Don’t be fooled by the alliteration or juvenile appearance, the Sunday scaries are not something out of a fairy tale or children’s book. Facing the Sunday scaries, like a bad case of the Mondays, is a serious problem that is shared by workers all over the world.
If you haven’t heard of the Sunday scaries but you have held a 9-5 job before, you can probably guess what it is. The Sunday scaries are that sense of dread that starts building up Sunday evening, sometimes as early as Sunday afternoon, and fills anticipating workers with uneasiness, anxiety, irritability and restlessness.
Although we can’t get rid of the scaries entirely, there are things that employers can start doing to make the work week more enjoyable and Sundays less threatening for their workers.
Create a more welcoming Monday
One important step to ridding workers of the Sunday scaries is by getting them more excited about coming in on Monday. If employees start actually looking forward to Mondays, then they’ll feel less anxiety on Sundays.
This is a good reason to start implementing fun events, group activities, and team-building exercises on Monday morning.
While the weekend is designed to be the time for rest and relaxation, a lot of people take time off on the weekend to travel, engage in sporting events, and celebrate things like birthdays and weddings with their loved ones. This means that a lot of employees will end up feeling a bit tired and drained on Monday mornings.
What if their Monday started with yoga, stretching, or a meditation activity? What if it started with an event where team members share the highlight of their weekends through a photo gallery? Rather than diving straight into busy work, breaking up with the work day and starting with a positive and welcoming event on Monday mornings can help set tension at ease on Sunday nights.
Strategies for combating the Sunday scaries
Strategies for revitalizing your company culture and getting workers excited about the office don’t just stop on Mondays. You can implement activities, events, and team-building exercises to create a more positive work environment and encourage enthusiasm from your workers.
- Mix things up - Yes, routine is often a good thing, and consistency is important to ensure your workers are productive and efficient. You can, however, implement things like weekly health challenges and incentives, weekly games, and events that change periodically. Offering multiple kinds of events that change throughout the month will keep things fresh and interesting for your employees.
- Encourage exercise over the weekend - Encouraging exercise over the weekend might seem counterintuitive to making sure workers are well-rested, but it’s no secret that exercise actually boosts mood and energy. Again, you can incentivize exercise through weekly or monthly challenges, encouraging workers to get active and energized.
- Encourage better sleeping patterns - Healthy sleeping patterns is about more than just energy. Lack of sleep is linked to several mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and chronic stress, and a lack of sleep overtime can increase the chance of several diseases. A number of companies already provide power nap stations at work, and encouraging more sleep in and out of work is a great way to help employees get more rest throughout the week.
- Integrate a health benefits program - provide your employees with the tools to take control of their wellbeing, health, fitness, nutrition, and sleep with a robust health benefits and workforce wellbeing program. Not only will they love you for it, they’ll also start loving their work week more, ridding them of the Sunday scaries.
Dealing with the Sunday scaries is not fun, and implementing strategies that promote health, wellbeing, community, and relaxation in the workplace is a great step to transforming how your employees experience their work week.
[Read More: Company Workout Challenge Examples]
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There’s no better way than to revitalize your company culture and create a positive work environment than by empowering your employees through health and wellbeing.
Implement Grokker today and make sure your employees are free from the Sunday scaries for years to come.
