{"id":7677,"date":"2020-11-23T07:47:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T12:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/?p=7677"},"modified":"2020-11-24T08:06:34","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T13:06:34","slug":"2020-holidays-are-looking-blue-heres-how-to-help-stressed-out-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/2020-holidays-are-looking-blue-heres-how-to-help-stressed-out-employees","title":{"rendered":"2020 holidays are looking blue \u2014 here\u2019s how to help stressed-out employees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By Kayla Webster | <em>Employee Benefit News<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This isn\u2019t going to be a normal holiday season. With the pandemic raging on, employees are bound to catch the holiday blues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/daily-life-coping\/holidays.html\" target=\"_blank\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u00a0<\/a>is advising people not to travel for the holidays, and to consider celebrating virtually to avoid spreading COVID-19 to loved ones. While following those guidelines will help keep people safe, being away from friends and family is unlikely to improve mental health. More than 80% of American employees have already experienced mental health issues due to the pandemic, according to a recent study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt Verdecchia, a senior trainer for Health Advocate\u2019s EAP program, says employers need to help lift their employees\u2019 spirits if they want to continue having a productive workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople are mourning the lack of predictability, especially with the holidays,\u201d Verdecchia says. \u201cEmployers have the resources to help maintain resilience and adaptability \u2014 they need to remind employees they won\u2019t be dealing with this alone. You\u2019ll have happier, more engaged employees when their needs are met.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Employers need the right benefits and management strategies to help employees make the most of this unconventional holiday season, Verdecchia says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read the full article, please click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benefitnews.com\/list\/2020-holidays-are-looking-blue-heres-how-to-help-stressed-out-employees\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.benefitnews.com\/list\/2020-holidays-are-looking-blue-heres-how-to-help-stressed-out-employees\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This isn\u2019t going to be a normal holiday season. With the pandemic raging on, employees are bound to catch the holiday blues. Matt Verdecchia, a senior trainer for Health Advocate\u2019s EAP program, says employers need to help lift their employees\u2019 spirits if they want to continue having a productive workforce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[52,51,95,102,94],"class_list":["post-7677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-eap","tag-employee-assistance","tag-holiday-stress","tag-matt-verdecchia","tag-stress"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>2020 holidays are looking blue \u2014 here\u2019s how to help stressed-out employees | Health Advocate<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/2020-holidays-are-looking-blue-heres-how-to-help-stressed-out-employees\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2020 holidays are looking blue \u2014 here\u2019s how to help stressed-out employees\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This isn\u2019t going to be a normal holiday season. 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