Cakes and December treats waft through the office air. Your staff is busy making plans with family and friends; nights out and shopping are on their minds. There’s a chill in the air, and it isn’t just the change in the weather.
During the December holiday season, your employees’ minds are elsewhere. They’re anxiously anticipating social events, family gatherings and the big days of Christmas and New Year’s.
All of this activity and distraction can take a toll on staff morale, but if you plan your staff engagement strategies ahead of time, these challenges can be mitigated. The trick is using thoughtful efforts to boost morale and keep productivity up during the holiday season.
Why Staff Morale Drops in December
I’ve seen it at companies almost every year, time and again. As the end of the year approaches, projects begin to stagnate, delays start to pile up, and employees seem more distracted and less engaged in their work.
But what causes this decrease in staff morale? One huge contributor is all of the activity surrounding the holiday season. Your staff’s personal life bleeds into their work and can affect their ability to concentrate or complete tasks.
Managing staff morale during the holidays can be a big ask for HR departments accustomed to simply responding to broad metrics about workplace satisfaction. Still, if these issues are identified early, your team can remain efficient and engaged through the new year.
Effective Ways to Boost Staff Morale During the Holidays
Recognize Achievements and Milestones
Positive feedback works wonders on staff morale at any time of year. The trick is to keep your recognition efforts from falling by the wayside. During the holidays, you can boost morale with personalized thank-you notes, small awards such as gift cards, or even a one-on-one meeting to commend an employee for their efforts.
Remember, as team members approach the end of the year, it’s common for them to feel a bit stressed about projects they didn’t get to or goals they didn’t quite complete. December 31st may be just an arbitrary date on a calendar, but in many employees’ minds, it represents a self-imposed deadline, and everyone wants to start the new year fresh.
The stress they feel can build and become a drag on current projects. Reminding them of the milestones they’ve hit in the past year is a great way to boost morale. A team shoutout is one way to recognize an employee publicly, and who doesn’t like to be told, “Well done!”?
Plan Meaningful Company Holiday Party Ideas
The right company holiday party ideas are one of the great staff engagement strategies near the end of the year. But it’s important to remember not everyone on your team will have the same ideas about what makes a good company holiday party.
Some staff members might not celebrate Christmas or eat the same festive food, but everyone typically likes an end-of-year party. You could decorate the office with snowflakes and other winter-themed items and include food that appeals to everyone, from vegetarians to those adhering to halal dietary restrictions.
If your team is virtual or hybrid, ending the workday early to have everyone engage in a game like trivia or online holiday bingo is a great way to increase the connection between team members who are physically far apart.
Offer Flexible Work Arrangements
At all the companies I’ve worked with, employees have always cited how important work-life balance is to them. At the end of the year, when the ‘life’ part of that balance starts to take up a bigger share of their time, managers can keep employees motivated by giving a little and offering flexible work arrangements.
Holiday shopping can be stressful, and your employees’ kids often have school plays or extra activities at this time of year. One of your employees may need to run errands during the workday, and there’s no way around it. Employees appreciate a little relief, even more so during the holidays. I’ve personally seen a little flexibility, such as work-from-home days, lead to increases in productivity at the end of the year. It also sends a message to your team that you’re responsive to their concerns, which in turn boosts morale.
Practical Staff Engagement Strategies to Keep Teams Motivated
Encourage Team Collaboration
A happy and engaged team is a motivated team, and trying team-building activities as a fun way to increase collaboration can also help the team get into the holiday spirit at the end of the year.
For example, I’ve seen companies offer office holiday-themed scavenger hunts and even take employees to an escape room. Either of these activities will engage your team in problem-solving to achieve a shared goal—something directly applicable to the workplace.
Provide Clear Year-End Goals
Each employee’s goals should be achievable and bite-sized, and each person should be fully aware of their responsibilities in achieving those goals. As the year draws to a close, you need to maintain effective communication with your team to ensure this.
For example, try regular check-ins to get feedback on how the projects are going and what progress has been made.
You might also try using visual aids, like an office progress chart. You could even make this holiday-themed by representing employees as reindeer or snowmen.
Show Appreciation Throughout the Season
Your staff morale may fluctuate throughout the holiday season. This is normal, but you can maintain an upward trajectory and boost morale by showing your appreciation throughout the season.
A thoughtful handwritten card, a shoutout in a company-wide email, or even a small gift to an employee who’s hitting targets creates a perception of positive reinforcement. This personalization makes them aware that their efforts will be rewarded.
Everyone wants to do a good job, but no one wants to do it without any recognition. Employees can become complacent and, at worst, apathetic. Remember, your team is comprised of humans, not automatons, and they need a little affirmation for motivation!
Measuring the Impact of Holiday Engagement Strategies
All of these tips are helpful, but if they’re not quantifiable, how would you know if any improvement has been made? That’s why teams need to implement staff engagement strategies that also let them measure the impact those strategies are having.
One of the most important productivity metrics I’ve seen is through employee feedback. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know how your employees truly feel about their work and their goals at the company. Surveys are a great way to gauge sentiment during the holiday season and also ask about how they see themselves and the company in the upcoming year.
Prioritizing morale during the holiday season feeds into a healthy retention-productivity link, meaning happy employees won’t just stick around; they’ll actively engage in their work and enhance your company’s productivity.
Start Simple and Keep It Meaningful
The December dilemma exists because there are so many things competing for our attention during this time of year. The stress of organizing get-togethers, doing holiday shopping, and even feeling nostalgic for holiday years past can really drain your team’s morale and sap their productivity.
But this situation is far from inevitable. I say keep it simple with a few thoughtful gestures. Make a point to recognize individual efforts and provide some fun team-building activities to keep your team engaged and boost their morale through the stress of the holidays.
Your strategies don’t have to be complicated, but they do have to be meaningful. I’ve never seen a company successfully retain talent without celebrating the successes of their team members or responding to feedback.
I discuss this and more in my forthcoming book, “The Retention-Productivity Link. ” I provide actionable advice and cite case studies from my own experience to detail how you can build the high-performing team your organization needs.
However, each team is unique, so while you’re trying out the ideas I’ve presented here, keep in mind that you need to experiment to find which approaches resonate most with your team. Holiday parties may not be possible, especially if your team is fully remote, but small gifts to recognize hard work are always welcome, wherever they are.
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