Dear manager: Take special care of your employees in December!

20/12-2023

The number of people affected by stress increases every year in January. The way you send your employees on holidays carries significant weight.

By Julie Engelund Sander, Health Director of Velliv

Julie Engelund Sander, Velliv, Sundhedsdirektør, portræt

Most people see December through a romanticised notion of festive cheer and joy. However, besides the Christmas atmosphere and a holiday just around the corner, December is often also one of the busiest work months of the year, because deadlines and projects tend to fall in this month.

When the year is coming to an end, we usually clean up and take stock. This includes reviewing our inbox, where tasks pushed out of one inbox, land in someone else’s. So even though the plan might have been to go on Christmas holiday with a clean desk, the opposite will be the case for a lot of Danes. This becomes glaringly obvious when January arrives.

January is one of our busiest months in terms of customers presenting symptoms of stress and reaching out to us for help. They feel that they have given everything they have in December but never reached the finish line. And when January hits after the Christmas holidays, which may not have gone completely according to plan, the customer emotionally unravels. We see the same reaction after the summer holidays.

It may appear somewhat paradoxical that the increase in stress-related issues comes after the big holiday periods. A time where you should feel recharged from spending time with your family and having time off from work. But it does not always work that way, because along with Christmas and holidays in general come expectations.

The pressure of expectations from family and work

And here, I am not just talking about the visible expectations of not least children, who usually have a pretty good picture of what makes holidays great; namely gifts, activities and being together as one big happy family. However, the romanticised vision does not always translate to the reality of holidays, which are often also characterised by conflicts, disappointments, and loneliness.

But there are also the less visible expectations that come when we close the work email, even though the pile of work tasks may not have reached the bottom as we hoped before clocking out.

First of all, many still find it difficult to close the work email during the holidays and instead keep checking in from the phone. And while the kids are sat in front of their iPads, the lingering guilty of mom and dad echoes loudly, meanwhile the work is getting done with only a partial focus. Second of all, many employees may find it difficult to take time off if they feel they are going to return to something that is overwhelming; or if they are worried that they have not performed well enough before leaving for the holidays, Julie Engelund Sander says.

The manager plays a central role

In this, the manager is pivotal. As a manager, you play a crucial role in how you send your employees on holiday. And just smiling and saying ”have a nice holiday” may not quite cut it. Like so much else, it is clearly communicating the expectations you have for your employees both during the holidays and not least after.

However banal it may sound; it means a lot that managers clearly signal that holidays are primarily about taking time off and recharging. It is about thinking of something other than work and being present with one's loved ones. Today, working life and leisure are merging more than ever, and if the employee feels that the balance is skewed, it may lead to stress and dissatisfaction.

As a manager, you should also focus on helping align the projects and tasks that are not going to pause just because it is New Year and 2023 is replaced by 2024. And if you do not get done with all the things you wanted before Christmas, there is no use in turning the blind eye. Move the deadlines so they become realistic, even if it comes with a cost – because the cost of doing nothing might be even greater.

When the last New Year’s cake is eaten, and it is time to return to work in January, make sure your employees know what you are expecting of them starting the new year. Taking time off should not make employees feel guilty - however, this may actually be the case if tasks that are complex and feel insoluble have piled up.

Help your employees go through the pile and prioritise tasks to create a positive and productive feeling of the turn of the year. Make sure that the fear of going to the office is replaced by a desire to come back and help make a difference to the business, because the belief in a successful new year beats the fear of failure.

Three tips for the manager:

1. Make sure your employees are not leaving for the holidays with concerns about unresolved tasks.
Have an open talk about prioritisation and how you can work constructively on the tasks on the other side of the holidays.
2. Talk about what is waiting on the other side of the holidays and what to expect in January.
This way, you set the framework for what the employees will return to, and they will not have to fear your expectations being so high that they are not able to meet them.
3. Remember that holidays do not automatically equal employees returning with a lot of energy.
Focus on the work community and your successes
– both big and small – because a good working life where you feel valued and can see how you make a difference together with your colleagues is in itself preventive of stress and dissatisfaction.