Is Your Workplace Productive This Holiday Season?

It's that time of the year again for most of us- the holiday season. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or any of the other year end celebrations that happen at the end of this month, you will very likely be distracted from your business by many holiday activities such as gift shopping, attending lunches and parties, and mailing cards to distant friends and family.

Your employees will be similarly distracted. Recently, Workopolis (an online job search and recruitment website) posted a survey on its site that was responded to by over 14,000 employees. The survey question asked whether the employees are more distracted and have lower levels of productivity at work during the holiday season. 52% of those who responded to the poll admitted that their productivity levels at work during the month of December are lower. Almost two-thirds of respondents (61%) reported that the overall pace at work is slower and that they feel less motivated.

Employees who are de-motivated spend more time out of the office at lunches, surf the Internet for personal use, and chat with other employees more frequently. In the United States, there is a measurable level of Internet shopping on the first day back at work after the Thanksgiving holiday. It's called Cyber Monday and it's a day that sees millions of employees in holiday shopping mode with access to their employer's fast high speed Internet connections. This effect is strong enough to move the stock market.

How do you as an employer monitor and control productivity and use of your corporate resources? Here are some ideas to get you started:

Set realistic expectations. It isn't reasonable to expect that your employees will run at 100% for the seven or eight hours they are working for you a day. All employees have varying energy and work levels, just like you do. For example, 3 pm tends to be a time of low productivity as compared with early morning. Adapt your expectations to fall in line with what's reasonable to expect from your staff.

Formalize a clear and reasonable Internet usage policy. It's important to realize that there are benefits to you for allowing your employees to use your company's Internet connection. Example: your employees are likely to be more productive if they can take five minutes to do some online banking rather than have to fret for half a day wondering if they'll get out of work in time to get in their car and get to the bank. Outline what you are willing to accept in the way of amount of time spent surfing. Also, ensure that you have adequate virus protection on your Internet connections to prevent casual surfing infecting your corporate files.

Set unambiguous guidelines for lunches and breaks. Make sure that your employees understand the structure that you have set for their work time. It is possible to build flexibility into the plan lest you worry that you will come across like Scrooge. For example, you can set a flextime policy that allows employees to decide when they want to work as long as they put in the required number of hours per day.

Make sure that employees take their full lunch times and breaks. The reason that breaks are mandated by labor law is that they are important to the health and well-being of people. Everyone needs a little downtime on a daily basis. If your employees generally work through their lunch and breaks, they may burn out faster and become de-motivated more quickly.

Help to motivate your employees and make work fun. There are many ways for you to help your employees feel re-invigorated and motivated. Hold a year end party or write thank you letters to your employees for all of the great things they've contributed to the company over the year. Use your imagination and show your employees that they are valued.

It is possible to increase your workplace productivity without being the holiday grinch. Heck, you might even enjoy yourself at the same time!