OFW guide: How to get back on track after the holiday slump

January 2, 2013 4:00pm

Everyone usually starts to become more relaxed at work whenever the long holiday season comes, especially at Christmastime, the season that most employees are looking forward to.


However, the holidays are now over and a new year has entered the horizon. Now you have to get your act together, get over from your holiday slump, and start working.

A News Management article gives six tips to raise work productivity after the holiday season:


(1) Don't skip breaks

Skipping a break is never a good idea. Although you might have more time to finish your tasks, your physical and mental health will suffer and this will not be good for you.

It is be better to maximize your breaks by making sure that your eat nutritious food. You can come back to your workplace with a refreshed mind that will allow you to work at your peak.


(2) Choose communication modes wisely

Choose the mode of communication that best suits your time constraints.

If you need to talk to somebody immediately, ring him. If you need a detailed response, email the person and wait for a complete reply. If you need to share something personal, talk in person.

This allows less misunderstanding during the communication process and guarantees efficiency.

(3) Make meetings unconventional

Employees are tired of the same old indoor meeting where the boss babbles about future targets and performance values while employees listen for the hours on end.


To make things more interesting, hold outdoor meetings such as a nearby park or even while taking a city stroll.

This may even trigger better ideas from brainstroming and will definitely enhance team rapport and employee morale.

(4) Manage tasks

Priority is the key to finishing your day-to-day workload that seems to be unending and increasing by the second.

Make sure that you assign the difficult and important tasks first before you let your employees do the boring and repetitive work.

Energy levels and performance are always better in the morning before the mid-day slump kicks in.

(5) Automate things


To reduce complication and additional work hours for your employees, automating whatever tasks that could be automated would be an advantage.

An example would be a small business lacking an accounting department which uses invoicing software to satisfy tracking, invoicing, and estimating needs.

The best thing about this is some softwares are absolutely free to download from the internet.

(6) Experiment with work options


Provide employees with a work from home option once a week so that they could feel a different work environment once in a while.

This also allows you to show your trust in your employees who would be eager to prove themselves because of your trust in them.

However, it is important to monitor employees so that abuse and laziness are kept at bay. - Andrei Medina, VVP, GMA News