Leaders Urged To Address January Work Blues As Workplace Stress Remains High

January doesn’t greet everyone with clarity and energy; in many cases, it highlights the lingering exhaustion we’ve carried with us into the new year.

There’s a common expectation that a holiday should “reset us”, that two weeks of rest will somehow undo a year’s worth of pressure, long hours, and emotional labour; however, human functioning and resilience don’t follow the calendar.

The body keeps score, and the adjustment back to work often reveals how stretched we were heading into the break. For many South Africans, the December holiday is not only a period of rest but also a significant emotional and relational season full of family commitments, travel, financial pressure, and disrupted routines that all shape how we return.

According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, global stress levels remain near record highs, with 44% of employees reporting that they experienced significant stress the previous day.

This means many people did not enter their holidays in a state of calm; they entered already exhausted. Rest is not instant. Even when our out-of-office reply is on, our bodies often need more time than we think to recover from the year behind us.

Another psychological layer is that after prolonged rest, the return to structure, pace, and decision-making can feel jarring. Psychology Today recently highlighted that people often feel tired after a vacation because the transition between two very different states, rest and routine, is more demanding than we realise.

Disrupted sleep patterns, changes in diet, overstimulation from holiday travel, and the mental stretch of shifting between roles all play a part.

Unfortunately, leaders frequently interpret the slow start to January as a lack of motivation rather than a completely normal recalibration.

Teams don’t step into January aligned; they step in scattered, each person returning with their own emotional rhythm. Some are energised and ready. Others are quietly overwhelmed, and a growing number are asking deeper questions about purpose, identity, and satisfaction.

LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report found that nearly 80% of global employees are prioritising skills tied to personal empowerment, including resilience, adaptability, and emotional intelligence, indicating a shift toward internal grounding rather than external ambition.

This suggests that people aren’t only seeking better work outcomes; they’re also searching for improved ways of being.

This is where leadership matters most. January is one of the most important months of the year for setting psychological tone.

An emotionally rushed start can create pressure that follows a team for months. A considered, human-centred start does the opposite: it creates stability, confidence, and renewed engagement.

The first 30 days back are an opportunity, not only for focused work, but for restoring connection.

Teams need three things in early January: clarity, compassion, and conversation.

Without clarity, people drift.

Without compassion, burnout accelerates.

Without conversation, leaders make assumptions about how people are coping and those assumptions are often wrong.

One of the most overlooked dynamics in January is the quiet fear people carry about admitting that they still feel drained. Psychological safety becomes essential here.

Gallup’s research shows that teams with strong psychological safety are 27% more likely to report excellent performance and 50% more likely to improve productivity. People do better when they don’t feel punished for being human.

This doesn’t mean lowering expectations; it means recalibrating how people begin. Instead of rushing into performance conversations, leaders can create space for reflection:

• What restored you during the break?
• What drained you?
• What do you need more of to work sustainably this year?

These questions are not soft. When people feel seen early in the year, they contribute more meaningfully throughout it.

So, how can leaders guide the first 30 days?

1. Start with reconnection first: Invite teams back with warmth and ask real questions. Allow people to ease into rhythm before demanding intensity. For example, ideally, as leaders, you shouldn’t drop a heavy task such as having a full strategy relook by the next day.
2. Reset expectations: Give clarity on what matters most in Q1. Slow down the scramble.
3. Normalise the January dip: Help your team understand that this feeling is a human response, and it isn’t a performance issue.
4. Rebuild psychological safety: Make it safe to speak honestly, about work but also about energy, workload, and emotional bandwidth.
5. Protect focus: Reduce unnecessary meetings and simplify priorities. People need mental runway to plan and get their heads in the work, not more noise.

January can be a gentle re-entry or a harsh whiplash and leaders play a pivotal role in determining which one their teams experience.

As we begin 2026, consider this invitation: let this be the year your team doesn’t have to pretend they’re fine to start strong. Create cultures where honesty replaces pressure, where energy is treated as a strategic resource, and where people are supported, not overly stretched, into the months ahead.

Teams don’t return ready. They return human, so, let us meet them there.