Keeping employee productivity up through winter

Right! Christmas is done, happy New Year, the fun’s over, nothing to see here.

This feeling, coupled with the harsh weather (hasn’t it felt extra cold recently?) and the very stingy number of hours of daylight we get in January is a recipe for a productivity slump – unless you apply your managerial genius to your team.

Do you already have some go-to strategies that keep your team firing on all cylinders? If not, here is a range of implementable ideas that you can draw from to get 2026 started with a bang.

Goal setting (and recognising last year’s efforts!)

It’s good to be checking in with your team more than once a year, and January is a natural time for one of these check-ins (New Year’s resolutions and all that). Whether it is you or line managers, arrange one-to-ones with everyone. In the spirit of geeing them up, be sure to mention their successes from 2025 and give them a good challenge in 2026.

Targeted learning and development can have a great return on investment for you, so this is an opportunity to see how they can upskill this year to bring more value to the company.

Here comes the sun… And then it’s gone again!

“Here comes the sun” as The Beatles famously sang, but in January it’s gone again before you know it. Exposure to sunshine is known to be an important factor in determining people’s moods. So, while there is so little of it in January, encourage your staff to get out in the sun when it is shining – whether that be on a lunch break or even for a quick walk round the block in place of a sit-down meeting.

Seasonal Affective Disorder, handily “acronymed” down to SAD, causes many businesses absence or productivity issues, as well as mental health struggles for staff. Recognise it as a condition and be proactive about addressing it to help keep problems at bay.

Company culture review

Okay, you don’t necessarily need to do a whole review unless you have some free time in your diary, but getting a couple of team events booked in could be a silver bullet for keeping morale high. Team building, a charity initiative or just a social brings people together, and in the build up gives everyone (including you) something to look forward too.

Bear in mind some may be doing Dry January or braving a New Year’s resolution diet. A date in early Feb, or some healthy treats could get around this.

Flexible working?

It does not work for every business (or for some roles), but where it does, flexible working is a useful option to have in your toolkit. If the weather is particularly bad, or you don’t want people commuting in the dark, being able to offer them flexibility in how they do their role (as long as performance does not drop), is a good solution – and one that for most employees will be very well received.

A comfortable workplace

While people argue about air conditioning in the summer, in the depths of winter there is little debate about having adequate heating. Although we’ve all felt the pinch with utility bills in recent years, keeping staff warm and with good access to a nice cuppa is fundamental to them bringing the best version of themselves to work and cracking on with it. 

There is a legal minimum temperature requirement. This is 17.5 degrees Celsius (after the first hour) for sedentary work, and 16 degrees, where reasonably practicable, for sitting and low physical work (still pretty chilly). For fully manual and physical work the temperature must be appropriate for human beings.

Happy New Year from The HR Dept

We wish you a happy and productive 2026. If there is any aspect of your HR that you would like to review or you are dealing with a thorny issue, please reach out to us for expert advice and support.