9 Ways To Keep Your Employees Engaged This Holiday Season

Christmas is the time to spread joy and excitement. Yet, the holiday season often brings additional stress with year-end deadlines, endless to-do lists, family obligations, and holiday shopping. Below, we’ve gathered simple recommendations for managers and business owners to keep the team motivated and productive during the Christmas holidays.

Organize a Christmas party

The most popular way to keep your team engaged and increase morale is to organize the office Christmas party. It’s a great opportunity to relieve year-end stress, unwind, and bring people in the team closer while they’re having fun and enjoying each other’s company.

If you’re a small business with a limited budget, organize an office potluck. Decorate the office space, ask everyone to bring food and snacks, and plan games and team-building activities. If you can afford to spend more, consider booking the venue for a festive dinner. Plan professional entertainment, such as a photographer, a cooking or mixology class, an escape room, or else depending on your employees’ preferences.

To add a creative touch to your festive party, choose a theme that all participants will follow.

Plan holiday team-building activities

Positive workplace culture affects the productivity and well-being of your employees. Fun team-building activities can help people in your team bond with each other and have a good laugh while embracing the festive spirit. You can include the activities in your office Christmas celebration or organize a team-building event separately.

Top 7 activities for a team-building event before Christmas

1. Gingerbread decorating contest – award the team with the best-decorated and structured gingerbread house.
2. Ugly sweater design challenge – encourage everyone to wear an ugly sweater and award a person wearing the most creative one.
3. Holiday charades – act out Christmas-related actions or characters.
4. Scavenger hunt – hide clues around the office or outdoors and organize a real adventure for the teams.
5. Holiday wrapping contest – have players wrap a gift with their hand tied to another person’s hand.
6. Name that tune – guess popular and classic Christmas songs.
7. Christmas trivia – test how well your employees know Christmas movies, songs, and traditions.

Also Read:

Top Holiday Team-Building Activities for Remote and Hybrid Teams

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Decorate the office

Although decorating the office seems like a basic activity, it can instantly set everyone in the right mood. You can follow the office party theme as suggested above, or simply use paper snowflakes, fairy lights, garlands, and put ornaments on the doors.

To make decorating the office more competitive, divide people into teams and have them decorate different office areas. You may also award an additional prize to the coworker with the best Christmas desk décor.  

Run a Secret Santa gift exchange

Secret Santa is a workplace classic that can build camaraderie and help people know each other better. This tradition assumes preparing one personalized gift for the assigned coworker secretly and not reveal your identity until the gift exchange day.

Players usually set the gift budget (say, $25) to keep the exchange fair. You can also set the gift theme that all participants should stick to, such as items for home or tech gifts.

Traditionally, players draw names from the hat, but you can do it faster and easier with the MySanta online organizer. With it, you can set exceptions, share gift suggestions, and add specific items to your wishlist to give your Santa some ideas. Plus, the app allows you to track gifts, and you can see who bought gifts and who needs a reminder.

Try our MySanta app

You can create wishlists, add exclusions, and communicate with your gifree secretly. Moreover, there is an option to track gifts and ensure that everyone buys a present on time.

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Check-in with employees regularly

Christmas holidays may be mentally challenging for some of your employees. Some people may feel lonely or depressed, some experience high financial pressure, and some face personal issues. To increase employee engagement and help people in your team cope, reach out to them before Christmas and offer help and support.

Here’s what exactly you can do:

1. Inform about benefits the company offers, such as counseling, health screenings, and compensation for yoga classes or other mindfulness activities.
2. Distribute self-help resources about work-life balance, mental health, and other guidance depending on your employee’s situation.
3. Introduce the open-door policy so that your employees can approach you with any concerns they are currently facing.
4. Conduct regular check-ins. Reach out to each person to ask about their well-being, goals, and opinion about the company.
5. Thank employees for their efforts. Use the check-ins to let people know that you appreciate their efforts and input. Saying “thank you” is incredibly important for job satisfaction and mental well-being.

Offer flexibility and time off

One of the best ways to support employees during hectic holidays is to offer flexible schedules or additional time off. Thus, they can organize the holiday without fuss or spend quality time with their loved ones.

Depending on your company type and culture, here’s what you can do:

1. Offer an early leave each Friday as a reward for the job well done.
2. Give an additional PTO so that employees can take care of personal matters.
3. Offer a flexible start of the working day or a hybrid schedule. Discuss hours when everyone should be available to make sure the updated schedule will not interrupt the work.

When given flexibility, your employees will return to work relaxed and energized and can be more productive. In the long run, it will contribute to their loyalty and overall well-being.

Plan a charity initiative

Christmas is the time to share the joy of giving and support others. Plus, organizing charitable activities fosters a sense of belonging and community in the team. Choose any activity you like, from collecting donations to toy drives and working in a soup kitchen.

Recognize and reward employees

The end of the year is the perfect time to recognize the input of each employee and reward excellent performance. Gratitude and recognition keep people motivated and driven during the hectic Christmas holidays. You may offer verbal gratitude, rewards and bonuses, or small gifts from the company to show that the company cares for each team member:

1. Send personalized thank-you notes. In addition to thanking everyone during the meeting, send personalized letters to highlight the importance of each person’s input.
2. Host a year-end award ceremony. Offer rewards to each employee – you can introduce categories like “Most caffeinated”, “Everyone’s best friend”, “The Best Dressed”, and so on.
3. Offer a holiday bonus. Giving a generous bonus will surely boost motivation and keep the team engaged.
4. Prepare Christmas gifts. From gift cards to personalized gift boxes – prepare employee presents to show appreciation.

Make a positive review and set goals

End the year by summarizing the positive milestones and goals you reached this year. Show how you exceeded sales targets, how many people joined the company, and other business results. If it’s been a challenging year, still focus on the positive to cheer up everyone.

Encourage employees to participate in setting goals for the next year. Ask about their opinion and feedback about the company’s operations, and show employees that their opinions are heard. If people can contribute to the decision-making in the company, it will improve loyalty and team dynamics.

Keeping employees engaged and inspired to work in December is challenging as the stress levels increase. Yet, higher engagement means better productivity, retention, and team relationships. Organize festive events, offer time off and flexibility, and encourage everyone for their contribution to make the season happier for everyone on the team.

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