With the passing of the festive season with the now traditional over indulgence in food, drink, social interaction and spending, many people are left with more than one form of ‘hang-over’.
For some it may be an increase in their waistline and a return to poor dietary habits; for others a recurrence of unhealthy drinking habits or a reintroduction to illicit substances, and almost everyone will have felt the financial impact, some more significantly than previous years due to the reduction in income.
The other group also at risk over this period are those on their own. The absence of family and friends often contributes to a significant reduction in self-confidence or self-esteem when people are constantly bombarded by instructions to be festive and jolly. We should not underestimate the number of employees suffering from some form of mental illness, some as a result of relationship failures due to the industry/life changes in the last 18 months.
All these can result in an increase in absence rates or a reduction in performance, through ill health or anxiety. Employees can be distracted, have poor concentration finding it difficult to complete tasks they would normally find easy. They can have poor impulse control leading to workplace tension, or unusual demonstrations of emotion.
So what can employers do to help and what can employees do to help themselves?
It is the perfect time to consider a period of abstinence – either a dry January or a dry February – the latter may be more practical as it avoids the New Year and Burns Night celebrations and has the obvious benefit of being the shortest month and an easier sell! For those not willing to contemplate such a break, then looking at only drinking at weekends is a useful compromise, and for those for whom the festive season has reawakened a dependency then support via your companies Employee Assistance Programme or Occupational Health provider might be required, especially when they have an integrated counselling and psychotherapy resource and resilience subject matter expertise.
Looking at those who are finding it more difficult to shift those festive pounds , then using health promotion to suggest healthy eating or even looking at workplace weight loss challenges – they may not be cutting edge or new – but they are successful and also develop team spirit, especially when tied to exercise programmes and incentivised in an imaginative way. And for those companies with a catering provider, these companies are able to provide excellent support, but unfortunately it is still difficult to find a calorie free chip.
Support for those who are feeling low or anxious is also invaluable and looking at ways of identifying these employees and helping them to accept they may need assistance can be difficult, but simple techniques that can be learnt through resilience training can show managers and supervisors a way support their teams.
Looking at internal and external demands and contrasting with internal and external resources. Looking at external demands, simple questions will help an individual understand and benchmark where they are;
- Do you feel in control?
- Do you say yes when you want to say no?
- Are all your tasks high-priority?
- Does trying to do things quickly make it worse?
Then give them simple solutions to these demands, and build their resources;
- Make a to-do list
- Spend time planning and prioritising
- Slow down and concentrate
- Pause before saying yes
- Organise your work station
These techniques won’t be enough for everyone, but it is often very surprising how simple advice and support can make an unexpectedly big difference, it is always about listening and communicating.
In addition to this, wellbeing projects looking at the long-term impact on employees’ health supported by a company’s Occupational Health provider are often best started when you will be able to make the biggest difference. So, start January with some simple changes, before going forward with more involved interactions can be the first step to a healthier workforce.
Recommended for you
