It’s well known that in winter more people suffer with illnesses, and the cold and dark days can lead to lower mood and experiencing Seasonal Affective Disorder.
December is also a period of stress and strain for many. This may be because employees are burning out working towards year-end goals or planning for the coming year, because they are feeling pressure from the demands of the festive period, or under financial strain as Christmas looms.
This year, the impact of COVID restrictions means these stresses are magnified compared to previous years, and other issues such as grief, loneliness, and the stress of juggling remote schooling or other family commitments whilst working from home will compound traditional winter strains.
With all that in mind, we’ve come up with 5 tips to help support your workforce over the winter months, across morale, body and mind.
Promote Healthy Activities
It feels like winter is a good time to hibernate – staying in with a coffee and a biscuit seems much more appealing than leaving the house, especially when working from home. Encouraging employees to take breaks, stay active and get outside can help keep your workforce healthier, improve mood, top up much-needed vitamin D levels, and help improve mental wellbeing.
As an employer, you can promote initiatives such as ‘walking meetings’ by phone or in person where COVID restrictions and distance allow, or starting each meeting with some yoga stretches or a 5 minute movement session to get participants’ blood pumping. You could also send regular emails reminding employees to get moving, or have check in times throughout the day where the whole company is expected to get out of their seats for 10 minutes.
We run a wide range of virtual exercise classes for employees. You can also check out some free ideas for desk yoga on our blog.
Support Mental Health
Reminding employees of the mental health support your company offers is important all year round, especially so in the winter months when poor weather can lower people’s mood too. The pandemic has also had a negative impacton many people’s mental wellbeing, making it more important than ever for employers to put awareness of mental health issues front and centre in the workplace.
Managers should encourage an environment where members of their team feel empowered to share concerns about their workload or personal challenges, in the knowledge that their concerns will be heard and supported. With remote working, managers should check in with their teams more frequently to ensure that they understand when someone is struggling with their workload, working with colds or other illnesses, or under pressure from family commitments.
Regularly signposting external mental health services in a clear and non-judgmental way can help employees seek professional help when they need it.
Simple actions can help too, such as encouraging staff to finish work on time or take lunch away from their desks. Promoting more casual human interactions outside of formal meetings or organising company virtual social events in work time can also help create a warm and supportive environment in which mental wellness is valued.
We can support your workplace through manager training in mental wellness and our COVID-specific resilience courses.
Five a Day
Whilst wishful thinking might tell us that mince pies and yule logs are a source of vital nutrients, we all know that it’s essential for our immune health to eat more fruit and veg.Studies show that only 54% of UK adults get their five a day and that poor diet is linked to an increase in certain types of illness.
Encourage your workforce to stay healthy by reaching for fruit and vegetables rather than biscuits or cake. You can present this in a fact sheet email or through an interactive wellness session. If you’d like support to run a virtual event, we run a variety of nutrition workshops for the workplace.
Top up with water
Even mild dehydration affects our mood, productivity and clarity of thinking. Our brains also have trouble differentiating between hunger and thirst, often leading us to reach for a biscuit rather than a glass of water. Encouraging employees to top up their hydration can improvedigestive health, result in fewer migraines and headaches, improve energy levels, reduce feelings of anxiety and fatigue, and boost morale.
As an employer, you can still help your workforce towards their 6-8 NHS-recommended glasses of water a day, even if most of your employees are working remotely. Send an email containing hydration facts, ask managers to check that staff have topped up their water at the start of a meeting, or gift a reusable company water bottle as part of a wellness pack.
Say Thank You!
The office Christmas party is traditionally used to thank staff for all their hard work over the past year. Unfortunately, unless your company has fewer than 6 employees and enjoys the great freezing outdoors, you’re unlikely to have an in-person bash this year.
Yet since March, many employees will have gone above and beyond in their jobs, or may have battled many additional challenges or stresses as a result of COVID. Recognising their efforts and expressing gratitude is essential to maintaining a motivated and supported workforce. Research showsthat employees are motivated and engaged by more than cash alone, with people valuing recognition above material rewards.
Time to think outside of the box:
· Get creative and organise a virtual party (or use our ready-made virtual partypackages)
· Send out secret party packs or Christmas gift packs (we’re thinking hot chocolate stirrers, cocktail kits or silly activities)
· Schedule a company-wide call to say thank you and recognise the whole team’s successes in a challenging year
· Send out handwritten Christmas cards or have managers send them to their team
· Buy a monetary gift for each employee, such as a gift card for a local shop or restaurant
· Give an extra perk, such as an additional half day off to do some Christmas shopping or decorate the tree with their family
Whatever you do, recognising and celebrating the hard work and commitment of all your employees will have a big impact on morale.
This post was written by Emily Cleevely.
Supporting your Employees during Lockdown 2.0