For most people the lead up to Christmas and post Christmas is a time to make merry and be joyous, but it’s not so easy for everybody. The January Blues are real.
Going to and from work in the dark combined with long, cold, wet days and lack of vitamin D can lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder and, in serious cases, full blown depression. The festive season can often heighten feelings of grief and added financial, family and work pressures can soon add up.Â
Don’t turn a blind eye to any of your employees who might be struggling at this time of year. The pandemic has been a difficult time for everyone, and, for many, this could be the first Christmas without a loved one. Be supportive, consider flexible working or other allowances that could be made to help them through this time.Â
Kate Palmer is HR Advice and Consultancy Director at Peninsula. She says: “It’s important for employers to recognise that the winter blues is not a trivial term which can be ignored. Instead, it should be given the same weighting as any other medical condition.”
There are simple, effective steps that employers can take to help ward off the winter blues. Here are top 5 tips that can help support your employees through January by Peninsula HR advice and consultancy director Kate Palmer below:
Be pro-active
Don’t wait for employees to go off sick before you start thinking about support measures. Implement changes now to avoid long-term sickness, burnout, dissatisfaction, and resignations.Â
Failure to understand the impacts the winter blues can have on an employee’s wellbeing, and make reasonable adjustments to support this, can lead to long-term absences, resignations and tribunal claims.
Be personal
Recognise that the winter blues can impact everyone differently – some will really struggle, while others will barely be affected. Speak with employees on a 1-1 basis to understand how they’re feeling and what personalised support measures would work best for them.
Be engaging
Communicate that you understand the difficulties many employees could face and encourage them to be open about any issues. A designated mental health first aider or trained manager can be allocated to help with any winter blues related queries. Fostering a culture of openness and inclusion in your workplace will help employees feel better supported. An EAP gives employees access to professional counselling, but this should be backed up by support from managers thorough welfare meetings etc.Â
Organisations should pro-actively implement measures to assist their employees through the winter period. This may involve introducing home-working or hybrid working arrangements; allowing flexibility with start and finish times; training mental health first aiders to recognise early signs of winter blues; providing access to an employee assistance programme; and identifying individual struggles through effective welfare processes.
Be effective
Make changes that will actually help people. A tick box exercise so that you can say you support mental health just isn’t going to cut it. A poster on the wall or awareness day on its own is likely to have little impact if there are not wider support options available. Consider offering flexible working arrangements such as hybrid/homeworking, flexibility with start/finish times, amending duties, relaxing dress codes, or providing more regular rewards such as snacks or prizes. You could look at offering extra duvet/wellbeing days during the winter months, Christmas festivities so employees have something to look forward to, and maybe an annual award ceremony in the winter.
Be anti-blueÂ
Hold a designated dress down day where employees are encouraged to wear anything but blue. Arrange a daily email pop-up with a funny/happy picture/meme/joke to cheer people up. Encourage staff to go for a walk outside on their lunch break to get some sun/daylight and fresh air.Â
