The post-summer blues can hit staff hard – especially after a couple of weeks of jet setting.
When staff return from a holiday, they might be feeling deflated. Disconnected. As much as they might love their job, they might also be coming down from a holiday high.
When productivity starts coming down with them, it’s important to find ways to keep those blues at bay.
And here are the most effective ways to do it…
1. Organise an informal meeting
Firstly, it’s a good idea to touch base with your worker when they return. After time off, they’re likely to be feeling out of the loop. So, pull them aside for an informal chat.
You can update them on what’s been happening while they’ve been away. Try to be as positive as possible about this. Talking about all the challenges you may have faced is unlikely to rejig their enthusiasm.
By filling your worker in on everything, you help them get them back into work mode and ready to get started.
2. Prioritise their workloads
A one-to-one meeting is good for a general catchup, but you also want your staff to know if there’s anything important you need them to pick up.
If other workers have been covering for them, maybe ask them to brief your worker on any outstanding tasks and projects.
Be careful about this. If your worker has floods of requests to deal with on the first day back, it might overwhelm them. Some tasks may be more urgent and important than others. So, make sure your staff know which ones to prioritise and which ones to tackle at a later date.
When your staff know they can focus on completing the essential tasks first, they’ll be more likely to succeed – which motivates them to keep succeeding.
3. Offer incentives and healthy competition
Your worker might be ready to get started but incentives can be a driving force.
Remind your staff about any rewards on offer. Do you have an employee of the month system? Yearly financial bonuses? Retention schemes?
Give them a goal to work towards that excites them. A bit of friendly competition with colleagues can also help kickstart their work ethic. And when you publicly celebrate your workers’ successes, this encourages other staff to work hard, so they can get recognition too.
Give staff a good reason to feel enthusiastic about work, and they’ll soon forget all about the post-holiday blues.
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4. Remind them of exciting events coming up
You can go one step further to excite your staff by telling them all about the events you have lined up. Is there a work social on the cards? An awards party?
Tell your staff what you have planned. Just because their holiday is over, it doesn’t mean there aren’t things to look forward to.
5. Set up motivational policies
By incentivising your workers, they’re more likely to stay loyal and continue to progress.
If you want to set up an incentive scheme, you’d need to decide on objectives, targets, and rewards that work for you. This would also involve updating your staff contracts – which might sound complicated, but with Peninsula it’s simple.
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