October is here, which means that the holidays are quickly approaching. The last three months of the year can be an incredibly busy and trying time for employees. As you are gearing up for the last few months of the year, we wanted to share a few ways to prepare for the holiday season at work.
Share Your End Of The Year Priorities With Your Team
It’s time to get down to business if you want to end the year on a strong note. You should check in on your yearly goals to make sure you are on target to hit or exceed projections. It’s essential to do this at the start of your holiday season so you have time to course-correct if things are not looking as they should.
Sit down with your executive team to discuss what your end of the year priorities should be. After you’ve reviewed these goals with company leadership, make sure that everyone is aware of the company goals and their part in making those goals a reality. If you want to make your goals a reality, everyone at your company needs to be on board with the priorities you discussed.
Do Your Best To Balance The Workload
Now that you know what your end of the year priorities are, you need to make sure you balance the workload amongst your team members and seasonal workers. A select number of team members shouldn’t suffer because you are trying to reach your end of the year goals. Instead, you need to work on creating a fair schedule where everyone steps in to make company priorities happen.
You may need to get further assistance in the form of seasonal workers. Seasonal workers are a fantastic asset for your company that can help you reach your goals quickly and effectively. Many people in your area are likely looking to pick up some extra cash around this time of year, from students to workers who need more income. One of the best parts about seasonal workers is once you find a set of seasonal workers you love, you can keep in contact with them and use the same seasonal workers again.
If you’d like to keep your workload in house, consider adding some overtime opportunities. Your employees would love to get some additional cash this season, but they don’t want to work for free. Give your employees the ability to make some extra money working in your business this season so you can meet your end of the year goals.
Ease The Financial Burden Of Office Holiday Parties
Ah, potlucks. While potlucks can be a great way to share your favorite dishes with your coworkers, they can also be costly for employees. Instead of doing work potlucks, consider catering your holiday work functions.
Having a holiday party is a wonderful way to give back to your team, but depending on your employees to bring the food creates a lot of stress, especially when you have many employees to feed.
During a time of year when there is so much to celebrate, consider how the company can take the brunt of the financial burden. Having your company pay for the food will allow your employees to celebrate all the amazing parts of the holidays, without spending their own money to do so. Knowing that you need to budget for this now will help you prepare for the holiday season at work.
Decorate Your Office For The Holidays
We know that a company’s workspace can be critical to employee success. When you take pride in the way that your company looks to employees, you can create an enjoyable environment for your employees to come to, which lifts their mood.
Decorating for the holidays doesn’t have to be expensive. By spending a bit of money to decorate, you can boost the morale of your employees.
For Halloween, consider decorating with fake cobwebs, pumpkins, fake skeletons, and Halloween wreaths. You can even make decorating a contest by having a pumpkin carving or painting contest.
For Thanksgiving, use things like fake fall leaves, fall floral displays, turkeys, more pumpkins, and even autumn candles (or melt wax cubes if you can’t have open flames in the office.) Make your office a cozy and warm place to celebrate this holiday.
For Christmas/New Year, you should create a fun winter wonderland theme at work. You can use things like fake snow, Christmas wreaths, a Christmas tree, and other fun decorations. Since there are other holidays around this time of year, you may want to incorporate other holidays like Hanukkah, depending on what holidays the people at your office celebrate.
Make Sure Your Team Realizes How Much They Are Valued
Last but not least, make sure that your team feels valued. If you’ve been working in your company for a while, you may have seen a spike in turnover after the New Year. Increased turnover is typical for businesses, but it doesn’t have to be.
The New Year is a time to reinvent yourself. Employees often want to find a company that will align with what they want to accomplish in the New Year. They may quit their jobs in search of a company that aligns with their personal goals and values. If a ton of your employees leave during the New Year, there is likely something that could have been done to prevent that.
One of the best ways to prevent a high New Year turnover rate is by showing your employees how much you appreciate and value them. Showing your employees how valued they are doesn’t have to cost a ton of money. We’ve already covered a ton of low-cost appreciation methods here on the WorkBright blog.
Taking the time to show your employees how much you care will impact how much your employees care about the work they do, and it will give them a reason to stay after the holidays are over.
Conclusion
The holiday season at the office can be challenging for employers. You are trying to make sure your yearly goals get accomplished while creating an environment your employees can thrive in. Hopefully, these tips gave you some food for thought as you prepare for the holidays this year.
Keep coming back to the WorkBright blog during October/November for lots of fantastic end of the year/holiday content. We will help you prepare for the holiday season at work by helping you show how much you value employees, throw great holiday parties and functions, and end the year on a high note!