Five ways to connect, recognise, and reward employees in the absence of an end of year party

With Christmas seemingly around the corner, we’re all realising that this year it will be a season like no other. While companies would usually celebrate the Christmas season with an office party, after-work activities, lunches and festive decorations around the office, the current work environment prevents most of this from happening.

While getting swept up in financial concerns and end-of-year sales targets, it is more important than ever that companies pay extra attention to their employees’ needs and keep the festivities going this holiday season. We can’t keep asking more from our employees, and expecting them to keep giving more and more of themselves to their job without us giving something back in return. It’s now time to acknowledge the sacrifices they’ve made and the hard work they’ve given to your company.

Employers should take advantage of this window of opportunity to show their appreciation and give their employees some positive encouragement to help them get through this last stretch of the year. What’s more, employers can find new ways to boost morale and connections into the new year and beyond. Here are five ideas to connect, recognise and reward your employees this Christmas season:

1. Build employee connections with virtual festive activities

Even though in-person Christmas parties might not be on the agenda this year, your teams can still come together to celebrate – there are plenty of fun ways you can help connect your employees virtually and engage remote workers. While happy hours were great at the beginning of remote work, you can take things to the next level now by pairing your group calls with activities. Here are a few ideas to bring to your next after-work hangout:

Make happy hour more interesting by making the drinks together – find a few recipes and have employees buy their ingredients or send the ingredients to them.
Get creative and decorate gingerbread houses together – no matter how they turn out, people will still have a great memory and maybe even some shared laughter
Encourage employees to dig their ugly Christmas sweaters out of the closet and post them on a social feed. Have employees vote on their favourites!
Don’t feel like dressing up yourself? Host a dress-up competition for employees’ pets, and the winner will receive new toys in the mail.
Have a holiday baking competition – employees can choose their own recipes or select from a list and send pictures of the finished products, and the winner receives a new apron, kitchen supplies or a basket of goodies.
Keep your employees engaged and interested in these calls by pairing them with activities, and you’ll help your employees better connect with each other and the company.

2. Focus on recognising daily achievements

While recognition is always important, it is especially key during these challenging times. In fact, in a recent Reward Gateway survey of 1,500 employees, respondents said they prefer a ‘simple thank you for their contributions’ this holiday season. You can do your part to keep morale high and prevent employee burnout with key moments of recognition, especially for employees who are remote and may not be as visible on a day-to-day basis. When employees are recognised by both managers and other employees, this strengthens connections across multiple levels of the company and shows employees that they are truly valued.

Consider having a Day of Thanks, where you encourage everyone in the company to send an eCard to someone who has helped them in some way. Bring a little extra flair to what employees are sending by customising eCards with special messages, or align them to your values.

3. Take recognition to the next level with monetary awards

Monetary awards help take recognition strategy to new heights – digital awards are especially useful right now, as most of us are not in offices and cannot give in-person gifts to employees. With the right employee engagement platform you’ll save time by sending bulk awards to all of your employees at once, which is a big benefit for time-poor HR teams.

I’m reminded of a manufacturing company Amtico, which had a very manual process, including giving out physical gift cards. But the organisation realised it needed to shift to digital reward and recognition and give its people more personalised redemption options. This tapped into a key feature of the organisation's employee engagement platform 'MyAmtico' to allow for digital gifting. Modernising its approach to reward and recognition led to 95% platform engagement on the all-in-one platform. Sending awards this Christmas season will show your employees that you appreciate them, and the awards will be more meaningful as employees can redeem them quickly and easily for the gifts of their choice.

4. Support your employees by putting the spotlight on wellbeing

It’s important to let your employees know that their wellbeing is top of mind for you. One way you can support your employees’ wellbeing is by giving them a Wellbeing Centre, where they can find recipes to try during the holidays, workout videos to stay active even when it’s cold and mindfulness videos to promote mental wellbeing.

Support your employees by encouraging an open dialogue on wellbeing in your company – encourage employees to take time for themselves, to spend time with their families and friends and to focus on their wellbeing this holiday season. When your employees are appreciated, they will be more motivated and focused in the work they do, so give them the time and space they need to work on their wellbeing.

For many of us, this time tends to be about festive cheer, team Christmas lunches or parties, silly jumpers, and a time of togetherness with our friends and family. With these all under threat this year we all need to be mindful of the effect that will have on many employees’ mental and emotional wellbeing, and the effect that in turn may have on their attitude to work.

5. Empower your people with employee discounts to make shopping easier

In a recent survey, we found that 58% of employees would give up their holiday bonus in favour of more frequent rewards throughout the year, and that more than half of employees prefer ongoing recognition and savings to a Christmas office party.

Even without a global pandemic, fulfilling the Christmas shopping list can create a mountain of stress – employees may be struggling to make ends meet and feel under pressure to buy presents they can’t afford. Employee discounts are a great way to relieve this financial stress, as you help your employees save money at hundreds of retailers.

Saving money on gifts, everyday purchases and entertainment is valuable to your employees year-round, so help your employees relieve their financial stress during the festive season and beyond by giving them new ways to save.

We may not be coming to the end of the crisis, but certainly this time of closing off one year and going into another one calls for something to acknowledge what your people have experienced this year. We have an opportunity to connect and celebrate with each other this holiday season despite the physical distance. And even though this year’s celebration looks a little different, we can find better ways to use our resources and connect our people.

The author is Robert Hicks, Group HR Director at Reward Gateway.

This article is provided by Reward Gateway.