22 July 2025

As summer rolls in across Europe and beyond, offices begin to empty out. Staff take long-awaited holidays, inboxes fill with out-of-office replies, and the pace of meetings slows noticeably. But while the summer months can be challenging from a staffing perspective, they also offer smart companies a valuable window to recalibrate, refocus—and even get ahead.

Here’s how businesses and organisations manage the summer dip and turn it into a season of strategic opportunity.

1. Handling Staff Absences: Planning, Flexibility and Cross-Training

Advance planning is key. Most organisations now anticipate the summer lull and plan workflows around it. That might mean:

• Spreading holidays across teams to maintain minimum capacity.
• Hiring temporary staff or interns to fill gaps.
• Cross-training employees during the year so they can cover for each other during absences.

Some tech firms automate or outsource parts of their customer service during summer, while others adopt a “summer roster” model, with reduced office hours and on-call teams for critical functions.

📌 Case in point: At companies like Buffer, team members post their vacation plans months in advance to a shared calendar, enabling smooth coordination and fewer disruptions.

 

2. Summer as a Strategic ‘Maintenance Season’

With fewer meetings and a calmer atmosphere, summer can be ideal for focusing on internal projects that often fall to the bottom of the to-do list.

Examples include:

• Updating documentation and processes
• Refreshing marketing collateral or website content
• Running internal audits
• Upgrading IT systems
• Experimenting with new tools or workflows

It’s also a popular time for staff training and upskilling, particularly via online platforms that allow for flexible scheduling.

📌 Example: Some firms block a full “quiet week” in July or August, allowing teams to work on innovation projects, attend workshops, or complete professional development modules.

3. 🌞 Lighter Campaigns, Smarter Marketing

While many B2B companies pause large-scale campaigns in July and August, it can be a smart time for:

• Evergreen content marketing (blogs, SEO, video explainers)
• Re-engaging quieter audiences with softer messaging
• Running small-scale pilot campaigns

The key is to match the tone of the season—people don’t want heavy technical white papers while they’re in beach mode. Think digestible formats, visual content, and a more relaxed voice.

📌 Idea: Tech companies often use this period to highlight culture—sharing employee stories, workspace snapshots, or behind-the-scenes posts on LinkedIn.

4. 🧠 Creative Thinking & Big Picture Reflection

Without the usual barrage of emails and back-to-back meetings, some leaders treat summer as their strategic thinking season.

This is the time to:

• Revisit long-term goals
• Evaluate product-market fit
• Explore acquisitions or partnerships
• Reassess company values or positioning

📌 For example: European startups often use late July to plan for Q4 fundraising or product launches. “Summer is when we zoom out,” one Berlin-based founder recently said. “It’s when we ask ourselves: are we still building the right thing?”

5. 🏖️ Summer Perks: Supporting Staff and Boosting Morale

Forward-thinking companies embrace the season, offering perks like:

• Summer Fridays (shorter hours or afternoons off)
• Company picnics or offsites
• Flexible remote policies to allow working from different locations
• Creative challenges or hack weeks

These initiatives help retain talent, improve employee wellbeing, and reinforce company culture, especially after intense Q1–Q2 periods.

📌 Example: Some firms let employees swap a holiday for a charity or passion project day, boosting purpose and engagement.

 

Final Thought: Summer is What You Make of It

While it’s true that summer brings logistical challenges, it also offers space to reflect, reset, and innovate. With the right mindset and a little structure, this season can be one of the most valuable times of year for internal growth.

In short: the sun may be out, but for smart businesses, the lights are still very much on.