When celebrating holidays with your employees, there are countless ways to make them feel appreciated and give them a much-needed break from the daily grind. Whether you’re looking for a big holiday bash or just a small gesture of kindness, here are five unique ways to celebrate the season with your employees.
1. Send seasonal gifts
Sending seasonal gifts like Thanksgiving gifts for employees is one of the easiest and most thoughtful ways to show appreciation for your employees during the holiday season. Consider sending each employee a gift card or something related to their interests, like books or special treats.
If you want to go above and beyond, you could get creative with handmade tokens of gratitude or even personalized items like mugs printed with humorous quotes. Showing that you care enough to give something special can be incredibly meaningful and doesn’t have to cost much.
2. Host office parties
Office parties are great for celebrating holidays as everyone gets together in one place and socializes outside of work hours. It can be as straightforward as catering food for everyone to enjoy or organizing team-building games such as board game tournaments or karaoke nights.
Alternatively, if you have the budget, you could treat your team to an all-expenses paid day out at an escape room or bowling alley. Whichever type of event you choose, ensure everyone can participate fully. Make sure they enjoy themselves equally regardless of age or ability level.
3. Give time off
Work can be stressful during normal times. But a hectic holiday can add extra mental and physical pressure on your staff. Letting people take additional days off around the holidays is one way to ease this burden. Ensure they still get time off with their families and friends over the festive period.
If offering additional leave isn’t possible due to budget restraints. Maybe consider allowing people to come into work later some days. So they can catch up on sleep without having to use their leave days.
4. Decorate together
Decorating the office is always fun. But when done together, it can bring everyone closer as a team while providing a much-needed break from work duties occasionally. Get creative by involving everyone in decorating activities.
Have teams compete against each other in planning window decorations. Assign fun roles, create DIY projects like wall hangings, set up festive music playlists, and offer hot chocolate and cookies.
5. Plan a charity drive
With Christmas being known as ‘the season of giving,’ what better way to show appreciation than by helping others less fortunate than yourselves? Organize a charity drive around critical dates. These can be such as Thanksgiving Day or International Children’s Day. Here employees collect donations, which will be distributed among those in need in local areas.
Make it even more meaningful by designating someone from within the organization to visit these locations on behalf of all employees involved to deliver gifts personally. This personal touch will demonstrate how grateful you are for their efforts. This shows how compassionate your organization is toward those less fortunate than yourselves.
Conclusion
Celebrating holidays with your employees and colleagues is a great way to show how much you appreciate their hard work and dedication. It’s also an opportunity to help less fortunate people by organizing charity drives and donating on critical dates.