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The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of daily life \u2013 including how employees celebrate the holidays. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged all Americans to avoid gathering and traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, and these sentiments will likely apply to future holiday celebrations as well. This may include \u2013 but is not limited to \u2013 Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year\u2019s Eve. Although following the CDC\u2019s advice is essential to prevent the spread of COVID-19, canceling trips and holiday plans can make for a lonely holiday season for many employees. This article discusses ways to support employee mental health during the holidays this year.<\/p>\n
The holiday season is traditionally a stressful one for employees in general, but employees will likely be more stressed out this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and having to cancel holiday plans.<\/p>\n
After almost a full year of disruption and uncertainty, many employees have experienced stress and disappointment, which could be negatively affecting their overall health. A report from Limeade, an employee experience software company, found that:<\/p>\n
In addition, about one-third of employees reported consuming more alcohol or using other substances more than usual to cope with their stress. These unhealthy coping mechanisms could affect employees\u2019 personal and professional lives, which makes it all the more important to support them.<\/p>\n
An employer\u2019s role is to support employees \u2013 including their mental health and well-being. That support is even more important during a global pandemic and an unprecedented holiday season, as employees may be struggling to cope with the uncertainty.<\/p>\n
How you choose to support employees during this stressful and potentially lonely holiday season depends upon your organization\u2019s values, culture, and budget. However, there is a handful of low- to no-cost ways you can provide support. This includes the following best practices:<\/p>\n
Intentionally check-in with direct reports on a regular basis and simply ask, \u201cAre you OK?\u201d The best way to help employees is to start by asking how they are doing. Employees may choose not to engage, and that\u2019s fine too, but it\u2019s important to approach that conversation. Additionally, consider asking what kind of support would be helpful to your employees, and reinforce that the door is open if and when they\u2019d like to talk.<\/p>\n
To be a good example to other employees, prioritize self-care, and set boundaries. Be vocal and open about what you\u2019re doing to take care of yourself and avoid burnout.<\/p>\n
To help decrease the stigma of mental health challenges, be transparent about personal struggles or experiences. Doing so can help other employees feel comfortable talking about how they\u2019re truly doing during the pandemic and this holiday season.<\/p>\n
If your budget and workload allow, consider hosting a virtual holiday event<\/a>. By offering a safe way to celebrate the holidays, you may help employees combat feelings of loneliness or disappointment if they have to cancel their own personal holiday plans. Some simple virtual holiday celebration ideas include:<\/p>\n Help remove unnecessary stress by setting expectations about workloads and clarifying any modified work hours and norms. Strive for weekly communications from the organization to inform employees about company news and updated policies related to the pandemic.<\/p>\n Last but not least, it\u2019s important to make employees aware of available mental health resources and encourage them to use such offerings. The most commonly desired workplace features are an open and accepting culture, clearer information about where to go or who to ask for support, and training to help managers have productive behavioral health conversations.<\/p>\n Remember, everyone\u2019s situation is different, so it\u2019s important to remain sensitive to the fact that some employees may be carrying on as usual during these times, while others may be struggling. Avoid calling out specific employees and make sure to keep any conversations about an employee\u2019s mental health or stressors confidential.<\/p>\n The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt employees\u2019 lives across the country, creating additional stress, worry, and disappointment for many. Supporting employees during difficult times such as these has never been more important.<\/p>\n If you need help with HR issues like this, GTM has a solution for you. HR On Demand provides expert advice, information, and assistance to clients to help effectively and legally handle daily operational and employee-relations issues. Get unlimited straight-forward best practices, advice, and information, including Employee Handbook development. Learn more<\/a> and then request a free quote<\/a> to see how GTM can make running your business easier.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a9 2020 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s important to support employee mental health during the holidays in 2020, as employees will likely be more stressed out due to the COVID-19 pandemic and having to cancel holiday plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[194,16,83,187],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-8967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consulting-services","tag-covid-19","tag-employees","tag-holidays","tag-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8967"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8973,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8967\/revisions\/8973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8967"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=8967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Communicate regularly<\/h3>\n
Highlight available resources<\/h3>\n
Summary<\/h2>\n