Are you struggling with the return to work after the festive period? Our HR assistant, Jack Taylor, discusses the struggles in this article and offers advice on how to ease the return to work this January.
Remember when you used to go back to school after the summer holidays and you’d totally forgotten how to tie your tie or do long division? The adult version of that is surely returning to work after Christmas.
While it’s often tough to get back into the swing of things in January, the current situation means it may be even more difficult to muster up the motivation this New Year.
With the new restrictions in place and the UK in full lockdown for the third time, I can imagine this is making the whole back to work after Christmas situation feel worse. Especially now that we have to work where we had our Christmas dinners. So here are some tips on how to get rid of the dreaded January blues of returning to work, and how to get back to your motivated self.
When you’re running a business, your team is your most important asset and biggest resource. Without them the business could not function so it’s essential that your employees feel encouraged and inspired on a daily basis.
Set new targets for teams, and perhaps encourage a bit of friendly competition across the office airwaves. Helping to communicate about the future, introducing any new business benefits or incentives, and generally including employees can go a long way to getting your employees excited about being back. This will also help to boost morale. You can only motivate and inspire your team if they know what they are working towards. Make sure your employees are aware of your vision and what your ultimate goals are for the business. This encourages everyone to work together to achieve better results. As well as this, regularly set clear and measurable goals that are framed by this vision so that you and your teams can track progress. By doing so they are able to see their success in a tangible way.
Recognising and applauding achievement inspires team members as they can see themselves progressing towards the goals of the company. When employees achieve results, put in extra effort or do outstanding work make sure to tell them that you’re grateful and be specific in your praise. For example, don’t just say ‘good job’, explain why it was a good job and how it helped to benefit the business. This will not only motivate your employee but help them succeed with future work.
You should reward your team for their hard work, whether this in the form of monetary rewards, gifts, perks, or more responsibility and independence.
Team members feel more valuable when they are learning and enhancing their skills. To motivate and inspire your team to achieve great results you should provide your employees with opportunities for growth and development. These opportunities should be tailored specifically to suit the individual employee. They can be in the form of further training, setting challenging targets, inviting an employee to shadow you, or spending your own time teaching and mentoring somebody. Focus on teaching your team transferable skills they could use in different positions and encourage them to set themselves learning goals.
Motivation is an essential part of any workplace and you should be constantly striving to make your employees feel motivated and inspired. If you do this, you’re sure to achieve the results that you need.
As we all get through these tough times together remember a happy workforce makes your business thrive to what it should and can be.
If you have any concerns or would like to discuss ways to help ease the return to work after January further, please get in contact with the HPC team today
T: 0844 800 5932
E: contact@highperformanceconsultancy.com
Twitter: @HPC_HRServices