly off work.
The stats suggest that all workers (employees and business owners alike) don't set firm boundaries during their holiday time - from popping online to monitor emails to taking calls and working ad hoc hours just to keep on top of things.
The problem is that all work and no downtime quickly leads to burnout, especially during the hectic summer months when our plates are piled extra high with stress. Caused by the body’s response to chronic stress, burnout is massively detrimental to both our physical and mental health.
To counter burnout, we need (yes, need) to use our time off wisely.
Supportive tactics such as spending time chatting with loved ones, prioritising self-care (no matter how small) and pursuing interests that we love are all helpful (and enjoyable!). But we must all do our part, from modelling flexible working that supports our work/home balance, through to supporting working parents with flexible hours and leave, to ensuring the team is never reduced to a stress-inducingly low number.
Bolstering yourself with strategies that support that work/home balance will help you keep your cool this summer. 😎
If you're a business owner who's keen to make it through the holidays without losing the plot, my free school holiday ideas and checklist offers practical advice to keep burnout at bay. As well as helping you set super-healthy work boundaries, this handy tool will remind you to take care of yourself to survive whatever heat this summer throws at you.
About
My name is Victoria Tretis and I'm a certified coach (ICF ACC) who supports busy professionals who are feeling bogged down by their daily grind. I do this through thoughtful coaching conversations so clients become unstuck and feel empowered to create their own version of life that makes them feel happier, balanced and more successful both professionally and personally.