The end of the much anticipated holiday season can often make us feel sluggish or blue. Many team members take off enough time to completely unplug, which is exactly the goal. But returning to the office can be a hard transition after stepping away from a long stretch of vacation time. The daily grind starts to look like, well, a grind. This is the ideal time to re-engage your employees and pump them up for the year to come.
Here are three tactics to use to pump up engagement and get your employees back on track:
- Identify and set goals. The activity of goal setting can be a motivating and invigorating practice as employees regain focus and motivation for the year ahead. This may mean holding a company-wide meeting kickoff to establish goals across the organization, or working one-on-one with each of your employees to identify personal and professional goals. In either case, look for ways to include employees in the process so they feel their input is valued and are ready to buy in to the strategy.
- Reset your wellness. The holidays often come with sugary, nutrient-poor food and less time for regular exercise. Many employees overindulge and come back to work feeling poorly about their health. Help them focus on their physical and mental wellbeing by reinvigorating (or beginning) a company initiative encouraging a healthy lifestyle. Offer flexibility for employees to walk or exercise during lunch rather than sitting at their desks. Outline some easy health and nutrition tips that can help them get back on track. Suggest group opportunities to support their efforts—socialization has been proven to be an integral factor in good health, and the extended relationships they develop with fellow associates may help build the team in ways that are reflected in employee output as well.
- Exercise flexibility. The blues that come with depleting your supply of PTO and going back to the rigid 9-5 schedule can contribute to back-to-work stress as well. If you have clear goals established, consider offering employees some flexibility in their schedule. Working from home one day a week or embracing flexible working hours can help employees focus less on the schedule and more on accomplishing their goals.
Returning to work from the holidays doesn’t have to be disappointing. In fact, after ample time with loved ones to recharge, the New Year is an opportune time to strategize for the year ahead and build a foundation of engagement and enthusiasm. If you are ready to maximize your employee engagement, talk to one of our Marketing Innovators solutions experts today.
Sources:
http://www.cio.com/article/2854078/staff-management/9-ways-to-keep-employees-motivated-and-productive-during-the-holidays.html
http://editorial.designtaxi.com/news-infholidaymotivation071114/5.jpg
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/sep/03/beat-back-to-work-blues
