The summer squeeze: Why teams need more support in June, July and August

The myth of the “quiet summer”

The idea that summer is a natural wind-down for office teams is one of workplace culture's most persistent myths. 

There may be fewer meetings, fewer people in the office and a slightly slower pace. But in practice, this often creates a very specific kind of pressure:

• Smaller teams covering the same workload

• Key people unavailable when decisions are needed

• Parents juggling work and childcare during school holidays

• A lack of structure that can lead to disengagement

What looks calm on the surface can feel fragmented underneath.

Unlike the January slump, which everyone talks about openly, the summer squeeze tends to go unacknowledged. There's an unspoken assumption that summer should feel lighter, which makes it genuinely harder for people to say out loud that it really doesn't.

The myth does damage precisely because it's invisible. People aren't going off sick. They're at their desks, looking fine, carrying more.

What's actually happening to the people still in the office

Several recent studies lift the lid on what actually happens inside workplaces over the summer. The numbers here tend to surprise people: 

What summer burnout means for Q3 and Q4

When summer pressure goes unacknowledged, the impact is rarely limited to June, July and August. It ripples into performance, culture and retention later in the year.

Higher absence rates in autumn, lower engagement during Q4 planning, and a quiet uptick in good people starting to look elsewhere.

Common knock‑on effects include:

1. Lower engagement going into Q3 and Q4 

People who have quietly “held the fort” all summer are more likely to feel depleted and disengaged just as organisations are asking them to gear up for year‑end targets.

2. More errors and rework

Tired people covering multiple roles are more likely to miss details or make mistakes, leading to clean‑up work when teams are fully staffed again. 

3. Growing resentment in core teams

When the same names always pick up extra tasks, it can create a two‑tier feeling inside teams: those who get true breaks and those who never really switch off. 

4. Increased risk of long‑term burnout

Short, intense periods of overwork without recovery can push already‑stretched employees closer to clinical burnout, with real consequences for health and retention.

Treating summer as a downtime period when support can safely be dialled down risks storing up problems for the rest of the year. By the time autumn arrives, many teams are already on the back foot.

Five things you can do right now to support your summer team

The good news: You don't need a full wellbeing overhaul; small, intentional changes can make a big difference. Here are five practical steps organisations can take to support their teams over the summer months.

1. Plan holiday cover like a project, not an afterthought

A huge driver of summer stress is reactive workload management. Holiday cover often gets handled ad hoc, quick handovers, vague requests, and no clear prioritisation. That is where pressure spikes.

Consider:

• Mapping out critical roles and responsibilities ahead of the peak holiday window.

• Agreeing clear “must do” vs “nice to do” work for cover periods.

• Sharing expectations openly so no one feels they have to do two full‑time jobs.

When people know what is genuinely essential, they can focus without carrying the weight of every possible task.

2. Build in simple mental health check‑ins

A quick “how are you getting on?” in a one-to-one is easy to brush past. A more useful question is: “What’s feeling heaviest right now?” or “Is there anything we should pause while the team is smaller?”

Giving people explicit permission to say this is too much is one of the most underrated things a manager can do during peak leave season. Most people won't say it unprompted, especially if the unspoken expectation is that they should just get on with it.

Leaders and HR teams can:

• Schedule short, regular 1:1 check‑ins that explicitly include wellbeing, not just workload.

• Normalise conversations about pressure during holiday cover (“Who are you covering for, and what do you need to drop while you do that?”).

• Make sure people know what formal support exists (EAPs, mental health first aiders, manager escalation routes).

If you have Mental Health First Aiders in your organisation, summer is an ideal time to make sure the whole team knows who they are and how to reach them. If you don't, it might be worth exploring what that training could look like before the next busy stretch.

3. Create a social moment that resets the room

Light, shared experiences at work are not frivolous extras, they signal that leadership sees the people who are still showing up. Done well, they give teams a real psychological reset.

These might look like:

• Informal summer lunches or breakfasts for those in the office.

• Short, low‑key team rituals (end‑of‑week wrap‑ups, gratitude rounds, “win of the week”).

• Occasional “no agenda” coffee slots where people can connect as humans, not just colleagues.

These can be simple and low‑cost; what matters is that they are intentional.

4. Revisit what flexibility actually looks like in practice

Summer is one of the hardest times for working parents.

Where possible, flexibility around hours, location or workload can ease pressure without reducing output.

However, people often worry about how it looks; being seen as the one who clocked off early while everyone else was grinding through cover. So they don't use the flexibility they're entitled to, and the stress compounds.

Here are a few things that actually shift the culture rather than just the policy:

1. Make it visible from the top

When senior leaders are seen leaving early on a Friday, taking a proper lunch break or blocking focus time in their calendar, it gives everyone below them permission to do the same. Culture flows downhill. If the manager is always last to leave, the team will be too.

2. Name the flexibility explicitly in team meetings

Rather than assuming people know they can adjust their hours, say it out loud. A summer wellbeing conversation that explicitly names flexibility and actively encourages people to use it without fear of how it looks. Permission granted verbally lands differently to permission implied in a handbook.

5. Offer wellbeing events that help people switch off

Wellbeing events are most effective when they create a clear break in the day and give people something positive to look forward to, especially when they are carrying extra load. 

Options include:

• Guided mindfulness or relaxation sessions.

• Short talks or masterclasses on managing stress and energy.

A puppy therapy day, which combines a clear pause in the day with proven emotional and social benefits, lowering stress, increasing connection and giving teams a reason to leave their desks for a while.

The key is not positioning any single activity as “the fix” but weaving them into a broader, joined‑up workplace wellbeing strategy 

Why summer’s the best time to invest in your team's wellbeing

Because summer is traditionally seen as a quiet time for wellbeing investment, the impact per pound spent is arguably higher, and thoughtful support can have an outsized impact. It shows the people still in the office that they are seen, valued and worth investing in now, not just when everyone is back.

Summer doesn’t have to be a dip in productivity or engagement.

With the right support in place, it can be a moment to reset, reconnect, and re-energise your team before the pace picks up again.

References

People Management / Dayforce Research, May 2024 - Nearly half of employees are less productive during summer 

Personnel Today / Cornerstone OnDemand - Third of staff under extreme pressure covering for colleagues on holiday

Westfield Health Wellbeing Index, via The Hill - This is why summer is stressing workers out

Personnel Today, 2023 - More intense working fuelling burnout - Personnel Today