Are your veterinary team members tired, grumpy & looking a bit wild-eyed? This may be the reason…
I’ve published a version of this post each year as things start looking a little hectic as Christmas approaches.
So let’s start with the symptoms
Have you noticed any signs of fatigue, grumpiness, stress or a strange wild-eyed look in the eyes of any of your staff? Then they may already be suffering from the dreaded ‘end of year fatigue syndrome’– a strange annually recurring condition that often appears from late November right through December.
Now for the causes
1. If they have children, it may be because of many, many, many…end of year events
Depending on where you are in Australia, the school year is almost finished, or it may be a few weeks away from finishing, and the final two weeks of the term can be a challenging, energy-sapping marathon of:
- end-of-year class parties that require party food to be prepared and taken to school;
- end-of-year concerts at school with additional rehearsal time, not to mention costumes;
- shopping for packs of Christmas cards and the accompanying ‘candy canes’;
- awards nights;
- final school music concerts;
- shopping for gifts for class ‘Secret Santas’ (& sometimes multiple treats up until the actual gift-giving);
- end-of-year ballet concerts that require weeks of additional weekend rehearsals, on-stage rehearsals and extra hours devoted to hair and make-up;
- end-of-year breakups for cubs, scouts, etc.; and
- shopping for gifts to thank class teachers, music teachers, dance teachers, etc.
This list is just the start and doesn’t include family Christmas shopping, work parties, etc.
2. End-of-year blues
For many of your team, and perhaps yourself, it’s been a long and challenging year. So it’s not hard to feel the weight of (almost) a whole year on your shoulders, making it a challenge to reach the end.
Some of your staff may be looking forward to an extended break over Christmas, while others who are working through may find it even more challenging to find the enthusiasm and energy to keep going.
As a leader – what can you do?
Firstly you need to recognise that there is little you can do to stem the tide of the ‘end of year fatigue syndrome’, but there are some things you can do to make it more bearable for all involved:
1. Remember it won’t last forever
For those with children, juggling multiple end-of-year events can be intense, however, these events usually happen within a very short period of time, so after about two weeks, it should all be over (if we all last that long).
2. Have a laugh – because really, what else can you do?
A good laugh is a great way to release the pressure and reinvigorate the brain, and this is backed up by science. According to an article from HRM (How to help your staff survive the November Blues), laughter “doesn’t just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body. It does this by:
- Stimulating your organs by increasing your oxygen intake which, in turn, allows your brain to release more of those sweet, sweet endorphins.
- Stimulating circulation helps muscles to relax (it’s physically taking the stress out of your body).
- Increasing and then decreasing your heart rate leads to a relaxing feeling.”
So how can you make your workplace funnier?
Apart from sharing the multiple cute, silly or goofy things your patients probably do every day, you could start by sharing my favourite joke:
Q: What’s brown & sticky?
A: A stick.
I know right? Hilarious!
You could have a competition with your team to share everyone’s favourite jokes. Or ask everyone to contribute their favourite joke anonymously, and then have a competition where everyone has to guess the author of each joke.
If telling jokes is not your thing, you could also encourage a culture where everyone in your team is comfortable being themselves, and if that also involves laughing at silly jokes or at the antics of the animals you’re surrounded by, then that’s all the better.
3. Be flexible
Children always want their parents to attend their concerts, and getting them to extra rehearsals can also mean coming and going at some strange times, so some flexibility in work times around this time of the year would be a great help to those who need it.
4. Be understanding
It’s hard enough juggling work and family life at the best of times, but at the end of the year, this stress can be tenfold. Children, not to mention parents, can start to get tired, niggly and more demanding.
Even those without children can still find this time of the year challenging. Small dramas at work suddenly become magnified, and low energy levels also mean stress is harder to deal with.
It would help all concerned if, when times start to get tense, everyone stops to take a deep breath. It might also help if someone went to buy a box of doughnuts.
5. Share your 2025 goals
This is probably not the time to introduce a big new project, as any change will challenge people if they’re already exhausted. But this doesn’t mean you can’t start discussing your plans for the coming year.
For many employees (especially those in the veterinary industry), their level of job satisfaction and engagement is strongly connected to how well the values of your practice are aligned with their own. So, it makes sense that if your team has a clear idea as to where the practice is headed in the future and understands how their work contributes to the bigger picture, they’re going to be much happier working together to achieve those goals.
Setting some positive goals for 2025 could make a big difference. It could also be the perfect time to start talking to your team members individually about setting some personal goals for 2025 – or at least starting to think about what they’d like to achieve.
6. Try out a summer schedule
For those who are lucky to have an extended break into the new year, the promise of that break may be enough to get them through the last few weeks. But what about the rest of the team working through with only a public holiday here and there to look forward to?
To lighten the load of those not taking a break, you could introduce a summer schedule throughout January by tweaking some hours here and there and allowing team members to leave early one afternoon a week to enjoy the warm summer evenings.
If this isn’t going to work, then maybe you could come up with alternative ideas as to how to make Fridays special over the summer period. For example, free lunch, bring in a masseuse or offer a longer lunch break.
And remember, it won’t last forever…
Before we know it, the end of 2024 will have come and gone, and we’ll be taking on the challenges of 2025.
So, as long as everyone remembers to keep breathing and, as a leader, you take on the role of administering doughnuts as required, your team should survive the ‘end of year fatigue syndrome’ for another year.
Finally, if you think you can do better than my favourite ‘Stick’ joke, please feel free to share your favourite joke in the comments section below, as I know we could all do with a good laugh!
You could also share your challenges at this time of the year. What have I forgotten? Tell us in the comments section below.
Thank you – yes every year at this time I can’t wait for the break I get between Christmas & New Year. It just cannot come quick enough