Megan Wiseman
While many of us are ready to say goodbye to 2020 once and for all, it can (and should!) still be a time to celebrate all the hard work and achievements you’ve seen from employees. We had our own virtual holiday party just the other week as an alternative to the office Christmas party, and while it was great to see some friendly faces, I’ve appreciated the extra ways our company has spread holiday cheer.
With more and more offices going fully or partially remote, finding new, innovative ways to connect, recognize and support employees has become a little bit more challenging.
To help get the creative juices flowing for this year and into 2021, I wanted to share a few things our own clients are doing to celebrate employees during the holidays:
Bringing a festive cheer to internal technology
While it’s impossible to knock on every employee’s door and help them deck the halls with wreaths and bells, you can find new ways to bring the holiday spirit to their day to day.
Find a place where your employees visit every day, like your internal employee engagement platform, and tailor it to reflect the season.
Leading housing and care provider Mears is filling its community blog with Christmas cheer through employee-driven shoutouts to fellow colleagues to drive connections, even if the 11,000 employees aren't face to face. The hub itself is Christmas themed to keep the holiday spirit alive, and the team has introduced a Christmas raffle and holiday-themed monetary awards as well.
Unveil holiday surprises with a special treat
Just like the advent calendar you may have had as a little one, ticking off days worth of treats and surprises is still joyful, no matter your age.
Grab the attention of your employees with special shoutouts from fellow colleagues to thank them for the incredible work they’ve done this year.
Connect Health is the largest, independent provider of integrated community MSK (musculoskeletal) and physiotherapy services in the UK. To celebrate the holiday and its 700 key worker employees, Connect Health worked with its Client Success Manager on a Christmas-focused campaign called "Bee Merry," where they’ll release a daily video leading up to Christmas that announces a winner. The 19 winners were chosen from a combination of employee-led nominations and eCards demonstrating the company’s values.
No time to get to the post office? Go digital with recognition
Celebrating your people at the end of the year can take many different forms. For one organization, EVP EyeCare, it means using its employee engagement platform called “The Insight… See the possibilities” to say thank you to its 375+ employees for their hard work throughout an especially challenging year.
With the power of scheduled recognition, EVP EyeCare is able to send out a “Happy Holidays” card to all employees on December 18th, right before people break for the holidays. This card also has a monetary value attached to it to generate more excitement, add an employee rewards element to its offering and give people the power of choice.
Create positivity on all levels by including all members of the family
Considering it’s been such a challenging year, celebrating your employees has never felt more important, which has led many HR leaders to think outside the box when it comes to creating a positive environment around the holidays. One of our clients, EMIS, a 1,600-strong organization focused on providing healthcare software and solutions, expanded its typical "employee base" to include employees’ families.
Running a family-friendly competition, the HR Team asked the children of EMIS families to design a card incorporating the organization’s lotus logo into an original drawing.
The winning designs, below were featured in an end of year eCard and monetary award distributed to their employees via its Reward Gateway platform, "EMIS Heroes."
No matter how you decide to celebrate, take the time to show your employees you care, especially at the end of a particularly difficult year. Ending the year on a high note and looking forward to the future can be the extra cheer that they need for the final year-end push.
If you'd like to hear more ideas on how to recognize your people all year long, we're here to help. Get in touch with a member of our team for more details.
