HR Dilemma: Should you encourage staff to have New Year's resolutions?

January is a dangerous month for both employers and employees; businesses risk losing talent as the ‘New Year, new job’ virus spreads, and employees are forced back into a corporate environment following the Christmas break, risking being held at ransom by ‘Blue Monday’.

With stress symptoms slowly spreading across into the workforce, an initiative that could help ease staff back is encouraging them to make a New Year’s resolution.

Paula Ruane, Founder of Ruane BioEnergetics, believes that discussing personal goals with staff in the New Year could help to stave off the post-Christmas blues. She explains: “HR should encourage staff to plan their new year’s resolutions for their personal lives, and ask managers to discuss these resolutions with their staff on a one-to-one basis. This is not work related - it’s about managers engaging with the individual.”

However, our secret HR Director believes there is nothing worse: “Why do we drive ourselves to this behaviour of ‘turning over a new leaf’ or ‘having a word with ourselves’ every year and at the beginning of the year? In fact, why would you wait until 1st January to start objectives that are clearly designed to improve yourself now?