For most American organizations and their people, each new year kicks off with fresh goals and a rejuvenated sense of purpose. It’s the time to embrace new programs, strengthen existing ones, and create opportunities that bring satisfaction and fulfillment to team members who bring these initiatives to fruition. 

Here’s what slips by unnoticed 

The holiday season is short and although it passes with lightning speed, it can feel like an eternity for professionals during this busy time of year. Plus, the holidays come on the heels of a full year of continuous hard work and the stressors that go along with it.  

And so, what we have at this time of year are millions of Americans in the workforce who are mentally and emotionally spent going into the New Year. 

Last month, we conducted a poll among our audience of hiring professionals, job candidates, and clients, asking about the stress levels they experience during the busy holiday season. Not surprisingly, most of our respondents (41%) confirmed they are ‘a lot more stressed’ during the holiday season…   

Help your people rally and thrive in 2024  

As an employer, it’s important to recognize that your team just came out of a busy and stressful time of year. If you want to kick off 2024 in the best way possible, consider using these seven techniques to help your people de-stress during these first few weeks and months of the New Year…  

1. Treat your team with care and respect: Be extra considerate of all that your employees are working on – the variety and quantity of projects on their plates, the daily tasks and requests coming their way, and their day-to-day priorities. Each day can bring a new kind of crazy, so check in, be respectful, compliment good work, and never forget that a simple “thank you” from a superior or co-worker goes a long way in stress reduction and making people feel valued.  
2. Help with time management: Knowing we’re in control of our lives and responsibilities is as much about time management as stress management. You can be a big influence in improving your team’s time management skills, especially when you’re a master of your own time management! Be realistic about what you ask of individuals and create and maintain a consistent schedule for the whole team. This keeps everyone in the work environment informed of individual and team progress and completion dates, upcoming meetings, and other milestones, and helps team members reduce work-related stress by planning their schedules accordingly.  
3. Be open and honest: In life and in business, honesty is the best policy because it brings peace of mind in both good and stressful times. At Goodwin Recruiting, one of our core values is Timely and Transparent Communication. We exercise this commitment internally and with our clients and job candidates. Everyone benefits from transparency. We encourage organizations to create an open and honest culture in which every team member knows the company goals and feels comfortable in sharing their thoughts and ideas. Timely, transparent communication is good for employee well-being and a powerful antidote to workplace stress.  
4. Encourage the use of PTO: Taking advantage of paid time off (PTO) is so important in creating a healthy work-life balance, improving work productivity, reducing stress and burnout, and raising overall team morale and wellness. Yet many American professionals don’t take advantage of paid vacation days for various reasons. If this is the case with any of your team members (including you!), make a point to assure them that it’s more than okay to step away, disconnect, de-stress, and come back refreshed. Everybody needs a break!  
5. Promote a healthy lifestyle: Recognizing the importance of self-care and a healthy lifestyle in reducing stress levels and improving productivity, more and more companies are going all-in on sponsoring employee lifestyle programs. These programs encourage physical exercise and fitness (through sports teams, bike clubs, yoga classes, health club memberships, etc.), promote weight loss and healthy food choices, and support employee mental health and well-being. Healthy lifestyles include positive social interactions, too. Companies are encouraging this through diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs that bring together people of different backgrounds for on- and off-premises gatherings, spending time to create new relationships, expand perspectives, and build morale across the organization.  
6. Offer remote or hybrid work opportunities (if possible): Companies and their employees benefit in significant ways from these flexible working models. By giving people greater control over their lives, workspaces, and workdays, remote and hybrid work arrangements decrease burnout and stress and improve employee well-being. They also raise employee retention rates. At Goodwin Recruiting, our Marketing Director Jenny Battershell recently shared some benefits in an industry article. “This gives us the flexibility to adjust our schedules, if ever needed. If there’s a holiday event at my kids’ school, for example, I can schedule an hour to pop out and adjust my other workdays accordingly,” she says.  
7. Be generous in giving kudos: You can create your unique company culture and there are many ways to do it! For example, we’ve found great success in encouraging our team at Goodwin Recruiting to give kudos to each other through our Core Value Nominations Program. Our Senior Recruiting Partner TJ White discusses the program and many other ideas in his article on ways to improve your company culture. “We nominate each other for going above and beyond in some way, whether it’s performance, team support, or innovative ideas… it goes a long way in building camaraderie and pride in our individual contributions to the business,” TJ says.  

Let us help you with the heavy lifting  

If you’re a hiring manager who finds yourself a bit stressed coming out of the holiday season, consider leaning on a recruiting firm to lighten your workload and ease your mind. We can support you in 2024 with talent sourcing, thorough job candidate vetting and reference checks, in-depth initial interviews, and scheduling interviews between you and the candidates you choose to meet. Our expert recruiters can also offer additional ideas to help you reduce workplace stress and energize your team.  

Take a moment to connect with us today! We work hard to build and maintain strong partnerships and would greatly value the opportunity to work with you in building your best team.