Top 7 Ways Your Workforce Can Overcome The Monday Blues

Can you hear the sad refrain coming from the offices around you? Yes, it’s Monday, and those are the Monday blues. While your employees may yearn for an extra day of the weekend, these tips will make the start of the work week easier for everyone.

1. Help Monday Start on Friday

Friday afternoon might feel like the beginning of the weekend, but it’s really a time to wrap up the week and plan for the future. To make Mondays easier, begin on Fridays. Starting Monday with an unfinished task or a hard interaction is a surefire way to dread coming to the office. Set work goals and deadlines that help you and the workforce complete challenging projects by Friday. Encourage your team to make those tough phone calls or send out that dreaded email so that it doesn’t languish until Monday. If you have collaborators who need regular updates, send these out on Friday so that you begin on Monday with a clean slate.

2. Set Priorities

On Monday, do you come to the office with a clear head and a sense of your priorities for the week? Use some time on Friday afternoon to set priorities for the next week. Plan meetings later in the day or week if possible, and plan to get a lot done on a challenging or substantial task on the first days of the week. This will make your entire week flow more smoothly, and you’ll finish your Monday with a feeling of accomplishment. Beware of being too ambitious, though: if you set yourself the task of completing an entire week’s worth of work on Monday, you’ll feel overwhelmed. Be realistic about what you can accomplish. Before you leave on Friday, give your desk a quick cleanup as well. This starts Monday off on a productive note.

3. Relax on the Weekend

Monday can feel lousy if you’ve spent the weekend worrying about work issues or quietly checking email at your child’s soccer game. Create an office culture that encourages employees to check out of work for the weekend, and you’ll find that employees return to work on Monday feeling refreshed.

4. Give Employees the Tools to Succeed

When you feel ready to handle a job, you’re much less likely to dread the coming work week. From training that enhances employees’ ability to do their work, to established protocols and guidelines, and even effective office designs, FMs can do their part to help employees manage their tasks effectively. Listen to your employees’ needs, give them the tools they need to do their work, and utilize facilities management software to keep things on track.

5. Make Time to Talk

Relationships are important, and they’re no less important when they occur at work. Being social doesn’t mean that you need to be best friends with everyone at your workplace, but it’s good to incorporate some time to talk on a Monday. Give a positive tone to the discussion by hosting a Monday social event at lunch or at a coffee break, complete with snacks.

6. Cultivate a Positive Work Culture

Creating a work culture that feels good will make Mondays easier for everyone. Cultivate mentorship relationships between employees so that new or junior employees have someone who can help them along. Encourage acts of kindness by creating a random acts of kindness week or month. Develop regular rewards, social events, and celebrations, even if they seem silly. How about a Halloween team pumpkin-carving contest, or cookies for the office on Valentine’s Day? Ask your employees to brainstorm and help institute these traditions, and you’ll find that morale and productivity improve as people enjoy coming to work and enjoy being with the people on their work team.

7. Bring Purpose and Challenge

Are your employees feeling challenged in a positive way? Make sure that employees’ annual reviews not only cover their performance, they should also cover their feelings about their job. Employees who see each work week as an opportunity to take on a new challenge that gives them purpose in life will be more excited to start the work week.

If your employees are singing the Monday blues, you can help them turn that sad song into a rousing round. Time management skills, office culture, and high quality work tools can help your employees have a positive and productive Monday. As for facility managers, having state of the art facilities management software will make your job less frustrating and more rewarding so you too may look forward to Mondays.