Quashing The Winter Blues

So the festive season has come to a close and it’s time to embrace the New Year. January brings the joys of tighter waistbands, dwindling bank balances and the dreaded back-to-work blues. Couple this with the inevitable failure of New Year resolutions and winter illness you could see the morale of your workforce plummet throughout the remainder of winter.

Low staff morale can lead to poor cooperation, decreasing engagement levels, low productivity and increased staff turnover – all of which can have a devastating effect on any organisation. Leaders with their fingers on the pulse will keep a close eye on staff morale and implement simple, effective solutions and strategies to keep it strong. The happiness and contentment of employees can make or break an organisations success, so implementing tactics to combat the January blues is an absolute must.

Here we’ve come up with three ways to boost workplace morale and assist employees with fighting off the winter blues:

Recognise achievements

We have mentioned this in a previous blog, if any of your people excel themselves, it’s imperative to recognise their achievement and success. If employees feel as though their accomplishments are being recognised, their desire to go the extra mile for the organisation will increase. Extrinsic, tangible rewards will give high-performing employees a goal to work towards, and will serve as a lasting reminder of what they can achieve through hard work.

When it comes to achievements, looking back periodically is also a good way of recognising the success of the organisation as a whole. Time to reflect allows employees to appreciate how much has been achieved, by themselves and their colleagues offering a fresh sense of purpose and motivation. Therefore, January could be the perfect time to host an organisational event to reflect on the previous year’s achievements and successes, giving something to look forward to during the long winter days.

Encourage a healthy work-life balance

After the festive season, the joys of a summer holiday can seem a long way off – and some employees will feel as though they have very little to look forward to. It’s vital to workplace morale that staff feel as though they have a good work-life balance, and plenty of time to pursue non-work related activities. It’s easy to assume that striking the optimal work-life balance is entirely down to employees – but really it’s down to management to encourage their staff to make the most of their free time.

Providing options such as flexible working hours, telecommuting and child care services will give staff more free time to fill with things they enjoy, and spend time with family and friends. It’s also important for employers to encourage their team to take all of their holiday entitlement. A short break offers time to relax and recharge, arriving back at work happy and motivated.

Offer additional employee benefits

Offering your employees extra benefits during the month of January could go a long way to help boost workplace morale. Something as small as offering each employee a free massage or having fresh fruit delivered to the office could help your employees beat the winter blues and it doesn’t cost you the earth. Some organisations offer a wellness allowance that employees can spend on anything health related, which would go some way in helping staff to stick to their new year detox regime and ultimately help employees to lead a healthier lifestyle, decreasing absenteeism through illness.

Putting these few small steps in place will go a long way to boost workplace morale and keep your people happy. It’s important to listen to staff, and knowing when they’re unhappy. That way, you can find solutions that will maintain employee engagement and productivity and guarantee success for your organisation.

We at The Survey Initiative pride ourselves in the work we do in partnership with organisations to help build and maintain employee engagement levels. So if you would like to know more about how we can help your organisation, then give us a call on +44 (0)1255 850051 or contact us via our website.