For many of us the summer months are filled with fun, sunshine and laughter. Holidays are booked, weekends bring family BBQs and days by the sea, and the longer sunlight hours improve mental wellbeing.
However, this isn’t always the case for some.
The months of June, July and August can bring with them a whole set of challenges to your people that you may not have thought of.
Added workplace stress
Recent research from PPL PRS1 found that over 53% of warehouse workers report that their mental health has been negatively impacted by their role, with that figure rising to 60% among 25–35-year-olds. In a sector with a predominantly male workforce (66%), 77% of men experience anxiety, stress, or depression, and 40% of those remain silent about it. Add in high temperatures and increased workload due to annual leave and you have a recipe for burnout and deteriorating mental wellbeing.
Changes in routine
Working parents face stress with arranging several weeks of childcare if they don’t have family or holiday clubs available to them. School holidays often bring an added financial burden to parents, with childcare costs, entertainment and soaring holiday costs during the summer months.
Social pressures
Whilst for many, summer can mean a post-work beer in the sunshine in a local beer garden, for more introverted employees work-related social events can be challenging.
Employees who feel uncomfortable at social events may avoid them, impacting their aility to form relationships, causing isolation and social anxiety.
Heat stress
Working in warehouse and logistics is a physically demanding role and staff who work in high temperatures are at the most risk, particularly if they also wear protective clothing. High temperatures cause both physical and mental health risks, increased heart rate and dehydration can lead to heat exhaustion, which can cause tiredness, dizziness and headaches. Changes in routine or disturbed sleep patterns can also adversely affect your people’s wellbeing.
How you can help your team this summer
Workload planning
Effective workload and rota planning can help to reduce workplace stress, allowing both managers and their teams to work collaboratively to ensure adequate cover for annual leave and changed routines for childcare. Flexible working arrangements
A positive work-life balance is crucial to your people’s health and wellbeing, so you could consider allowing flexible working for parents juggling work and childcare. This could include allowing employees to start work later or finish earlier or consolidate their working week into four days instead of five to reduce childcare costs.
Play music to lift spirits and productivity
According to a BBC report2, music could be remarkably beneficial for both physical and mental wellbeing, and this was demonstrated by the formation of a warehouse choir last October to highlight World Mental Health Day. The Pallet Tones, a choir formed of 14 warehouse workers from Mira Showers in Worcester came together to perform an original piece, “A Day in My Life”, inspired by the real-life experiences of UK warehouse workers.3
Don’t just take our word for it
Paul Baker, Logistics Manager at Mira Showers spoke about the effect of singing with a workplace choir: “So we are in a warehouse environment here. There’s quite a bit of repetition here and in this environment we’ve got an automation warehouse so trying to break up that repetition, trying to have versatile people doing different jobs within the operation and moving people around rather than doing the same monotonous thing, that’s where the mental health challenge comes in of doing the same thing day after day and the stress of meeting deadlines as well.
“When we sing together the stress of the warehouse fades away. It reminds us we are more than just our jobs.”
1. Survey conducted by PPL PRS of 500 respondents working in the warehouse sector in April 2025, via Attest
2. www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20251128-how-singing-can-improve-your-health
3. pplprs.co.uk/in-the-press/warehouse-worker-choir
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