Banish the blues
Get your wellbeing right and no-one need be down on MondayThis year January 18th is ‘Blue Monday’, the date when a combination of glum factors (rotten weather, back to work routine, debts still to pay) all come together to supposedly make for the most depressing day of the year.
Well, HR can help turn things around.
The new year is a time for new beginnings and new resolutions. Psychologically, it’s a powerful time to talk about change. HR has the potential to capture motivation for self-improvement by understanding what employees want to change, and by offering supportive resources to help them.
January is a time to publicise all the wellbeing resources within and outside your workplace. Your Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) should be providing you with posters and leaflets on winter wellness, for example.
In order to encourage employees to stick to their new year motivation, HR could provide education about the importance of exercise in the workplace, getting up from your desk regularly, suggesting walking routes for lunch breaks or sharing in-car stretching exercises for employees who drive regularly.
Information could also be given about alcohol units, and the impact of alcohol on concentration and decision-making within the workplace.
Small is beautiful
Give some straightforward advice on how to make wellbeing resolutions stick. Such as, keep your targets small and achievable – focus on what you really can change about yourself. Tell lots of people what you’re doing with your resolution, as this can really help with motivation and create psychological barriers to giving in too easily. And not to worry if you slip up, as one or two missed days isn’t really a problem.
Keeping work pressures under control always helps when people are trying to improve their daily habits – and that’s where effective boundary setting for smartphone and email availability is really important.
More time, or at least the feeling that more time is available, means more personal time for positive resolutions such as learning a language or other new skills – and creating a great distraction from the sofa, the TV, the box of chocolates and that open bottle of wine.
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