As Nick Hood, partner at corporate recovery and insolvency practice Begbies Traynor explains, received wisdom expects staff (and bosses) returning from their summer holiday to be on top form, revitalised and renewed.

“In my experience, staff, just like bosses, tend not to skip back merrily to work, but instead slink to their workplaces, fed up with the prospect of wage slavery. For bosses of SMEs, where in almost all instances there is little room for staff not to operate to their full capacity, there is a lot they can do to get their staff quickly into action,” believes Hood.

He offers the following advice to help your business get back to speed after the summer holiday.

• Do not overload staff members with new work. Allow a day or so for them to get back into the swing of things. Like you, they need time to digest emails, speak to colleagues, and generally catch up on events
• Respect and donÂ’t pay lip service to the psychological aspect of ‘post-holiday blues.’ Accept that your normally top-performing and enthusiastic employee would still probably prefer to be on a beach in Greece
• Save a particularly interesting project or piece of work for their return. It will help provide immediate re-motivation
• Dedicate time to returning staff members to give them a full debrief about progress and changes made in relation to their role since they took their holiday. And, in preparation for the next round of holidays, before your staff go away, ensure you have a well-drilled handover routine. This will help ensure that the staff member going on holiday knows that their work will be done properly, and that they won’t be returning to a huge in-tray or vast list of urgent tasks.

If you are thinking of starting a business, then according to advice and support agency Business Link for London, September can be one of the best times to start. It says that enquiries by people setting up new businesses are 15% higher in September compared with other months.

“Traditionally the start of September, when many people return to work after the long August bank holiday, is a time when many feel that self-employment and flexible working is something they want to explore!” comments Judith Rutherford, chief executive of Business Link for London.

She adds that the holiday period gives people the chance to reflect on things that are important to them, and starting a business may just be one of those things.