The “horror” of returning to the work routine…
Luis has spent three weeks on vacation with his family on the beach. During that period he has enjoyed it so much that when he returns to work he does not remember the password to clock in. After several attempts, the system collapses; Luis gets frustrated and screams. All of his classmates look at him and don’t understand what’s happening. Suddenly, our protagonist begins to feel anxiety, anger and even guilt for having disconnected so much during the holidays. Days later, he shows a lack of motivation for work and general apathy.
What has happened to Luis is that he has fully entered into the famous post-vacation syndrome. Returning to work after vacations, especially those that take place in the summer months, is not an easy task. According to the company’s report software of human resources Bizneo HR, up to 60% of Spaniards could suffer from this syndrome. Its symptoms are well known: anxiety, sadness, anger, lack of motivation and energy in general. After returning, workers show some resistance to starting common tasks that are part of their daily work life.
This fact should worry most executives of large companies, since it has been scientifically proven that its psychological manifestations negatively affect work productivity.
So, how could this hard return to routine be cushioned? We will try to answer this question based on some known data on cognitive and behavioral functioning.
First objective of returning to the work routine: reduce stress
It seems logical that if we know the mechanisms by which the brain disconnects from work so much that it even forgets a password that we used every day, we can extract from there some strategy to mitigate the transition between rest and work.
A first proposal concerns the levels of cortisol, a hormone released during the stress response, including that generated by the workplace. In fact, there is numerous research on the levels of this compound in people with burnout or chronic work stress.
At this point, returning to work after a period of rest should not increase these tension levels but rather reduce them. But how to do it? Well, taking out all the artillery of “stress protective factors”.
A strategy on the part of the recently reinstated worker could be to seek social support among his coworkers. Numerous research concludes that surrounding yourself with trusted people with whom you have a certain complicity reduces cortisol levels.
In line with this, another approach would be to implement pleasant activities before work, such as meditation, which reduces the activation of the nervous system, or physical exercise. As a review of studies points out, the practice of physical activities optimizes physiological processes and creates a more relaxed internal state, ideal for facing the workday.
Give yourself rewards for a job well done
On the other hand, the involvement of corticospinal circuits in intrusive thoughts that reject returning to our obligations has been demonstrated. These are important in planning, reward and emotional processes, among others. Therefore, a good way to soften the return is to replace the satisfactions that vacations bring (fun and novel activities, for example) with others linked to routine.
In this case, one tactic could be to establish an individual rewards plan related to medium-short-term work challenges. For example, I set out to meet two goals from Monday the 1st to Friday the 5th, and if I meet them, I will do an activity that I like during the weekend. In this way, the reward system remains active even though we are no longer on vacation.
Put something new in your life
Finally, and as we have anticipated, “newness” is very present during the holidays. There are even studies that explore how this factor can affect decision-making during rest periods. Here, the strategy would be to establish a specific calendar that includes, in addition to the usual activities, some new ones after reintegration.
For example, I plan the month of September with my work challenges and also, I am going to sign up for guitar lessons, something that I always wanted and never dared to do. With this initiative, we would take advantage of the brain’s attraction to novelty and surprise and somehow escape routine, as has been recently demonstrated.
In summary, returning to our usual chores can be less traumatic, and we can even avoid post-vacation syndrome, if we adopt any of the strategies explained in this article. Without a doubt, the most important thing is to be aware of our physical and psychological needs, listen to them and act accordingly, trying to adopt a positive attitude towards returning to the work environment.
María J. García-Rubio, Co-Director of the VIU-NED Chair of Global Neuroscience and Social Change – Member of the Psychology and Quality of Life Research Group (PsiCal) – Professor of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the International University of Valencia , International University of Valencia
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.