End-of-year HR Challenges
It’s December 6th and you’ve probably already opened the first 6 boxes of your advent calendar. The holiday season has officially begun and the end-of-year HR challenges are on!Â
Decorations, lights, the smells of Christmas trees and cinnamon are invading homes, streets… and companies!Â
The festive season is a magical time in companies when joy, solidarity and goodwill are the keywords. However, the end of year is full of challenges, especially for HR.
Managing holidays, organising the Christmas party, paying out bonuses, ensuring the year-end closing and completing reports are classic end-of-year tasks. Â
To avoid stress and celebrate the holiday season in the best possible way, we will be providing you with HR tips and tricks throughout the whole month of December. Â
Let’s start today with 6 tips to successfully meet the end of year HR challenges 👇Â
End-of-year HR Challenges
It’s December 6th and you’ve probably already opened the first 6 boxes of your advent calendar. The holiday season has officially begun and the end-of-year HR challenges are on!Â
Decorations, lights, the smells of Christmas trees and cinnamon are invading homes, streets… and companies!Â
The festive season is a magical time in companies when joy, solidarity and goodwill are the keywords. However, the end of year is full of challenges, especially for HR.
Managing holidays, organising the Christmas party, paying out bonuses, ensuring the year-end closing and completing reports are classic end-of-year tasks. Â
To avoid stress and celebrate the holiday season in the best possible way, we will be providing you with HR tips and tricks throughout the whole month of December. Â
Let’s start today with 6 tips to successfully meet the end of year HR challenges 👇Â
#1 Plan Ahead
Have you checked your leave schedule to see who is available to work over the holiday season? Do you manually administer it? Or do your employees usually request annual leave at the last minute?Â
Managing annual leaves, especially around Christmas, is a challenge. The earlier you get prepared, the more control you will have over this special period.Â
The Novative experts' advice:Â
Managing the end-of-year holiday period requires advance planning. With powerful planning tools, you know which employees are on holiday and which are available during this busy period.
If your company shuts down for the holidays, you can easily apply the leave for all your staff. However, do not forget to inform your employees well in advance and make sure that they have enough leave left. This is why planning ahead is crucial.Â
The end-of-year period can be a quiet period or, on the contrary, a dynamic period depending on your company and your business sector. If you are in the second case, make sure you estimate your labour needs before creating the year-end schedule. If necessary, it is also possible to recruit temporary workers.Â
#1 Plan Ahead
Have you checked your leave schedule to see who is available to work over the holiday season? Do you manually administer it? Or do your employees usually request annual leave at the last minute?Â
Managing annual leaves, especially around Christmas, is a challenge. The earlier you get prepared, the more control you will have over this special period.Â
The Novative experts' advice:Â
Managing the end-of-year holiday period requires advance planning. With powerful planning tools, you know which employees are on holiday and which are available during this busy period.
If your company shuts down for the holidays, you can easily apply the leave for all your staff. However, do not forget to inform your employees well in advance and make sure that they have enough leave left. This is why planning ahead is crucial.Â
The end-of-year period can be a quiet period or, on the contrary, a dynamic period depending on your company and your business sector. If you are in the second case, make sure you estimate your labour needs before creating the year-end schedule. If necessary, it is also possible to recruit temporary workers.Â
#2 Adopt a Year-end Bonus Policy
Offering year-end bonuses to employees is a great way to lift their spirits over the holiday season‘s long working days. Additionally, the holiday season is the perfect opportunity to thank your staff for all their hard work throughout the past year.Â
The Novative experts' advice:Â
Did you know that 90 percent of large enterprises use technology to implement their incentive programs?Â
Our Novative experts recommend using a payroll software to accurately track bonus payments and integrate them into the standard payroll.Â
#2 Adopt a year-end bonus policy
Offering year-end bonuses to employees is a great way to lift their spirits over the holiday season‘s long working days. Additionally, the holiday season is the perfect opportunity to thank your staff for all their hard work throughout the past year.Â
The Novative experts' advice:Â
Did you know that 90 percent of large enterprises use technology to implement their incentive programs?Â
Our Novative experts recommend using a payroll software to accurately track bonus payments and integrate them into the standard payroll.Â
#3 Allow Flexibility
The Christmas period is magical but also very busy. Employees need to find a balance between their personal and professional lives, especially at this time of year.Â
The Novative experts' advice:Â
If your activity allows it, we advise you to enable remote working for the end of the year period. In this way, you can ensure business continuity while allowing your employees to enjoy this time with their families or to avoid travelling on Christmas or New Year’s Eve.Â
#3 Allow flexibility
The Christmas period is magical but also very busy. Employees need to find a balance between their personal and professional lives, especially at this time of year.Â
The Novative experts' advice:Â
If your activity allows it, we advise you to enable remote working for the end of the year period. In this way, you can ensure business continuity while allowing your employees to enjoy this time with their families or to avoid travelling on Christmas or New Year’s Eve.Â
#4 Prepare the Christmas Party with Care
The Christmas party is THEÂ party of the year for a company. It’s the perfect time to release the pressure and bond with your employees. But organising such an event requires time, investment, and event planning skills!Â
The Novative experts' advice:Â
Our best advice is to plan ahead of course. You can hire an event company to organise the party, but if you do it in-house, make sure that all activities are planned at least two months in advance.Â
Organising the Christmas party is like managing a project. Make a list of what you need to do, set up deadlines and follow the steps to not forget anything.
