Following the festive season most offices are looking slightly bare, employee’s pockets are somewhat empty and many of us have surrounded ourselves with chocolate wrappers and stale mince pies; it seems the January blues are now upon us. Most workforces endured continual anxiety and stress throughout 2011 which was why it was so important to allow staff some down time over the Christmas period. However that time is over and employers need to start to revitalise their workforce in order to hit 2012 running!
A recent article in the Telegraph titled ‘Work fear sweeps nation as Britons dream of changing careers’ has not only spurred employers on to make a change this year but it also illustrates just how hard the nation is working amid such financial turmoil. More than two thirds of people put down a work related New Year’s resolution for 2012 and 57% of workers want to make a career out of their hobby. The extent to which people have become consumed by their work trials and tribulations has increased over the past 12 months with one in three employees admitting to regularly checking work e-mails during their spare time, 40% of workers not taking a lunch break and one in four admitted to pulling a sickie. If this is not enough to make you incorporate employee motivation and engagement into your New Year’s resolution, then it was also revealed that lack of motivation came out as the top reason for workers pulling ‘sickies’. Participants confessed that they would take less time off if they felt more valued and relied upon by their fellow colleagues.
The winter months usually associate the office with dark days, coughs, colds and stress and with absenteeism rates soaring compared to any other time of the year it is no wonder that 78% of companies have implemented specific winter absence policies. 35% of companies have even gone as far as to encourage staff to have flu jabs as well as implementing healthy eating and fitness regimes to kick start the New Year. Incorporating fitness and wellbeing benefits into the workplace helps brush away the cob webs, boost staff morale and keeps employees positive after the post Christmas anticlimax.
The telegraph highlighted the importance of pursuing a career than not only motivates and inspires you but is also enjoyable. Providing staff with stimulating challenges helps to introduce a sense of urgency, bringing the pace of the office back up to speed.
Research by Richard Wiseman revealed that a staggering 78% of people fail to keep their New Year’s resolution due to a lack of willpower and the fact that they were unrealistic in the first place. Make sure your New Year’s resolution doesn’t go in one year and out the other, invest in effective ways to keep your employee’s feeling valued, respected, engaged and ready to face the challenges of 2012.
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