August off and siestas: Isn't it time Britain's heatwave-struck workers went continental?

Independent

10 hours ago

As the UK experiences yet another heatwave, it is perhaps time for employers to consider copying mainland Europe by writing the whole of August off.
Maybe you think I'm being dramatic, but thanks to global warming and climate change, these extreme weather events are becoming less the exception and more the norm, with the Met Office repeatedly issuing stark warnings.
It's particularly difficult to navigate when you're trying to work. If you're logging on remotely, you don't have the luxury of cool air – and even those in air-conditioned offices still have to face hellish commutes on crammed public transport.
The UK has done little to adapt to these warmer climes – and, no, I'm not talking about Ed Miliband's net zero policies, the debate over whether they'll do anything to help with what is a global problem, and whether we can afford them in the midst of a toxic economic brew. I'm talking about the way we live.
Despite the dominance of the service economy and the preponderance of office-based jobs, there are still large swathes of people who don't just work in homes without energy-guzzling air-con units, but instead spend their days outside.
The government wants to kick off a construction boom to boost a faltering economy, with hundreds of thousands of new homes and infrastructure projects planned – that is, if they can find the builders to do the work. There is a problem at a time when hostility towards using migrant labour is high, and the Home Office is making it increasingly difficult.
Wouldn't construction be a more attractive career choice if people knew they wouldn't have to work in the baking heat? I know, this is triggering to people who say that in their day, they would have 'happily' worked a 12-hour shift in the sun or whatever other weather the UK could concoct without complaint.
But the fact is that extreme heat kills people, and has been doing so with increasing regularity. The government estimates that there were 1,311 deaths associated with the four heat episodes during summer 2024. They were mostly older people, long past retirement age, but the point remains. Remember that old Noël Coward number about only mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the midday sun? He was clearly on to something...
Now, I jest when I suggest that the whole nation should shut down in August to counter this, as is often the case in France. Half the CBI's membership would probably collapse with heat exhaustion from fulminating with rage at the very idea. We don't want that. And this year saw the first heatwave blasting us in June anyway.
Moreover, unemployment is now at a four-year high, with the latest Labour Force Survey showing the number of job openings continuing to contract. Sectors hit hardest by Rachel Reeves' tax on jobs (retail, hospitality) have been hammered. This is clearly not the ideal time to be proposing a shake-up of working conditions, especially not in ministers' hearing, what with their knack for interfering and introducing counter-productive reforms and regulations.
Still, as summers become less about enjoyment and more about enduring weather that only the nation's growing wine producers have cause to feel good about, working practices are something that we're going to have to start thinking about when it comes to those whose occupations keep them outdoors.
That could include the siesta – an extended break in the middle of the day for outdoor workers, who would then return to work in the cooler evening hours. Doesn't that make sense?
We often hear about Britain's productivity problem, but it's hard to be productive when faced with the sort of conditions one might have only encountered in the Mediterranean or North Africa in previous years.
Siestas might actually help with that. I know, I know, probably not going to happen. At least not in the foreseeable future with Britain in a slough of despond and workers retrenching, belt-tightening, and doing whatever it takes to keep their jobs – even if that risks heat stroke.
However, in a future when every summer is like this, we're going to have to make some adaptations sooner or later.