How to motivate staff over Christmas

The office can look quite bleak across the Christmas and New Year period. There’s a skeleton staff and the morning tea round is replaced with Alka-Seltzer.

Here are some tips on how to motivate staff, making the most of your Christmas in the office.

Recognise and reward your staff

Christmas is an opportune time to show your staff how much you appreciate the work they do. Just dropping a group ‘thank you’ email isn’t going to cut it.

To have a positive impact, hand out a thoughtful gift or message in person. This will give each member of the team a motivational boost that will last well into the New Year. Gifts don’t need to be monetary or expensive, something that’s given with genuine thought really does count.

Christmas clean up

With fewer people in the office it’s a good time for the office manager to arrange a thorough de-clutter of the office space. Involve staff members too. Start with desks and move to other areas of the office – filing cabinets, communal areas… When the office has been de-cluttered and re-organised you will all feel a sense of achievement and returning to the office in January won’t feel so hard if you know you have an organised space to come back to. For regular, thorough office cleaning, speak to us about our contract cleaning services tailored to suit your business.

Plan team activities

Ok, so cleaning up the office isn’t going to be everyone’s idea of a fun diversion so, why not plan some engaging activities for the team? It could be as simple as a few rounds of bingo or a quiz but it’ll add some cheer to the office, especially if there are prizes for the winners. Consider a Christmas decoration competition with a prize for the best decorated desk or team area.

Festive flexibility

Most people have pressures from outside work at Christmas time, be it family commitments, parties or shopping – offer flexible hours over the festive period and your staff will thank you for it. Allow people to arrange their hours and create the work-life balance they need. Working from home or closing the office in between Christmas and New Year are other options to reward your staff with ‘time’ over the festive period.

Ditch the suit

If you are not in a customer-facing business, allow staff to dress-down over Christmas – you’ll achieve a more relaxed atmosphere in the office. Could this be the year to launch a Christmas jumper competition too? Lightening the mood will boost morale.

The season for giving

Christmas is the perfect time of year to arrange a collection for charity. There are many organisations and collections for shoe boxes, food banks, clothing donations or toys for children’s charities. Show your corporate social responsibility and get the teams working together for a good cause.

Set personal goals for the New Year

Meeting with staff in order to focus on personal goals for the New Year is an effective way of boosting morale and mustering enthusiasm. Are there work mentoring schemes for those who want to progress through the organisation? Are there training programmes they’d like to consider? How can you help them move forward in their role? Taking the time to sit down with individuals to help them plan-out where they want to be at the end of the following year will have a positive effect on productivity.
According to the London Office Workers’ Survey, 90% of staff feel more productive in a clean environment. If the cleanliness is lacking in your office, speak to us over the festive break to arrange a free quotation for daily office cleaning. Call a member of the team on London 0203 405 8442 or Essex 01279 413 641.