10 Ways to Motivate Your Employees This Holiday Season

After another year of living in a pandemic, your employees may be feeling demotivated or distracted with all that is happening around the world, and who can blame them?

With this in mind, it’s worth putting aside some time to prioritise building a positive working environment this holiday season. Here are ten practical suggestions to help motivate your employees and increase business success during the busiest time of year.

Recognise employees doing good work

Everybody loves receiving good feedback. Make it your mission to highlight employees who have been doing great work and let them know how much it is appreciated. Whether you tell them personally, at a weekly meeting, or via your Slack or intranet, this encourages and motivates all employees to keep up the great work.

Give your workplace a makeover

It’s no secret that where we work affects how we work. Regardless of what type of setting you work in, mixing up the lighting, furniture or seating can make it feel new again. Even a fresh playlist, fully stocked break room, or new chairs to relax in will make a difference.

Sort out your rostering

If you have employees who work irregular hours, get your Christmas rostering sorted sooner rather than later. There is nothing worse than poor roster planning leaving you short-staffed when it could have been avoided. Plus, your employees are planning their own busy social calendar and appreciate the notice to work around their shifts. Take advantage of rostering software that integrates with your payroll provider to ensure leave and entitlements are calculated correctly.

Provide free food

Free food never goes astray! Buy some pizza for Friday lunch or shout your employees coffee. Alternatively, organise a lunch potluck or bring in some home-made baking. As we get closer to the 25th of December, life gets busier and good meals are put on the back burner. So, not only will employees appreciate some free kai, they will also be fuelled up and ready to work.

Offer relevant training

One of the main reasons why your employees might feel stressed in the lead up to Christmas is because they don’t feel equipped to complete their assigned tasks. Ask them if they would like to receive training on anything specific and organise accordingly.

Discuss career progression

Leading on from offering extra learning and development, it’s important to inform employees of potential career progression in the company. Employees may be thinking about the new year and the purpose of their work, so make sure you’re a part of this conversation.

Organise Secret Santa

Mix up your Secret Santa this year by suggesting a gift theme or supporting local businesses only. The key to a good old fashioned Secret Santa is a clear timeline communicated with staff and enjoying a gift exchange on a specified date.

Get active

Good mental health and exercise are deeply connected. Consider offering your employees discounted gym memberships or arrange a social indoor sports team. No matter what you do, working out together is great for social connectedness and offers some respite from all the craziness.

Ask for feedback

Allow some time for employees to have an open conversation with management about what could be improved in the workplace. One on ones are great for getting a picture of how employees feel, or set up a suggestions board somewhere visible.

Give back

Devote some time to volunteering at a local non-profit or ask employees to contribute towards a Christmas hamper. The holiday season isn’t easy for everyone, and giving a small amount of your time or resources can go a long way.

Extra tip: Consider Christmas bonuses

If you're lucky enough to be considering Christmas bonuses, that's always a great way to thank employees for their hard work throughout the year. Christmas bonuses are generally treated as a discretionary payment, not a gross earning, which means the employee does not accrue holiday pay on the payment and the rates remain unaffected. Our helpful article gives more detail about bonus payments.

Happy holidays from the FlexiTime team!