For months now, you’ve all been huddled down in the trenches, fighting the snow and the bitter cold, not to mention the ice and slush and cold and flu germs. But there’s almost light at the end of the tunnel — or at least some of your employees see it that way! How do you give your office a temporary morale boost while you wait for that natural lightening up that comes with springtime?
Here are some of the ways we’ve seen companies do pre-spring initiatives to give employees that push that they need to get them through the last of the winter gloom.
Refreshments
Want to perk up everybody’s mood on a cold winter day? Try some hot tea.
Tea is something that’s enormously simple to make, and cheap. But it’s also something that’s often more than the sum of its parts — it provides people with a very comforting and attractive experience. In other words, if you’re a numbers person, the ‘return on investment’ can be exponential.
However, you don’t have to stop with hot beverages. Try an impromptu bought lunch with a hot entrée, or any other kind of food and drink festivities to give everyone a nice little surprise.
Pre-Advertise Wellness Programs
The winter times before spring can be a great moment to start thinking about wellness programs. Sometimes, wellness programs are poorly received other times of the year, because people focus on the negatives, such as the perception that the company is nagging them about their body weight. But putting out the right kind of wellness program materials just before spring can have the opposite effect — it’s a way to remind people that they’re soon going to be able to exercise outdoors. And just that gentle reminder can have a major effect on their endorphines. Don’t miss the opportunity to get wellness materials out when they can have the most positive impact.
Give Them a Break
All of us have known at least one manager who, instead of authorizing some much-needed break time, slipped us a Kit-Kat bar. Chocolate is okay, but an hour or two reprieve from the grind can be even better. Think about how to structure some downtime into employee schedules to get everyone re-energized for the push toward spring.
Go Over the Numbers
Late winter can also be a good time to use past sales numbers in a positive way. Try a short presentation that focuses on the positives — what the company actually accomplished over the past year. This can brighten everyone’s spirits as they look at the actual fruits of their labor, which can cause them to double down on their efforts, carrying everyone over into the first green shoots of the spring season.
For more on seasonal workplace management and everything else that goes along with business leadership, keep an eye on Employment Solutions where we detail what we’ve found useful as a top staffing services company in the Elmira New York area.
