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5 Tips to Help Employees Beat the Post-Holiday Blues
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5 Tips to Help Employees Beat the Post-Holiday Blues

on 05 January 2023

​The holidays are over, and it's no secret that employees are less productive following the long, holiday break. The holiday blues are brought about by a number of factors: post-holiday financial stress, rising expectations from friends and family, loss of routine due to festive periods, being exposed to upbeat advertising messages everyday as well as the withdrawal of holiday excitement. Together, these might bring about a lack of motivation and productivity in your employees.

However, as an employer, there are things you can do to help get everyone back to the normal routine. Here are 5 tips on how you can help your employees beat the post-holiday blues:

1. Re-connect with your employees

The holiday season is all about connecting with family and friends, and going back to the office might be somewhat dispiriting for some, especially if the workplace does not have a culture of engagement and connection. As an employer, you might wish to hold an informal meeting through which you can bring together the team and invite them to share what they did during the holidays and give them the opportunity to catch up with their fellow colleagues.

2. Give your employees time to catch up on their work load

It is important to be aware that some people might experience increased stress levels during this time period due to overwhelming feelings of being behind on tasks because of all the things they didn't get done while away from their job. Here, you may provide an appropriate time period for employees to catch up on work comfortably without having to worry that they’re falling further behind. It is also crucial to make sure each team member has everything they need to get back up to speed after the holidays.

3. Offer flexibility for a healthy work-life balance

Resuming work after the holidays is hard, so providing flexibility is a good idea to help employees feel in control on their time, increase productivity and keep them engaged. Flexibility is important all year round, however, reminding employees that such policies are in place to be utilised as needed aids in reducing the post-holiday stress.

4. Give your employees something to look forward to

Whether it's a new project, a team-building activity, an office renovation, or some other exciting change in store for the new year, inform your employees so they have something to look forward to. After the excitement of the festive season, the first few months of the new year are always slower and less exciting, so giving your employees something to look forward to helps in boosting morale around the workplace.

5. Provide your team with tools to keep mental and physical health a priority

Keeping in mind mental and physical employee wellness is important, especially at the start of a new year. As an employer you may encourage regular physical activity by providing incentives such as subsidised gym memberships or fitness classes, wellness and nutrition through providing fresh fruit and healthy snacks for your employees as well as making mental health a priority through subsidised or free assistance from mental health professionals and allowing mental health days (separate from the normal sick leave).

Conclusion

We hope that this post has provided you with a few tips that can help aid in beating of the post-holiday blues amongst your employees. We hope you had a wonderful festive season and here’s to a happy and healthy 2023!

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VC (VacancyCentre) is a leading recruitment agency in Malta, facilitating the resourcing of talent needed by organisations of all sizes with particular specialisation within certain industry disciplines, namely Finance, Compliance, Technology & Operations.

To find out more about how partnering with us can help your company’s recruitment needs, do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

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