How to strengthen employee engagement at Christmas?
3 de December, 2024
Christmas is just around the corner and the festive season tends to be an important time for organizations. Christmas celebrations are a good opportunity to reinforce the organizational culture and encourage employee engagement.
However, this engagement can – and should – be promoted through other initiatives that go beyond the traditional Christmas dinner.
Discover some ideas that will enable you to motivate and recognize employees, boost team cohesion and connect them to the company’s values and purpose.
Read also: 7 tips for engaging remote workers
1 – Decorating the workplace
Rather than just decorating the space, invite employees to take part in the decorations. Each person can help put up lights, add an ornament to the Christmas tree or put props on the walls, for example.
In addition, you can create a wall with Christmas wishes and encourage employees to leave a message.
The fact that people have the opportunity to actively participate in the decorations, rather than just seeing the workplace already decorated, can help increase their sense of belonging to the organization.
2 – Plan the different activities and celebrations
This festive season is, as its name suggests, a time of celebration and togetherness. That’s why the usual Christmas parties are, par excellence, a way of bringing employees together in a more relaxed and informal atmosphere.
Plan your company’s Christmas events in such a way that people can strengthen the ties that bind them together and also their connection to the company itself. If you have hybrid or remote employees, planning activities that foster team spirit is even more important, since people are physically distant.
Leaders should take advantage of the Christmas holidays to show their appreciation for the effort and work put in by their teams during the year.
3 – Recognize and reward employees
When employees believe that their work will be recognized, they are 2.7 times more likely to feel highly engagement with the organization. So, although recognition should be present throughout the year and should be intrinsic to the organizational culture, the festive season is an excellent opportunity to thank employees for what they have done and achieved.
Consider rewarding this effort through non-financial rewards – such as a personalized gift or a basket, for example – but also financial rewards, as is the case with Edenred Gift.
This digital gift card is designed precisely to reward and encourage employees and can be used in dozens of major brands. Each employee decides to spend the amount received where it is most useful to them.
4 – Organize team building activities
The festive season is also a good time to carry out team building activities that help strengthen the bonds between different professionals and teams. You can choose themed activities that are related to Christmas and that promote collaboration, team spirit and a good working environment.
If you’re out of ideas, here are some tips for team building activities to suit all budgets.
5 – Provide volunteer opportunities
The Christmas spirit is also related to generosity and sharing, with the willingness to help those who need it most. Encouraging employees to give a little of their time to support a cause will help them engage more robustly with the community, but also with the values and purpose of the organization itself.
Look for associations and NGOs that have volunteer programs with companies, or that simply need help (with collecting goods, preparing suppers, distributing gifts to children, etc.), and organize all the practical and logistical aspects so that employees can contribute.
6 – Promoting well-being
Although the Christmas season is exciting and happy for many people, it can be synonymous with stress and anxiety for others. Various factors can make some of your employees feel more overwhelmed or discouraged during this period: financial difficulties, distance from family members, loneliness, mourning the loss of someone, among others.
For this reason, try to incorporate programs to promote well-being and mental health into your internal communication calendar. This could include initiatives such as yoga classes, meditation sessions or access to therapy sessions with specialized health professionals, for example.