How To Keep Your Employees Happy During The Holiday Season
For many, Christmas is a joyful time filled with lights, colorful decorations, and festive music. However, there’s usually something standing between us and holiday fun. Often, this season is accompanied by a great deal of work-related stress as end-of-year deadlines approach and workloads intensify. This can have a significant impact on your staff’s focus, engagement, and most importantly, morale, making it harder for them to reach their annual business goals. The good news is that it is possible to pull your employees out of this rut without compromising your organization’s productivity. In this article, you will find 7 tips to improve employee morale and support their well-being during this busy time of the year.
7 Ways To Improve Employee Morale Leading Up To The Christmas Break
1. Bring The Festivities To Work
Since your employees will need to spend a significant chunk of the festive season working, it’s essential to create a festive work environment. Decking the halls and their personal working spaces with lights, snowflakes, a Christmas tree, etc., will lighten the mood by brightening up the otherwise unchanging office scenery. You can also host games, such as Secret Santa, or turn one of the lunch breaks into a potluck. This will not only improve employee morale but also bring employees closer together.
2. Provide Positive Feedback
As the year comes to a close, it’s easy to get caught up in negative thoughts. Employees might be stressed about goals they didn’t manage to reach or what the next year is going to look like. If you let these feelings fester, you will end up with an unmotivated and unproductive team. Instead, make sure to focus on everything positive about the year. Have one-on-one meetings with your staff and commend them on their achievements, highlight their strengths, and discuss their goals for the next year. Don’t forget to thank them for all their hard work.
3. Give Employees Festive Gifts
What better way to turn around your staff’s day and motivate them through the busy holiday season than giving them little gifts? They could be anything from cards or ornaments to take home to a personalized mug or a box of chocolates. The only thing that’s certain is that it doesn’t have to be big to cheer up your employees and express your gratitude towards them. Remember, the more personalized these little gifts are, the more seen and valued your employees will feel.
4. Go Big With Bonuses, Extra PTO, And Flexibility
Small gifts are definitely a great way to improve employee morale, but what if you’re feeling a little more generous this year? One thing you can give them is a gift card to alleviate some of the costs of grocery or gift shopping. If possible, grant them some extra days off that they can use to take small breaks to rest, travel, or attend family events. Employees with children might require some more flexibility during these days, so be open to a few days of remote working to avoid anyone feeling overwhelmed or unsupported.
5. Keep The Balance Between Employees
Something that could negatively impact employees during the holiday season is being unfair with task delegation and time off. It’s understandable that due to the heavy workload, some employees will have more on their plate. However, you need to constantly monitor the situation to prevent tasks from being shared disproportionately. Days off can also become a point of contention. If some employees never get holidays off while others consistently do, expect some dissatisfaction and loss of motivation. Make effective teamwork and collaboration the top priority and boost employee morale by keeping a days-off log and ensuring no one gets preferential treatment.
6. Focus On The Essentials
The end of the year is a stressful time as it is, so don’t burden your employees with anything unnecessary. This is not the time to start new projects that will add extra responsibilities to employees who are already struggling. Not to mention that your staff will lack the necessary enthusiasm and motivation to come up with ideas that will push your new projects forward. Instead, leave these plans for after the holiday break, when your staff will be rested and refreshed.
7. Give Your Team Something To Wait For
Keeping employee morale high during the holiday season will be much easier if you give them something to look forward to. Perhaps an office gathering once all matters have been settled for the year, right before the Christmas break. It could be a way to celebrate the achievements of the past year and gear up for the next one. It will also help employees relax and interact with each other after a very busy month. If your company has remote employees, don’t forget to include them. Host this celebration online and send them party favors that will get them in a festive mood.
Conclusion
Just because the holidays are supposed to be merry, you shouldn’t assume that this applies to all of your employees. Especially when workloads become that much heavier the closer we get to the end of the year. Some of them will require extra support to remain motivated and productive throughout this time. Follow the tips to improve employee morale that we shared in this article, and you will certainly notice a significant increase in employee engagement, productivity, and efficiency.
