How Organizations Can Protect Employee Mental Health During the Holidays (and Avoid a January Meltdown)

The period from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day looks festive on the outside, but for many employees it’s the most stressful, exhausting stretch of the year.

Family obligations, financial pressure, shorter days, travel chaos, and the looming “new year, new goals” anxiety all pile on top of normal workloads.

The good news? You don’t need a big budget or a full-time wellness team to make a real difference. Here are proven, low-cost ways growing organizations are protecting mental health this holiday season.

1. Send the “Please Actually Take Your PTO" Message — Loudly and Often

Nothing says “we don’t trust you to manage your time” like watching PTO balances expire on December 31 while everyone pretends they’re too busy to take a day.

What actually works is a Mid-November email from the founder or CEO: “If you have more than 3 days left, please put them on the calendar before December 1. We’d rather backfill for a week than lose you to burnout in Q1.”

Highlight who still has significant balances (anonymously or directly — whatever fits your culture).

Temporarily suspend the normal “two-week notice for PTO” rule in December.

Real quote we’ve seen used verbatim: “Your PTO is part of your compensation. Letting it expire is the same as volunteering to work for free. Please don’t do that.”

2. Declare an Official “No Meeting Zone” for Non-Critical Topics

Pick at least one week (many companies choose Dec 23–31) and block recurring status meetings, training sessions, or “nice-to-have” projects.

Send a simple message:

“Unless it’s customer-facing or payroll-related, it can wait until January 6. Use the time to wrap up, recharge, or just close your laptop early.”

The psychological relief this gives employees is enormous — and productivity on the things that actually matter usually goes up.

3. Make Your EAP (or Mental-Health Benefit) Impossible to Miss

Most employees don’t even know the EAP exists, let alone how to use it during a panic attack at 2 a.m. on Christmas Day.

Easy fixes: Add a bright banner in Slack/Teams with the EAP phone number and “Text or call 24/7 — 100% confidential.”

Include it in every December payslip message.

Have leadership mention it in a town hall: “I used it last year when my dog died and it was genuinely helpful.”

4. Lead by Example — Ruthlessly

If the owner is answering emails at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve, the newest employee will feel obligated to do the same.

Practical leadership commitments that work: Set a delayed-send on all non-urgent emails (or use “Schedule Send” so they land at 9 a.m. the next business day).

Change your Slack/Teams status to “Out of Office — back Jan 2” even if you peek once a day.

Publicly celebrate people who fully disconnect: “Big shout-out to Megan for being completely offline for a week — that’s exactly what we want everyone to do.”

5. Offer a “Mental Health Day” Pass — No Questions Asked

Many growing companies now give every employee one floating “no-explanation-needed” mental health day to use between November 15 and January 15. It costs almost nothing and signals that mental health is as legitimate as physical health.

6. Watch for the Warning Signs

Small teams mean managers often notice changes first. Train them (informally is fine) to spot:

Someone who’s normally social suddenly going quiet in Slack

A sudden drop in work quality or attendance

Jokes about “not making it to 2026”

A simple check-in — “Hey, noticed you seem slammed. How are you holding up?” — can prevent a crisis.

The Bottom Line

Burned-out employees in January become turnover statistics by March. A few intentional moves in December can protect your team — and your company — from that entirely preventable pain.

You don’t have to be Google to show you care. Sometimes the most powerful thing a business leader can say is: “We need you healthy and whole more than we need you online on December 26.”

Happy (and mentally healthy) holidays from all of us at McPherson | Berry.