New Year: How you can help your employees achieve their resolutions

The start of the New Year marks an opportunity for change. Resolutions are popular, but if we’re honest, most of us have either given up or forgotten about them by the end of January.

Below is a list of the most common resolutions and a brief guide to how you as an employer, can help your employees to achieve their resolutions, or at least stick to them for a little longer:

1.  Drink Less

Regularly drunk employees may smoke, pile on weight and be unfit, proposition your other employees, go AWOL, haemorrhage money and get fired/resign in the spur of the moment (See resolutions 2-7 below). Clearly alcohol is the root of all evil.  Hopefully, most of you already prohibit the drinking of alcohol whilst actually at work, however, many employees socialise after work. Buying your employees a round of Jaegerbombs on arrival may help in the popularity stakes but doesn’t bode well for achieving this goal. Try and encourage them to have a soft drink or just the one drink. Encourage other forms of socialising instead. You owe your employees a duty of care for their health, safety and welfare.

2. Quit Smoking

Smoking has been prohibited in the workplace for many years yet it is still an issue you have to contend with one way or another. Contact your local stop smoking service for information about the local support available. Consider allowing employees to attend stop smoking services during working hours – employee productivity will increase if they stop smoking. Do not purchase e-cigarettes for all employees as a ‘Happy New Year Gift’ – they’re unlikely to be well received.

3.  Lose Weight

Weight loss is always the most common resolution. Last month a landmark case ruled that obesity can be classed as a disability, which could lead to employers having to make costly reasonable adjustments to accommodate obese employees – a clear incentive to back this goal. Encourage employees to make their own lunch, rather than buy it out. If you have a canteen, offer a healthy option. Jesting comments and workplace banter regarding the employee’s size may not be perceived by the employee as ‘gentle encouragement’ and are neither helpful nor advisable.

4.  Get Fit

This resolution goes hand in hand with ‘lose weight’ (and should not be confused with wanting to improve one’s visual appearance). Encourage employees to use the stairs rather than the lift. Ensure employees take a designated rest break and suggest they take a walk. Look into a cycle to work scheme or gym membership as an employment benefit or as part of a salary sacrifice scheme. Corporate memberships are usually cheaper.

5.  Find Love

No… I’m not advocating that you proposition your employees. In fact, that’s a very bad idea. Work romances nearly always end in disaster followed by the departure of one or both of the employees and sometimes even an employment Tribunal claim for sexual harassment by the disgruntled employee who was cast aside. Ok, you might not be able to help them find love, but you may be able to make them feel loved. Praise your employees, ask them how their weekend was, be a devil and buy cakes on a Friday (N.B. the latter is inconsistent with ‘lose weight’ – see 3 above). After all, a happy workforce is a productive workforce.

6.  Take a Trip

Encourage employees to use their annual leave entitlement evenly throughout the year and in a planned manner, rather than ‘using up’ leave at the end of the holiday year. Consider a salary sacrifice scheme to ‘purchase’ more leave. How about an away day from the office – a change is as good as a holiday, right? Ok… it may not be quite the ‘trip’ your employee had in mind, but if it has a clear and defined purpose (not an all day jolly with the boss – see 1above), it can boost employee engagement, strengthen the dynamic of the team and benefit the organisation.

7.   Save Money

We all know that we need to put more money into a pension, but suggesting this to your employees is going to do about as much good as a chocolate teapot. There are many employment benefits which have a reciprocal benefit. Childcare vouchers are an obvious example. The employee pays for the vouchers from pre-tax salary and you save on NIC.

8.  Get a New Job

This is a resolution you don’t want to be too helpful with, however threatening to give an employee a bad reference or ‘get in first’ by sacking them is not the answer. The employee may simply be looking for a new challenge. Are they better suited to a different role within the organisation? Have they been overlooked for promotion for whatever reason? Do they have a good work-life balance or are they working excessive hours? Ensure employees get recognition as and when it’s deserved. Offering a pay rise after they’ve resigned can be seen as insulting.

For advice or assistance on any employment law related matter, please contact Lianne Payne, Head of Employment at Askews Legal LLP  Tel: 024 7623 1000