How to combat 5 common holiday wellness challenges

December 12, 2024 4:45 PM

Hands sprinkling snow over snowman people in office — Adobe Stock

The end-of-year holiday season is upon us, and whether employees are concerned about taking time off, worried about increased spending, or dreading upcoming workplace parties, employers should approach this time of year with extra empathy.

Winter holiday planning is inevitably stressful. Data from Achieve found that one in five employees feel they will not financially recover from the 2024 holiday season until May 2025 or later. Additionally, travel or hosting obligations, changes to children's school and child care routines and an increased number of social engagements often mean many employees will find themselves more tired and less focused at work.

But employers can do a lot to help the members of their workforce manage these concerns and enjoy their time in and out of work. Well-constructed child care assistance and mental and financial wellness resources are just some of the things they can — and probably already do — offer. Along with reminding employees of these offerings, leaders can also voice their support for taking time off, giving people the green light to disconnect and recharge.

Here are some of EBN's top articles with expert advice on how to approach some of the challenges employees face as the holiday season kicks in.

Help employees navigate school closings

Finding adequate child care is a challenge regardless of the time of year — over half of Americans live in areas deemed child care deserts, according to Zippia — but 68% of working parents say it is especially difficult to manage over the winter holiday season, according to a recent survey by national child care company Bright Horizons. The feeling of falling short of expectations affected 67% of respondents, while more than half reported they felt guilty while attempting to balance work and family time.

"You want to be with family and you want to spend time and shop for your loved ones, but it also tends to be the busiest time from a work perspective because it's the closing of the year," says Priya Krishnan, chief digital and transformation officer at Bright Horizons. "All of that compounded [leads to] stress and guilt for working parents, so how do we highlight this issue with employers?"

Read the entire article:

How to help employees fill child care gaps during the holidays

Give the gift of financial wellness

Over 80% of workers don't believe their wages have kept up with the cost of living, according to job search site Monster, and a Monmouth University poll has found that 46% of Americans are struggling to maintain their current finances. While some employers may assume that financial stress is ultimately their employees' business, a workforce weighed under money problems does impact a company's bottom line, says Tom Spann, co-founder and CEO of Brightside, a financial wellness benefits provider. But before employers can identify solutions, they need to identify the breadth of the problem.

"Maybe employers occasionally see cases pop up where an employee is evicted, but that's the tip of the iceberg," says Spann. "Employees don't often want to share their [struggles] with their employer, so leaders need to do a bit of work to understand the financial health of the population and address it."

Read the entire article:

6 signs your employees' savings are suffering

Be aware of extra workloads

"It becomes a challenging time of year for many workers to achieve work-life balance," says Vicki Salemi, a career consultant at jobs website Monster, which conducted the November poll of 532 workers. "The holidays, yes, they are an important, special time of year for family, friends and loved ones. But they can also be a speed bump in your work life, in your productivity, in your engagement, in your stress levels overall."

In addition to the holiday stressors outside of work, many employees experience actual work-related stresses tied to the season, such as year-end reporting and busy seasons for retail and hospitality businesses, says Salemi, who previously worked in corporate HR and recruiting.

Read the entire article:

How employers and employees can manage holiday-related stress

Know not everyone loves a gathering

For those struggling with social anxiety, the holiday season can be downright terrifying.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is defined as an intense fear of being watched or judged by others in social situations. Unlike general anxiety disorder, SAD is based on fear rather than worry, meaning the condition can easily interfere with all areas of a person's life as they attempt to avoid the cause of their fear — be it school, work or personal relationships, explains Dr. Raafat Girgis, psychiatrist and medical director at Moment of Clarity Mental Health Center in Orange Country, California.

Read the entire article:

'Tis the season for social anxiety: Help employees cope during the holiday party rush

Consider making events alcohol free

Around 9% of employees are struggling with a substance use disorder, and the holidays can be an especially fraught time for those with addictions or those in active recovery. Yet the festive season is often framed as a time of excess, and the pressure to drink to relax or cope with stressors is ingrained in how society approaches alcohol use in the workplace and beyond.

"Often, even people with relatively normal relationships with alcohol start to utilize it as a stopgap to deal with uncomfortable topics, to say, 'I need a drink to manage,'" says Ashley Loeb Blassingame, co-founder of virtual addiction treatment platform, Lionrock Recovery. "Holidays are very much based around drinking culture, and it can bring up a lot of feelings for people."

Read the entire article:

3 ways to support sober employees during holiday party season