亲爱的安妮：我很喜欢你之前的文章《度假让工作走开》，但现在有件事让我很烦：有些家伙人在办公室里，心却已经放了假，我该拿他们怎么办？我们现在采用“夏日作息”：星期五中午就下班，有的人甚至周一都休息，但有两个员工还不知足，给自己放更多的假。其中一人全副精力都用在放假在家的孩子身上，另一个迟到早退，说是要为参加铁人三项赛加强训练。其实都是很聪明的人，其它时候也都尽职尽责，我也不想扫大家的兴，拉下脸来处罚他们，但我们有任务要赶期限，不管发生了什么，工作总得做吧。虽然只是暂时的问题（谢天谢地，学校马上要开学了），但我到底该等等看，让时间解决一切，还是要采取点什么行动？我很想知道其他老板是怎么应付过来的。— 来自海岸的问候

    亲爱的“海岸问候”：糟糕的是你的办公室就在海边度假小镇，那只会雪上加霜。不过，出工不出力，或者照人力资源部门的说法“磨洋工”的现象在夏天确实随处可见。看看这个：根据数字媒体公司Captivate Network的最新调查显示，约20%的白领工人说公司的工作效率在暖和的月份大跌，19%的人声称连出勤率也下降了。完成项目的时间拖长了13%，而45%的人承认“更容易走神”。

    调查还发现，“采用夏日作息只会让问题更严重。比如，在周五早走的员工中53%的人工作效率降低；有的人为了弥补周五缩短的工作时间，只好在周一到周四加班，其中23%的人声称压力增大，”Captivate Network的总裁麦克•迪佛兰萨说。“表面看来，夏日作息是个很好的想法，大家都喜欢。但不幸的是，它实际上的影响几乎都是负面的。”

    兰迪•哈林顿是咨询公司Extreme Arts & Sciences的首席执行官，也是新书《进化的力量：变革性的领导方式》（Evolutionaries: Transformational Leadership）的联合作者。他的公司帮助客户提升工作效率，与其合作的公司包括微软（Microsoft）、软件公司Adobe和雅虎（Yahoo）。他说：“如果你到办公室到处转转，发现大家都神游物外，满脑子都想着‘钓鱼’或者‘海滩’，你就该好好整顿一下公司的夏日职场文化了，得想办法让大家振作起来。”下面就是他的5条建议：

    1、主动适应外界变化。“学校放假的时候，有小孩的家长就很容易脱离‘工作模式’，逼着他们在工作和孩子之间做选择肯定对谁都没好处，”哈林顿说。“有时候做一点简单的调整就能让你大受裨益。”他的某个客户是大型的零售商，这家公司让有小孩的员工上更多的晚班，而那时他们的伴侣或者其他大人就能在家照看小孩。他说：“你也可以试试高科技的解决方案，比如让大家用Skype来随时查看小孩的状况。”

    2、以身作则。“如果高管们也迟到早退，一心只想着打高尔夫，这样的文化暗示就很难克服了，”哈林顿强调。“相信我，群众的眼睛是雪亮的。”

    3、确定合适的项目。“换种思路，不要去和时节做斗争，可以在‘散漫的季节’做一些你想做但平时却难以安排的事情，”哈林顿建议。“想些法子，让大家在完成有实质作用的任务时还能找点乐子。”

    佛罗里达的一家信用社也是他的客户，该公司在夏天专门留出四周时间给一个跨部门的团队，他们的任务就是编制一本“文化书”：一种公司年鉴，专门用来坦诚地向新员工介绍公司方方面面的情况。【其中最著名的是来自网店Zappos的文化书，它们广受欢迎，读者都可以在亚马逊（Amazon）购买。】“有的公司每年都制作一本，”哈林顿说。“人人参与，这就是员工之间联系感情的绝佳机会。”

    4、“人造乐趣”不可取。哈林顿注意到，有人会专门设计一些活动，希望能驱除夏日的倦怠情绪，结果往往适得其反。“大多数员工都认为这种强制性的聚会只是浪费公司资源，”他指出。“我真的在某家公司看到过一张备忘录，上面写着‘夏威夷午餐宴会：必须参加’。好玩是关键，但得是真正的乐趣。想一些法子让工作更有趣，‘好玩’的感觉自然就有了。”

    5、潜心于职业发展。“你总是要不断开发员工的才智，夏天的缓慢工作节奏也带来了好机会，”哈林顿说。“你可以预期有人会去外面听课，有人参加网上培训，有人加入阅读小组或者开始接受正式指导。如果你鼓励员工在夏天做一些职业生涯方面的打算，他们在春天就会开始准备。”

    讲到春天：毫无疑问，你会注意到，上面的大多数建议的实施都需要提前计划。“你在3、4月就该开始考虑如何让员工在夏天保持工作状态，”哈林顿指出。“那时候你就该和助手们讨论夏天的目标和策略了。”今年夏天当然已经晚了，记得在2013年的日历上做好记号吧。

