You have an important meeting today and you wake up to cloudy, dark weather. Your entire morning routine, which includes having your coffee in the balcony, soaking up the bright sunlight, going for a jog, coming back, getting fresh and meditating to the sound of birds singing gets disrupted and all you long for is the sun to come out from behind those dense clouds. You arrive at the office half wet and irritated and not so surprisingly your meeting gets affected badly because of your unsettled morning routine and simply how the rainy weather affected your mood.
Workplace productivity is basically the amount of work that can be done over a specific period of time. It is directly or indirectly affected by various factors. One of those direct and not-so-common factors is weather.
Various studies have been done on how weather affects a person’s mood. For example, an article published by HEALTHLINE, states that weather has a profound influence on a person’s mood and emotional state, which in turn affects their motivation and performance levels. As mentioned above , rainy weather can make someone feel not so cheerful, drowsy and sluggish which eventually will affect their entire day.
The way weather affects someone differs from person to person. The same rainy weather that ruined a person’s mood and made them sad can be a source of happiness or excitement for someone else.
Let us imagine this scenario in a workplace environment. Person A is incapable of working in the rainy
weather because the dark and noisy ambience that this weather produces makes them lazy and annoyed influencing their motivation to work. In the same setting person B is incapable of working not because they are annoyed but mostly because they are too excited to concentrate as rainy weather makes them happy and elevated.
Now, the effects of weather differs not only from person to person but also from industry to industry.
Let us understand this on a minute level. During rains, outdoor jobs like agriculture , construction etc. are severely affected . Offline stores, restaurants and markets face a downfall during such weather whereas there is a performance improvement in the online sector. Overall, the impact of rain on motivation and performance across different industries is profound where some face setbacks and others find opportunities to grow.
The question of concern here should be : how can one adapt to such inevitable changes in the environment?
To lessen the impacts of weather changes on workplace productivity, it is first essential for an organization to understand how the cycle of weather and its impact on people works .
Then , Flexible work hours, providing a comfortable work environment, encouraging breaks, and promoting remote or hybrid work options when feasible can help a lot in mitigating the effects of
weather changes. Most importantly promoting a balanced working culture and offering support to employees can help maintain productivity, motivation and performance levels.
For the employees, to cope with the mood alterations caused by weather changes , especially rainy or
cold weather which makes them irritable, anxious, annoyed, inactive etc. they can incorporate mindfulness practices such as meditation in their life to manage stress and enhance focus. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and proper sleep hygiene , socializing and staying positive can also be helpful in the long run.
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