Productivity

Keeping Your Remote Team Engaged During the Holidays

The holiday season is a great time to gather and celebrate the end of another successful year. Now that working remotely has become a popular choice among many companies, establishing a connection with your employees can feel like a difficult task. Although staying connected with your team is a year-round job, the holiday season is the perfect time to increase your engagement in preparation for setting the tone for the upcoming year.

Here are a few ways that you can keep your team engaged during the holidays.

Host Virtual Festivities

A great way to celebrate the holidays with your team is by hosting various virtual events. An ugly sweater contest or a caroling party via zoom can gather employees across the entire company. Not only does this provide your team with social interaction amongst their colleagues, but it also allows them to decompress from their periodic work-life stress and from any stress they may be enduring while preparing for the holidays. Try getting creative with the types of virtual events you offer to your team to allow for niche groups of individuals to gather together and connect. A cooking class or wine club can promote a gathering of individuals who share the same interest. Office holiday parties are often the highlight of an employee’s year, so finding a way to incorporate these parties virtually and in a festive way can help to promote your company’s culture.

Provide a Money Management Course

Financially, the holidays can create a tremendous amount of stress for your employees. Consumers are likely to spend more money than they typically do throughout the other months of the year; this can be due to increased gift shopping and black Friday shopping. Therefore, providing your employees with an opportunity to learn different money management techniques can help them confidently balance their finances during this time. There are various resources that can be shared and taught through ‘lunch and learns’, such as how to invest your money, how to maintain good credit and how your credit impacts financial goals. Consider establishing financial wellness programs within the company that allows an employee to create, manage, and obtain their own personal goals. Financial strategies such as saving, investing and budgeting are critical for employees to learn and understand to ensure their money management skills are impactful.

Maintain Productivity

It’s relatively easy for employees to become distracted during the months of November and December due to upcoming holiday celebrations or planned vacation travel. During this time, it’s even more important that you encourage your employees to create a steady flow of productivity. Consider setting up task forces and implementing project deadlines to ensure they’re accomplishing pre-set goals. Avoid overloading your employees with unnecessary work in hopes to keep them busy as this will likely increase their stress levels. Establish a proper work-life balance within your company’s culture by allowing flexible working hours during these months and in return, their productivity level can improve.

Communicate Often

An open line of communication is an essential part of keeping employees engaged while working remotely. Employees may feel disconnected from the layers of your company and the outside world while working from home and this may hinder their productivity. Consider scheduling more frequent shorter meetings throughout each week of the upcoming holiday months. Not only will this provide your employees with the opportunity to connect with colleagues face-to-face but also ensures your team is frequently reminded of upcoming project deadlines. These meetings provide you, the manager, with the opportunity to set regular expectations to deter any holiday distractions. Naturally, effective communication is a key component of remote work when it comes to overall productivity among employees.

Provide Better Tools

If it’s in the Holiday bonus budget, consider gifting your team members new ergonomic tools. This type of action is a tangible investment directly into the lives of your team. This is a great way to improve morale, productivity, and loyalty. It’s also the perfect way to demonstrate your understanding of your associate’s day-to-day work life.

If you want to go big and make a lasting impression, think about offering your team members the choice between an ergonomic office chair and an ergonomic height-adjustable desk. These are the two cornerstones of an ergonomic office. If your Holiday budget is a bit more limited, consider an ergonomic footrest or a monitor arm. Gifts like these will give back for a long time!

The holiday season is the perfect time to thank your employees for a great year of work while also getting everyone excited for the upcoming year. While it’s necessary to keep your team engaged during these months, finding ways to do so in a festive way will bring you more success.