Four things you need to in the office before Christmas

How to keep your employees engaged and motivated in the final few weeks of the year

Christmas is 23 days away and counting. Have your employees gone into meltdown? Or is the time pressure driving them to work harder?

How you manage this time of year internally not only impacts your end of year results, but it affects engagement levels from employees too.

A high percentage of employees look for a new job in the New Year. Many of these employees will have left work for the Christmas holidays feeling stressed and disengaged. Why? Because businesses’ get so wrapped up in Christmas, they forget about employee recognition. The result is good work goes unnoticed and employee engagement levels drop.

So, to give your Christmas sales a final push while keeping employees happy too, follow these four tips recommended by our Reward Experts.

1. Allow extra breaks to complete festive errands

“Extra breaks?” we hear you say. Yes, extra breaks!

Employees feel the pressure of Christmas inside and outside the office. There are deadlines to meet at work but there are also personal deadlines to complete: gift buying and wrapping, food preparations and often childcare too. These extra tasks at home can distract employees and prevent them from being focused when they do come into the office.

So, as the build-up draws near give your employees a few hours or an afternoon off to complete Christmas errands. Incorporate a rota to manage the extra breaks and make sure everyone isn’t out of the office at the same.

2. Get employees into the Christmas spirit

There’s nothing worse than an office full of Scrooges at Christmas. However, the extrapressures from work and home mean a bah humbug spirit can easily creep in.

Launch a team festive challenge to get employees enjoying Christmas again. Injecting fun into the office will make employees feel more positive, which will reflect in their work.

You could organise a festive team challenge outside of the office such as the ‘on-trend’escape rooms experience finished off with Christmas drinks. Or why not organise a festive bake-off with a tasting panel to reward the best bake. Employees could make mince pies, Christmas cookies or Christmas cakes!

3. Peer to peer Christmas thank yous

Appreciation shown to an employee makes them feel good – no matter who it comes from. A thank you from the CEO, a manager or a colleague will all have the same impact.

This Christmas, encourage employees to thank peers they feel have shown great commitment to the team or supported them throughout the year. This can be done through a simple face-to-face thank you, email, e-cards, or if budget allows employees can reward points to peers or give them a gift voucher.

Encourage the peer to peer thank yous to take place in the first week of December. This means employees will start the month on a high and keep their (Christmas) spirits up until the end of the year.

4. Let employees treat themselves

Many employees will find the Christmas season financially challenging. There’s all of the festivities to pay for on top of the household bills.

With money being tight, your employees will no doubt have to go without their usual treats. So, show your appreciation for their hard work by sending them a multi-retail shopping voucher as an early festive gift. It may seem excessive but time the ‘thank you’ right and you’ll keep employees engaged. A shopping voucher reaps many motivational benefits – employees feel appreciated when they receive it, appreciated when they spend it and appreciated again when they use the item or remember the experience.

It’s great to make employees leave for the Christmas holidays feeling valued and not tempted to look at other jobs on offer to them.

Good luck with the next few weeks! If you want more advice about keeping employees motivated and engaged, right to the end of the year, contact our Reward Experts here.