Your HRIS can help you: you can create a dynamic list to know who is participating or add a notification in your employees’ dashboard to let them know the date and location of the party. Â
#4 Prepare the Christmas Party with Care
The Christmas party is THEÂ party of the year for a company. It’s the perfect time to release the pressure and bond with your employees. But organising such an event requires time, investment, and event planning skills!Â
The Novative experts' advice:Â
Our best advice is to plan ahead of course. You can hire an event company to organise the party, but if you do it in-house, make sure that all activities are planned at least two months in advance.Â
Organising the Christmas party is like managing a project. Make a list of what you need to do, set up deadlines and follow the steps to not forget anything.
Your HRIS can help you: you can create a dynamic list to know who is participating or add a notification in your employees’ dashboard to let them know the date and location of the party. Â
#5 Present the Results of the Year
The end-of-year party is also the opportunity to review the past year. Sharing the results of the year for each department is a good way to recognise the commitment of your employees. It provides all your team with a clear vision of the objectives for the next year.Â
The Novative experts' advice:Â
As part of the HR department, you can present several reports on employee engagement, skills acquisition or internal mobility.
Make sure you have up-to-date reports that you can export directly from the analysis and reporting module of your HRIS.Â
#5 Present the results of the year
The end-of-year party is also the opportunity to review the past year. Sharing the results of the year for each department is a good way to recognise the commitment of your employees. It provides all your team with a clear vision of the objectives for the next year.Â
The Novative experts' advice:Â
As part of the HR department, you can present several reports on employee engagement, skills acquisition or internal mobility.
Make sure you have up-to-date reports that you can export directly from the analysis and reporting module of your HRIS.Â
#6 Congratulate your teams
The Christmas period is the best time to express your gratitude to your employees.Â
This is usually a time of goodwill when your employees will be delighted to be recognised for their investment. It’s a time to celebrate all the company’s victories of the past year together.
The Novative experts' advice:Â
There are many ways to thank your employees. Â
A simple “thank you” can make your employees feel valued and positive about the company. Thank your employees and encourage your managers to thank their teams.Â
You can also organise activities during December to make the atmosphere festive. You can involve your employees in decorating the office, set up a Secret Santa or provide an advent calendar with a gift every day.Â
#6 Congratulate your teams
The Christmas period is the best time to express your gratitude to your employees.Â
This is usually a time of goodwill when your employees will be delighted to be recognised for their investment. It’s a time to celebrate all the company’s victories of the past year together.
The Novative experts' advice:Â
There are many ways to thank your employees. Â
A simple “thank you” can make your employees feel valued and positive about the company. Thank your employees and encourage your managers to thank their teams.Â
You can also organise activities during December to make the atmosphere festive. You can involve your employees in decorating the office, set up a Secret Santa or provide an advent calendar with a gift every day.Â
Have you found this advice useful? Then stay tuned as we will be sharing many more during the month of December. Â
The end-of-year period, magical as it is, has its share of HR challenges. At Novative, we are committed to supporting HR professionals at every stage of the year.Â
Have you found this advice useful? Then stay tuned as we will be sharing many more during the month of December. Â
The end-of-year period, magical as it is, has its share of HR challenges. At Novative, we are committed to supporting HR professionals at every stage of the year.Â
