Stress, it’s a widespread problem. Nearly a quarter of Americans report “extreme stress” during the holidays, according to a poll by the American Psychological Association.
Stress and anxiety of the holiday season can impact your bottom line. Consider “presenteeism” – showing up for work with hidden ills. You’re present but are underperforming. The impact of presenteeism outweighs the cost of absenteeism perhaps by as much as 400 percent, according to the Australian Institute of Management. Stress can also manifest itself as depression, which the Journal of the American Medical Association states sets U.S. employers back about $35 billion a year in reduced performance at work.
You get it; stress can be costly to your business. What to do? First, you need to understand the often invisible impact that the holidays can have on stress levels and productivity. Second, you need to take active steps to manage the stress of you and your employees.
While everyone has their own way of managing stress, here are 7 Ways to Better Manage Your Holiday Stress at Work:
- Remember What the Season is All About: Take a moment for reflection. If you are feeling the true holiday spirit, you will bring peace to the workplace and keep everyone’s stress levels, including your own, down to a minimum.
- Get Organized: With holiday parties and year-end deadlines, our calendars are packed! It’s easy to forget things. And, when you forget, you become even more overwhelmed. Take a minute and focus on getting organized. Once you can see everything clearly laid out for you, you’ll feel some relief.
- Spend Money on Your Business: This is not as crazy a tip as it may seem. A Constant Contact survey found that 20-40% of yearly sales for small businesses take place in November and December. That’s huge! You need an easy way to keep track of it all. Invest in some new equipment or technology that will help you keep up with business and keep stress levels down.
- It’s Okay to Say No: This time of year almost everyone will be asking something of you. If you do not have time, it’s okay to turn someone down. Prioritize who you say yes to. In order to avoid the unnecessary stress of an over packed calendar, don’t take on too many new projects or attend every event.
- Try an Email Holiday Message This Year: The idea of sending holiday cards to your clients is great, but costly. Try something new this year and send out an email holiday message. Once you have your list generated, sending the e-cards is quick and easy!
- Set Mini Goals: As the year winds down, you may be looking at everything you did – or did not- accomplish. Don’t add to your stress by worrying about hitting those final benchmarks. Continue to strive for them, but set smaller goals for yourself, too; ones that you and your employees can hit every day. This will make you feel significantly better about the short-term and long-term, and will hopefully set you on a good path for 2016.
- Give Back: It’s important to focus on more than just the business side of things. Host a holiday party, donate time or money to a local charity, or just lend a helping hand to a friend. Giving back to others – whether it be your community or your employees – is inspiring and can give you the positive energy you need to get through the holiday season stress-free.
