5 Ways to Motivate Your Employees at Christmas
With Christmas just around the corner, spirits are raised but performance not often enough. Below Jason Downes, Managing Director of Powwownow, is a firm believer that you get back what you give when it comes to rewarding employees and increased motivation.
Christmas can be a notoriously difficult time for businesses, with increased workloads, higher absence levels, and disengaged employees just some of the issues leaders are faced with over the festive period.
But there are ways to inject some energy into your workforce and create an environment that can encourage every employee to excel through December.
- Incentivise outside the box
Today’s workforce takes perks and rewards as a given, so businesses should try harder to think outside the box for their incentives. For example, cinemas release a spate of blockbusters in the lead-up for Christmas, so why not treat your team to a trip to the movies? It’s quick, simple, and relatively cheap.
Other activities away from the office can be great for team building too, with everything from archery to Crystal Maze challenges available for corporate events. Try polling your team and let them help decide on their own team day out.
- Offer flexible working
The run-up to Christmas can be hectic, so why not offer flexible working over the festive period? Sliding shift times or working from home will be greatly appreciated, allowing them to juggle work, shopping, event planning, and family time more easily.
Research revealed 77% of UK workers claimed a job offer would be more attractive with a flexible working scheme, and 55% stated that it was a crucial factor when searching for their next job. Not only is it great for staff morale, but can also boost productivity and save your business a considerable amount of money if it means you need to recruit less.
- Give them something to work towards
Extra pressure from clients to deliver more work, longer hours and a busy social schedule is a recipe for chaos. It’s important for employees to feel valued, and so give them a light at the end of the tunnel in the shape of an incentive.
This could include closing the office for Christmas, extra days off in the new year, or a bonus. The end of a year is also a great time for reflection, so organising a presentation to share successes and direction for the next 12 months can inject energy into your team. You could also try rewarding star employees and offer them a cash bonus or store vouchers.
- Festive fundraising
Creating a festive spirit in the workplace doesn’t have to cost the earth, and is a quick win when it comes to brightening up your team.
Putting up a tree and some decorations, and organising Secret Santa is more or less expected these days, so why not give something back? Christmas jumper or mince pie days can be a fun way to help a charity that’s close to the hearts of your team and is rewarding at the same time.
- Provide a Christmas shopping day
It’s quite common for employers to offer an extra day off for birthdays, but how about a Christmas shopping day? Even just offering your team a half day to go pick up some gifts in town can make a big difference, and this additional time off will also be appreciated by those who don’t celebrate Christmas, too.
Motivating your employees doesn’t have to be expensive or even time-consuming. Recognise what they’d most appreciate during a hectic and stressful period, and keep everyone focused on the goal for a very happy Christmas indeed.
