December is here, along with its festive atmosphere, packed calendars, and year-end pressures. For many of us, it’s one of the hardest months to stay productive. Between office parties, family gatherings, shortened workweeks, and the mental load of wrapping up the year, maintaining focus can become a real challenge.
For most employees, the last few weeks of December are dedicated to holiday parties, time off, or low-productivity days in the office. Very few people schedule meetings because no one would attend and those who are available often work on low-priority tasks. When not at work, people are traveling, enjoying festive events, or simply relaxing. It’s no wonder that upon returning to work, some experience a case of holiday hangover. Mild or more severe, we all need a minute to get back into the swing of things.
Managing employees during the winter holidays can be difficult. You want your team to rest after a long year of hard work but have a hard time juggling dozens of time off requests. You want to celebrate your team’s accomplishments but also need your staff to stay focused and hit their deadlines. It’s a delicate balancing act that stresses many leaders.
According to a recent survey, 88 percent of Americans think the winter holiday season is the most stressful time of year. Almost a whooping 60 percent would characterize it as chaotic. With so many time-sensitive commitments and activities on the average person’s calendar this season, it’s not hard to see where all that stress is coming from.
The holiday season is also a season of vacations and time off. In fact, almost all (97 percent) of American workers expect to have Thanksgiving and Christmas off. New Year’s Day and Eve, Christmas Eve, and Black Friday are also popular days to close offices. During this time, many people use their vacation days and take a little extra time for themselves. As a result, your office goes quiet and so does your holiday communication.
However you spent winter holidays, it can be quite challenging to recover your productivity thereafter. Whether you are tired, windbitten, jet-lagged, or simply extremely happy and relaxed, diving back into work is probably the last thing you want to do. Adulting is hard, but it must be done.
After a well-deserved vacation or relaxing staycation, it can be difficult to return to work. Your emails have piled up in your inbox, each one demanding your immediate attention. Your colleagues needed answers two days ago. What’s more, your boss already has a long list of tasks waiting for you. And all this happens while your brain struggles to transfer out of vacation mode. Don’t worry, the post holiday blues can be cured!
Americans could use a vacation and unplugging from the digital world. Recent data shows that an estimated 53 percent of Americans continue to work over the weekend, 52 percent outside of designated office hours, and 54 percent still work even if they call in sick, according to Deloitte.
Most adults spend up to 11 hours per day digitally connected one way or another. We use screens for work, for fun, for shopping – basically our entire lives revolve around a screen. While some people don’t see that as a problem, 1 in 5 people have taken a digital detox, and 7 in 10 people are trying to limit their screen time.
