Moneypenny Top Tips for Businesses to Cope with ‘Blue Monday’
With the most depressing day of the year – ‘Blue Monday’ – falling on 17 January this year, when the festive season is well and truly over and with spring still a long way away, Moneypenny has put together some tips to help businesses boost staff moods.
Moneypenny, a leader in outsourced communications, is consistently recognised as a Best Company to Work For, as it works hard to help its 1,000 staff feel happy and energised all year round. The following tips will help beat the winter blues and bolster staff productivity:
- Small acts of kindness
These have a big impact on employee well-being, so why not send out chocolate brownies or small gifts with a handwritten note to all employees? Moneypenny’s in-house video team put together personalised videos with birthday messages for staff and the senior management team often hand deliver flowers to employees doors, showing that the company really cares. - Positive Vibes
Sometimes it’s the small things that help most. Take a leaf out of Moneypenny’s book and set up a Page of Positivity on Workplace or Teams where staff can post uplifting or encouraging messages, such as ‘Always be kind’. - Use the power of the voice.
Your staff need to hear you and know that you are hearing them, especially when working remotely, so make sure you have two-way communication channels between managers and staff and use video and one-to-one calls to keep speaking to staff. Moneypenny’s famous receptionists know that they can pick up so much more from tone of voice, so you can spot if anyone is struggling with any issues - Make it Physical.
It’s well known that exercise can improve mental well-being, and while gyms maybe hard to get to sometimes, companies can still organise online exercise or yoga classes to get their staff moving. - Look after the Mind
January is the perfect time for companies to introduce initiatives to help staff maintain mental wellbeing. Consider introducing a meditation app to help with mindfulness, or a wellbeing group on Workplace or Teams. Moneypenny offers the CALM App to its employees and has also set up a help line for employees to call if they need any advice on any issues, such as family, stress, money, or even domestic abuse. - Use tech to bring staff together.
Using platforms like Workplace from Meta, or Teams, in addition to managing critical company updates or workflows, these tools can act as the office kitchen for employees to socialise. Moneypenny found that Workplace usage tripled through the move to remote working, as the need to stay connected increased. - Organise some fun!
Why should company jollies be restricted to Christmas? Schedule in some non-work related social activities to keep staff going through the cold, dark winter months, such as cooking challenges and quiz nights.
Moneypenny is a global leader providing telephone answering, outsourced switchboard, live chat and customer contact solutions and is the most trusted partner to large and small businesses. Moneypenny has an award-winning culture and over 1000 staff based in the UK and the USA. It handles over 20 million calls and chats for 21,000 businesses and blends brilliant people superpowered by leading-edge tech solutions to deliver seamless customer engagement outcomes.