By Kevin Roth

Most employees will decide in the first 1-2 weeks of a new year whether they want to start looking for a new job or commit to seeing where this year can go with your company.

Managers need to set the right tone, starting TODAY!

1. You likely had your performance reviews with the team. Spend time this week refreshing on any promises made, plans discussed, etc. Coming back to work after extended time off will in itself damper someone’s view of work. You need to take this opportunity to remind them that there are fresh and exciting things on the horizon.

2. Save time for personal catch-up and conversation. This is increasingly important in remote life, where we only tend to call someone for direct, work-related conversations. Coming off the holiday, it’s a perfect opportunity to get some positive vibes flowing by talking about what everyone did, any fun stories, etc. This will ease everyone comfortably back into the work day and allow people to psychologically associate their vacation with the return to work grind, inherently creating a more positive emotional response.

Long story short, managers need to step up these first two weeks of the year and make sure your team feels pumped about the year to come.