The Summer Slowdown Can Create Hidden Risk for Small Businesses: What You Can Do to Stay on Track

For many small businesses, summer brings a different pace due to vacations, lighter schedules, and it also gives you a chance to catch your breath. But while business activity may feel a little more relaxed, risk often does the opposite. 

In fact, summer can quietly become one of the most vulnerable times of year for small businesses. 

Between staffing shifts, remote access, and less day-to-day oversight, small gaps can turn into bigger issues – whether it’s a cybersecurity incident, a compliance misstep, or simply losing momentum heading into the fall. 

The good news is that most of these risks can be prevented with awareness and a few proactive steps. Here are three areas small businesses should focus on this time of year: 

1. Cybersecurity Risk Increases When Your Guard Is Down

Summer is a risky time for cyber incidents, not because the threat suddenly changes, but because routines do. Federal cybersecurity guidance, including guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for small businesses continues to emphasize basics like multi-factor authentication, patching, backups, and employee awareness because attackers still rely heavily on stolen credentials, phishing, spoofing, and weak security habits. 

In the summer, employees are more likely to check email on their phones, log in while traveling, or use home and public networks. That increases risk because passwords alone are not enough. NIST recommends multi-factor authentication to add a second layer of protection if login credentials are exposed through phishing or a fake sign-in page. 

Summer-themed phishing also tends to blend into normal business traffic – travel confirmations, event registrations, updated invoices, shared files, and out-of-office handoffs can all be used as bait. For a small business, one compromised email account can quickly turn into payment fraud, data exposure, or downtime that is expensive to unwind. It only takes one click. 

What small businesses should do now: Train employees about IT protocols (especially around email and passwords). Make sure multi-factor authentication is enabled. Back up your data. Remind employees to avoid public Wi-Fi for business activity. 

Where SBAM can help: SensCy offers an affordable starting point with tools like vulnerability scanning, dark web monitoring, and a cyberhealth score to help businesses understand and improve their risk posture. The online RiskAware tool helps businesses identify where sensitive data lives, understand the potential financial impact of a cyber incident, improve cyber hygiene, and make more informed decisions about cyber liability insurance. Together, with the information you gather from SensCy and RiskAware assessments, SBAM can help a business go into the Cyber Liability Insurance proposal process with a clearer picture of its risk posture, security gaps, and sensitive data exposure, making it easier to answer underwriting questions and pursue more informed coverage options. 

2. Staffing Gaps Create HR and Compliance Risk

Summer often means more time off, temporary coverage, and quicker hiring decisions, which easily create compliance risk. Seasonal and part-time workers are still generally covered by wage-and-hour rules, recordkeeping requirements, and overtime rules when they are nonexempt. Employers also need to be careful not to assume that “temporary” means exempt from the same basic employment rules that apply the rest of the year. 

For Michigan employers, youth employment deserves extra attention during the summer. The state requires work permits for minors, restricts hours and late-night work, and limits the types of hazardous duties minors can perform. Employers should also make sure managers understand break requirements, supervision expectations, and what tasks younger workers simply cannot be assigned. 

What small businesses should do now: Review policies with managers and seasonal staff. Double-check job classifications and pay practices. Ensure supervisors know how to handle issues when leadership is out. Cross-train team members on key processes and set clear expectations for coverage. 

Where SBAM can help: The SBAM HR Toolkit provides clear, ready-to-use guidance and resources that can help when managers are covering for one another, seasonal staff are coming on quickly, and policies need to be applied consistently even when normal routines are disrupted. Engage PEO offers hands-on support to help businesses stay on top of HR, payroll, and compliance when teams are short-staffed, responsibilities are shifting, or leaders are out and important processes still need to be handled correctly. Axios Recruiting helps businesses strategically find and onboard the right long-term talent, which can reduce the pressure that leads to rushed hiring decisions, uneven coverage, and preventable compliance or performance issues. Stunio can help fill open positions for events, short-term needs, seasonal part-time work, and internships, giving businesses a practical way to maintain coverage and reduce the risk of important tasks falling through the cracks when staffing is thin. 

3. Summer Is When Momentum Quietly Slips

One of the biggest (and least talked about) risks of summer is simply losing focus. 

It’s easy to push planning off until September, but by then, you’ve lost valuable time heading into your busiest season. 

That is why late summer can be such an important reset point. Recent small-business reporting has shown revenue pressure and continued concern about hiring and retention, which makes it even more important to use this stretch of the year to tighten operations, revisit staffing plans, and prepare intentionally for Q4. Don’t wait for fall to force the conversation. 

What small businesses should do now: Revisit your hiring and staffing plan. Start mapping your marketing and sales strategy. Identify one or two operational improvements to complete before September. 

Where SBAM can help: SBAM Academy gives business owners and managers a practical way to refocus when priorities start drifting by offering short, useful courses on topics like HR, compliance, leadership, and business strategy. It helps teams build knowledge and confidence in advance, which can make it easier to tighten operations, support leadership, and head into Q4 with greater traction. Davenport University’s Institute for Professional Excellence (IPEx) offers SBAM members 20% off the cost of professional development workshops, certificate programs, and flexible learning options that can help business owners and employees build skills, refocus priorities, and keep moving forward when summer momentum starts to slip. 

What This Really Comes Down To

Summer doesn’t need to be a time when risk creeps in – it can be a time when you get ahead. A few simple steps now can: Strengthen your security. Reduce compliance risk. Improve operations. Educate your team members. Set your business up for a strong future. 

And most importantly – you don’t have to figure it out on your own. From cybersecurity and HR support to recruiting, education, and peer connection, we’re here to make sure your small business has the tools and confidence to stay on track, keep moving forward, and build on the progress you’ve already made. 

Visit sbam.org/member-benefits or call us at (800) 362-5461 to learn more. 

By Kellie Neirynck, SBAM Vice President of Products & Services; originally published in SBAM’s July/August 2026 issue of FOCUS magazine

Click here for more News & Resources.