We\u2019ve come up with 12 strategies \u2014 one for each of the famous 12 Days of Christmas. Although, unlike Andy on The Office<\/a>, we\u2019re not involving any live animals in our attempt to celebrate the season.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t settle this year for the mass email from marketing or HR. Instead, take the time to sit down and write a personalized holiday message to each of your direct reports. Putting an actual card in the mail, with a note addressing that staffer\u2019s particular strengths and successes for 2020, will help your employees feel recognized<\/a>.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve already encouraged your employees to get out of their pajamas for work. Why not sponsor an ugly sweater party for one of your remote check-ins? This can give everyone a chance to laugh together and make the best of the online meeting environment.<\/p>\n Brainstorm a brand related hashtag and ask your employees to submit their social media posts tied to holiday traditions. This is a great way to be culturally sensitive and incorporate the many different holiday events during this season. Plus, it can help humanize your brand if your marketing team tracks the hashtag and reposts the best ones on your business social channels.<\/p>\n There are many ways to stream simultaneously and invite employees to chat online at the same time. Depending on your company\u2019s alcohol policies, you could even plan a drinking game around the selection. Or get people actively involved (with or without tippling) with Bingo cards tied to different things characters say or do in the movie.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to be live and in person to plan an anonymous gift exchange. Set up a list of those who want to participate and randomly assign people to give a colleague a gift. You\u2019ll want to set a price limit. Remember to factor in mailing (unless your company is going to foot the bill with its shipping contractor). Set a deadline for the gifts to get sent. Then, plan a meeting time for everyone to get online and do a virtual reveal.<\/p>\n Maybe your team typically celebrated the holidays with a lunch at a local Italian restaurant. You can still do so! Plan a time that you can all meet online and then send food delivery to everyone for that pre-arranged lunch time. This lets you support a local business in these tough times while also giving your people something to look forward to!<\/p>\n An alternative to this option would be to invite employees to use their corporate credit cards to enjoy one holiday take out meal with their families courtesy of your company.<\/p>\n End work early one Friday in December and invite everyone to a virtual meeting to play music trivia or music bingo. You could play holiday songs over the videocall and have people \u201cName that Tune\u201d or play along on a seasonal song Bingo card.<\/p>\n You could boost confidence levels in advance by first surveying employees<\/a> about their favorite holiday season tunes. Then make sure your playlist features those choices.<\/p>\n You can still make meetings and the online work environment feel festive. Maybe you have supervisors all change their internal avatars to wear elf hats? Or they could run meetings<\/a> with holiday backdrops behind them during virtual calls? Another idea is to send a short piece of holiday trivia every day in team chat channels. Even just a holiday-themed meme or video can boost spirits.<\/p>\n Encourage employees to make gingerbread people and post a photo of their best effort to a shared folder. You can then poll all employees on the top three or five contenders and award fun prizes.<\/p>\n Perhaps you want to play up the remote work clich\u00e9s? You could send holiday-themed pajamas or company branded slippers. Or simply acknowledge that this has been a tense 2020 with a collection of anxiety-reducing stocking stuffers.<\/p>\n You might create a space in your corporate intranet<\/a> and encourage employees to share childhood holiday photos or swap their favorite holiday recipes. Don\u2019t make this a mandatory or structured space. Just invite people to casually interact and take a festive break from their daily routine.<\/p>\n Many people are suffering the effects of the global pandemic and the struggling economy. Bring people together<\/a> by organizing a simple way for them to support your business\u2019s local community. You might raise funds for a local charity, or you could partner with YouGiveGoods<\/a> (or a similar organization) to run a virtual office toy drive.<\/p>\n Many people are working remotely for the first time in 2020. It\u2019s been a rough year. Show your staffers that you appreciate<\/a> all that they do by helping them tap into their holiday spirit.<\/p>\n The end of the year is also a good time to survey your employees regarding engagement<\/a> and satisfaction<\/a>. Sogolytics has the tools you need to learn what is needed to improve your employees\u2019 experience \u2014 all year round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Traditional business holiday parties are being cancelled in 2020. It\u2019s hard to safely social distance and still clink glasses to your organizational successes. Yet you don\u2019t want to miss this opportunity to show hard-working employees that your business cares. These ideas can help you spread seasonal cheer with staff \u2014 remotely. We\u2019ve come up with 12 strategies \u2014 one for each of the famous 12 Days of Christmas. Although, unlike Andy on The Office, we\u2019re not involving any live animals in our attempt to celebrate the season. #1 Send hand-written, personalized holiday cards Don\u2019t settle this year for the mass email from marketing or HR. Instead, take the time to sit down and write a personalized holiday message to each of your direct reports. Putting an actual card in the mail, with a note addressing that staffer\u2019s particular strengths and successes for 2020, will help your employees feel recognized. #2 Host a virtual ugly sweater party You\u2019ve already encouraged your employees to get out of their pajamas for work. Why not sponsor an ugly sweater party for one of your remote check-ins? This can give everyone a chance to laugh together and make the best of the online meeting environment. #3 Encourage people to share holiday traditions on social media Brainstorm a brand related hashtag and ask your employees to submit their social media posts tied to holiday traditions. This is a great way to be culturally sensitive and incorporate the many different holiday events during this season. Plus, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":5040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[415,164,241,385,560,416],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Season1-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n#1 Send hand-written, personalized holiday cards<\/h2>\n
#2 Host a virtual ugly sweater party<\/h2>\n
#3 Encourage people to share holiday traditions on social media<\/h2>\n
#4 Have a team holiday movie night<\/h2>\n
#5 Organize a remote gift exchange<\/h2>\n
#6 Send your team lunch from a local restaurant<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Season2-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n#7 Spin seasonal music<\/h2>\n
#8 Create a festive atmosphere online<\/h2>\n
#9 Hold a cookie decorating contest<\/h2>\n
#10 Send holiday swag<\/h2>\n
#11 Create a celebratory chat<\/h2>\n
#12 Promote holiday giving<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Season3-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n