This time of year it’s easy to feel blue. The weather is gray, it’s always dark, and the cheer of the holidays has long passed. It’s easy to let these mid-winter blues stress out your practice.

Workplace stress costs U.S. employers an estimated $200 billion per year in absenteeism, lower productivity, staff turnover, workers' compensation, medical insurance and other stress-related expenses. Considering this, stress management may be optometrists’ most important business challenge.

With the shift in the economy, it seems that staff is getting downsized while workload is getting upsized, and this can create some grumpy situations. So, I asked around to see how others are handling stress this time of year and here are some of the responses I received.

• Throw an unplanned pizza party over lunch.

• Hire a massage therapist to come into the practice and give chair massages to the staff.

• Change the scroll messages on the screen savers to something positive or funny.

• Add some extra staff perks for up-selling.

• Have “casual Friday”

• Have regular staff meetings

• Spread happiness

What are your office stress relievers?