OTRS : 17 Ways to Keep Productivity High During the Summer

2. Start a summer fitness challenge.

Active people are productive people. From sharper memories to lower stress, physical fitness has a myriad of benefits that improve employee performance.

3. Cut unnecessary meetings.

If most people who are covering for a colleague spend 1 - 2 hours a day of extra time to do so, that doesn't leave a lot of room for meetings. Do everything you can to keep meetings quick and focused!

4. Share critical information digitally.

Besides sitting in a meeting, how else can your team communicate critical information? Start looking at digital alternatives: News widgets that are built in to your ticket system, internal websites, and archived newsletters can all help. (Not only does this aid those who are in the office, but it also helps those who have been away get back to business more quickly since they can catch up on what was missed.)

5. Clean house.

Quite literally. Pick a day (or a week if your office is in that much disarray) when everyone spends time getting rid of old files, cleaning out the fridge and tossing out dead plants. A clean space is a productive space. Plus, the act of doing it changes things up a bit and gets people moving.

6. Start 'fun' projects.

Keep people engaged by assigning them to projects that will inspire and challenge them, but which don't necessarily have critical short-term deadlines. Process improvement projects or research tasks can be good examples.

7. Minimize email.

In a recent survey, 34% of respondents said that knowing the tasks' status was the hardest thing about covering for a colleague. Email use is part of the problem because the person covering simply doesn't have access to the communication that has already occurred. Use shared inboxes when handling requests - or even better, start looking into ticket systems so that both communication and resolution steps are all tracked in the same place.

8. Spread a little happiness.

Brainstorm ways to boost happiness for those who are still in the office: ice cream on Fridays, trivia Tuesdays, nerf guns or bubbles. Don't force it, but try to shake things up a tiny bit to get people talking and laughing - break them out of their doldrums. Maybe you can even escape the office and try brainstorming sessions at a local park or beach.