How to Get Your Workers to Look Forward to Mondays

The weekend seems to fly by; before you know it, it's Monday. Many working adults find it difficult to return to the 9 to 5 routine after a well-deserved weekend.

The dread that grips many at the start of each week, popularly known as "Monday Blues," can have serious implications.

According to Gallup research, low morale at the start of a new work week can influence an employee's performance and engagement, eventually affecting their well-being.

What appears to be innocent Monday Blues can thus impact the overall functioning of your organisation. Hence, determining what can be done to make staff look forward to Mondays is crucial.

With these six suggestions, you can beat the Monday blues.

 

1. Realign your goals.

When accepting a job offer, the new generation of employees emphasises purpose as a crucial motivator.

Good workplace performance is more than simply numbers and KPIs. You can rediscover your motivation by reminding yourself of the larger picture and the reason you started your job in the first place.

To start the week well, tap into your initial motivation and realign your goals.

 

2. Connect with your staff

Make Mondays a day to look forward to for your staff members by organising simple activities for employee engagement, such as a weekly Monday lunch or breakfast.

You might even make Monday a special day, such as "Health Mondays," where you provide everyone with fruits and nutritious snacks to start the week.

Whatever method you use for employee engagement, make it an exciting reward for your staff to look forward to.

 

3. Complete Monday morning tasks by Friday

Consider what you can complete on Friday before you leave the office to lessen the amount of work you have to perform on Monday. This will assist you in readjusting to work following the weekend. Encourage your staff to do the same, so they don't have to fret about everything they must complete on Monday during the weekend. If you can send one last email to a client or rally the team to work hard on finalising a project, everyone will be able to enjoy the weekend more.

 

4. Make meetings brief.

After the weekend, returning to work may take some time for one to adjust. Employees' attention spans may shorten as they get used to the workweek routine.

Employees will also be eager to return to work to fulfil duties from the prior week.

When your team's attention span is limited, it's essential to keep meetings brief. Shorten meetings by emphasising crucial discussion points and objectives for the week.

If your office has a fixed agenda, it's advisable to time your discussions determine if the agenda is suited for a short meeting.

 

5. Treat Monday as though it were a Friday.

Friday is the most anticipated day for numerous reasons. The fact that it is the last day of the week's workdays allows us to put less emphasis on work and more on activities that relieve stress, like socialising with loved ones or engaging in hobbies.

It's customary for us to schedule our recreational activities on Fridays since the wealth of time on weekends allows us to rest and recuperate from them.

Recreating the same activities on Monday encourages you to get excited about the first day of the workweek, just like you would on a Friday.

If you are concerned about recovering from weariness from your freshly scheduled Monday activity, try to discover ways to lessen the tiring parts of your activity. It could take the form of reducing the duration or starting earlier.

 

6. Consider Mondays to be improvement days.

Mondays are a blank slate for staff to start over. Mondays offer an opportunity to start fresh, even though they might not be the best days at work.

Mondays are the perfect day to discuss how to go forward with challenging tasks from the previous week.

Additionally, you can record your "room for improvement" to determine whether the next steps you took were successful and vice versa, and then you can use what worked the next time you're given a similar task.

While the adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is prevalent in our company, Mondays provide a chance to experiment and push yourself on how you may do things differently.

 

What if the employee is experiencing something worse than the Monday blues?

Even the most upbeat people and work cultures experience the Monday blues.

While it is common to feel apathetic or distressed when returning to work after an enjoyable or peaceful weekend, these emotions are often easy to shake once a person gets into their workday and routine.

A developing loss of enthusiasm for work and elevated emotions, including anger or sadness, that last throughout the workweek are symptoms that an employee suffers from more than just the "Monday Blues."

 

For many of us, going back to work after a relaxing weekend may be a tremendous source of concern.

Re-framing the dreaded "Monday Blues" can shift how we view the beginning of the week, allowing us to truly look forward to it.

 

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