    反馈：你们公司夏天的工作节奏在减慢了吗？这种情况一定是坏事吗？欢迎留言评论。

    Dear Annie: I liked your piece about taking work-free vacations, but the issue I'm struggling with right now is, what can I do about people who seem to be on vacation without leaving? We are on "summer hours" -- everyone can leave at noon on Fridays, and some people also take Mondays off -- but I have two employees in particular who take even more unofficial time off than that. One is preoccupied with children at home, and the other is always coming in late and leaving early to train for an Iron Man competition.These are talented people, super-conscientious throughout the rest of the year, and I really hesitate to be Mr. Killjoy and start cracking the whip, but we do have deadlines to meet and things that need to get done regardless of what else is going on. It's a temporary problem (for one thing, school starts up again soon, luckily), so should I just wait it out, or what? I'd be interested to hear how other bosses deal with this. — Greetings from Ocean City

    Dear G.O.C.: It probably doesn't help that your office is located in a beach resort town, but being at work while hardly working, sometimes referred to by human resources folks as "presenteeism," is endemic everywhere in the summertime. Consider: About 20% of white-collar workers say their productivity takes a dive in the warm months, and 19% say attendance drops off, according to a recent survey by digital media company Captivate Network. Longer project turnaround times were reported by 13% of those polled, and 45% said they are "more distracted."

    The survey also found that "the addition of summer hours only exacerbates these problems. For example, 53% of employees who leave early on Fridays report a drop in their own productivity, and 23% of those who make up for fewer Friday hours by working longer from Monday to Thursday report that their stress levels increase." Says Mike DiFranza, Captivate's president, "On the face of it, summer hours probably seem like a terrific idea and are welcomed by all, but unfortunately, the impact is almost uniformly negative."

    Randy Harrington, CEO of consultants Extreme Arts & Sciences and co-author of a new book,Evolutionaries: Transformational Leadership, has worked with companies like Microsoft (MSFT), Adobe (ADBE), and Yahoo (YHOO) on boosting productivity. "If you look around your office and see that your employees have 'gone fishing' or 'at the beach' written on their foreheads, it's time to overhaul your summertime workplace culture and find new ways to energize people," he says. He offers these five suggestions:

    1. Recognize greater outside demands. "People with young kids are drawn out of 'work mode' more easily when school is out, and it's a lose-lose proposition to make them choose between their jobs and their children," Harrington says. "Sometimes a few simple adjustments can help a lot." One of his clients, a major retailer, moved people's shifts so that employees with kids could work more evenings, when a spouse or other adult was on duty at home. "You could also try a technological solution, like setting people up with Skype, so they can see for themselves what the children are up to," he says.

    2. Set the tone from the top. "If your senior leaders are wandering in late off the golf course and leaving early, that sends a cultural message that is hard to overcome," Harrington notes. "And believe me, people are watching."

    3. Identify special projects. "Instead of fighting it, why not use 'slacker season' as a time to tackle some things you need, or want, to do that aren't part of the regular workload?" Harrington suggests. "You can create ways for people to have some fun while producing something of substance."

    One of his clients, a Florida credit union, earmarked four weeks in the summer for a cross-departmental team to put together a "culture book" -- a corporate yearbook, made famous by online retailer Zappos -- designed to give new hires a candid view of what it's like to work there. "Some companies do a new one every year," Harrington says. (Zappos' culture books are so popular that they're available on Amazon (AMZN).) "It's a great bonding experience for employees, since everyone has a hand in it."

    4. Don't bother with "fake fun." Special events intended to beat the summertime blahs rarely achieve anything, Harrington says. "Employees most often see these forced parties as a waste of company resources," he oberves. "I actually saw a memo at one company that said 'Lunchtime Luau: Attendance Mandatory.' Fun is key, but it has to be authentic. Find ways to make work more interesting, and 'fun' will take care of itself."

    5. Establish commitments for people to work on professional development. "You need to continually develop your talent anyway, and the summer slowdown is a great chance to get it done," says Harrington. "This may mean setting expectations that people will take outside courses, pursue online training courses, participate in reading groups, or start doing formal mentoring. If you encourage people to do some big-picture thinking during the summer, they start looking forward to it in the spring."

    And speaking of spring: As you've no doubt noticed, most of these tactics require some advance planning. "The time to start thinking about keeping employees engaged in the summertime is really in March or April," Harrington points out. "That's when you need to have conversations with your people about goals and strategies for the dog days." Too late for this summer, of course, but it might be smart to make a note on your 2013 calendar.

    Talkback:Does the pace of work slow down in the summer at your company? Is that necessarily a bad thing? Leave a comment below.