This year's holiday season is here, which is an absolute source of joy and happiness. However, during this time, people’s anxiety and stress can also be triggered, and this is a reality for most employees. Emotions, both positive and negative, are also brought up in the workplace, impacting their productivity and focus.
As a team leader, you can take an impressive step in addressing this holiday-driven anxiety and stress and keeping engagement high during the holidays. As a manager, you can take a holistic approach and support the mental health of your employees.
How Can the Holiday Season Impact Employees?
Before discussing the best ways to keep your employees engaged during the holiday season, let’s first understand how the holiday season can affect them.
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Motivation and Creativity -
The holiday season comes with a lot of happiness and excitement which can spur positive emotions. This can lead to a significant increase in innovation and creativity as well as motivation. The holiday season for some people brings happiness and a lot of energy to their lives, which gets in the workplace too.
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Sadness -
While the holiday season brings happiness and excitement for a lot of people, it is important to acknowledge that it brings sadness too. As the season comes with large feasts, family time, and gift exchanges, it includes nostalgia for the people and grieving for the loved ones who are gone.
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Distractions at the Workplace -
It is also the season for socializing. While it is important to keep a sane head at the workplace, it also brings quite a lot of distraction to the office. In this season, your employees would expect you and everyone at the workplace to have fun, so it is really challenging to keep everyone at the desk.
Now, let’s look at the best 3 ways to keep your employees engaged at the workplace during the holiday season.
3 Ways to Keep Employee Engagement High -
1. Celebrating the Success
There are simple yet positive strategies for employee appreciation that can help your workers stay engaged in the workplace. One such way is celebrating the success with your employees, boosting their engagement. You can send thank-you cards, encouraging emails, or even make phone calls to employees, acknowledging exceptional performance throughout the year that can yield high employee engagement. If the accomplishment is rather significant, you can treat the particular employee or the entire team to lunch or even drinks at a pub.
2. Setting Challenging Goals
If you set achievable yet challenging business goals, it can be another exciting way to cheer your employees and keep them engaged during the holidays. You can set the bar high, but make sure it is within reach. This will motivate the employees to achieve the goals. However, make sure that the goals are openly communicated. If they are in writing, it would be an additional help because employees can always refer back to the list when required.
3. Encouraging Time Off
As mentioned before, the holidays are one of the biggest sources of happiness, joy, and excitement. It usually includes traveling, parties, and family obligations that are required to have a decompressed time after a year of hard work. Encouraging employees to take some time off during the holidays is an excellent way to help employees feel relaxed for a few days and come back to work. Moreover, make sure your employees have the flexibility to work around their families and other holiday needs. Staying offline or unplugged is essential when your employees are taking time off during the holidays, and as an employer, you must ensure that.
Apply these effective methods and you will see a recharged workforce who are much more interested in innovation and engagement at the workplace.
