The holidays can be stressful for many employees, as family and personal commitments often increase and make work-life balance even more challenging.
Managers, supervisors and team leaders can help ensure the mental health and morale of employees are maintained during the holidays. Such actions can keep productivity high, which helps you ensure business needs are met.
Here are a few ways leaders can help during the holidays:
• Be accommodating and flexible in terms of employee work hours. Obviously, this depends on your company policies, but if you can accommodate changes to employee schedules, you should do so.
• Have an established policy for processing requests for time off. Do you approve requests based on seniority or on a first-come, first-approved basis? The holidays generally lead to multiple employees requesting the same time off, and employees should understand how these requests will be considered so they can plan accordingly.
• Be transparent about schedules. Let everyone on the team know who will be off and when. Post a public calendar or create a shared digital calendar everyone can access. Also, when you as a leader take time off, be sure someone else handles this communication.
• Be on the lookout for warning signs of stress in your team, such as increased absenteeism or lateness, irritability, withdrawal, impatience, overt sadness or anxiety.
Sometimes there will be a clear performance issue that can be addressed, but sometimes performance will be maintained even though there are other clear signs of distress. Don’t ignore distress just because performance hasn’t suffered. While you shouldn’t diagnose your employees’ mental health, you can ask them how work is going or if they need help.
• Be mindful of personal life events. The holidays are often a time of joy, but they also can bring sorrow. For example, the first holiday after the death of a loved one can be difficult. If you know an employee recently suffered a loss, be on the lookout for situational sadness.
• Be empathetic. If you notice employees struggling or displaying signs of stress, ask what’s going on and listen attentively to the answers. You may be able to help them think about alternative ways to manage their work duties.
If there isn’t a work-related solution to the issue at hand, you may want to suggest a referral to an employee assistance program or a community counseling program.
• Be open to outside assistance. If you notice that multiple team members are struggling with holiday stress or you simply want to be proactive in managing it, consider inviting a speaker for a lunch-and-learn presentation about managing holiday stress.
Kyra Kudick is an associate editor at J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc., a compliance resource company.