How to spread festive cheer to a remote workforce

With the emergence of a new COVID variant some companies have already cancelled their face-to-face festivities. Alongside the fact that many organisations have large numbers of remote workers, and can now recruit employees from all over the world, it is increasingly difficult to bring everyone together in a central place.

The good news is that the pandemic has taught us that it is possible to stay connected when we are physically apart, as well as embrace a new way of carrying out many workplace formalities. Some companies may already have a host of virtual Christmas activities in place to help promote team spirit and recognise staff efforts after another tough year, or have successfully carried out remote celebrations last year. Whatever your company's situation we have some ideas to help you spread some festive cheer to your remote workforce...

Plan some virtual Christmas activities

You can go all-out and host a virtual Christmas party, organising pizza deliveries and music playlists to get everyone together to toast the year or hold a virtual Christmas coffee morning with bring your own mince pies. Just bringing everyone together socially and away from the pressures of day-to-day work will help gel your team and allow them to relax. There are plenty of virtual options for a bit of fun, such as a quiz, bingo or even a raffle.  

Run a Christmas competition

Run a festive competition before the Christmas holidays and award prizes for the winners. It could be a best decorated tree competition, best looking Christmas bake or even the ugliest Christmas jumper. Have some fun and create a Slack channel or a WhatsApp group to run your competition. Get employees to vote for their favourite entries!

Send personalised thank you notes

Ask managers to send personal notes of gratitude to each of their team. By recognising their achievements it will show them that they are a valued member of the company. Some kind words can go a long way. After all, Christmas is about bringing joy to others.

Dedicate a day to staff learning and development

Providing the opportunity for staff to spend some time for personal development shows that you value them as individuals and want to encourage self learning and progression. There are plenty of online resources available and books for a huge variety of topics and interests. 

If your staff have outstanding iHASCO training courses to complete, remind them about our big Christmas giveaway competition! We have hundreds of pounds worth of vouchers up for grabs between the 1st and 15th December so get them to schedule in some time for their training.

Support a charitable cause

With the exchange of Christmas cards or secret santa gifts being somewhat difficult this year why not see if employees are happy to make a donation to charity instead. Support the Save the Children’s Christmas jumper day or a local charity. 

Commit to supporting employee mental health and wellbeing

2021 has been another tough year and it has affected everybody one way or another. The pandemic has helped push mental health and wellbeing further up the agenda but more can be done! Businesses can lead the way and provide mental health and wellbeing training courses to employees, ask if any employees would like to train as mental health first aiders, provide access to dedicated wellbeing portals or coaching. This will help create a more positive, open work culture and help your employees feel more comfortable talking about any mental health issues. Demonstrating your support for your staff's mental health and wellbeing will help shape a more positive outlook for 2022.

Whatever your budget, there are many ways you can spread some festive cheer this December and ultimately improve team morale. Your employees will appreciate your efforts to bring the year to an end with some fun and recognition for their contributions after another tough year.