Yeah, it's hot out
How not to be a lemon when managing "knowledge" workers through heatwaves.
London is probably on its fourth heatwave of the 2025 summer. While we are a few days from that being officially declared, it's interesting that said declaration triggers employee protection measures in industries whose staff are exposed to the elements around the world, such as working certain hours or providing water.
For desk folks though, that stuff doesn't apply right? Incorrecto.
It's easy to think that because folks like analysts, consultants and software engineers aren't usually working outside, that such measures don't really apply to them - people deal with it how they wish to and that's that. But in a heatwave, particularly a prolonged one, effects do build up over time and start to affect how even fairly sheltered people work. Furthermore, they're probably not comfortable or even have any ideas on how to get through days where it's affecting their ability to think, which is the main skill these people have.
I've listed a few things to watch out for and ways you can encourage people to cope better with the heat below.
Go slowly with the sleep-deprived
Particularly if humidity combines with heat (as often the case in coastal places and islands, like the UK), heat makes it harder to get to sleep and stay in restorative stages of sleep. Poor sleep = poor cognition and decision making, so slowing things down, making things clearer, and questioning assumptions can make this easier to work with. I'd also rather someone had a two hour nap if it helped them function then try to battle through 8 hours of short circuiting thoughts.
Let folks work and commute in cooler parts of the day
Borrowing an idea from Europe, let people adjust their hours so they are working in cooler parts of the day. This often means starting earlier to make the most of mornings, or changing commute patterns to avoid very busy (and therefore, probably very hot) transit lines.
Make space in the office
Many firms in the UK reduced their office footprint after the Covid pandemic to accommodate more people working at home, so might have desk ratios of 0.6 (or lower). However, those working from home in recently constructed buildings might be battling very high internal temperatures, because the buildings are designed to stay warm in winter.
Heat Alerts probably apply to your staff
Weather alerts for heat refer to sensitive individuals, which people short hand as infants and the elderly. However, it also applies to people who take medicine which affect their ability to regulate temperature, which is a common side effect of mental health medicines, such as anti depressants and their medicinal cousins. These are some of the most prescribed medicines in the OECD, let alone desk workers, but may not be something people are forthcoming with.
