The further we get into the busy Christmas period; the more employee wellbeing becomes important. But why?
For many businesses, the holiday season is a busy time where opportunities are everywhere. However, this intense period can increase stress and compromise the well-being of your employees.
Nowadays, employee wellbeing and happiness are the responsibility of the entire business management.
A study by the Health and Safety Executive in the UK shows that de-motivated employees average around 2.17 sick days per month, while engaged employees only take 1.25 sick days per month. This decrease in absences translates into an increase in revenue.
Ensuring employee wellbeing will benefit your organisation. And what better time of year than the holidays to set up a wellness policy in your company? But how do we get started?
With these 6 tips from the Novative team, you will support employee wellbeing over the holiday season 👇
Introduction
The further we get into the busy Christmas period; the more employee wellbeing becomes important. But why?
For many businesses, the holiday season is a busy time where opportunities are everywhere. However, this intense period can increase stress and compromise the well-being of your employees.
Nowadays, employee wellbeing and happiness are the responsibility of the entire business management.
A study by the Health and Safety Executive in the UK shows that de-motivated employees average around 2.17 sick days per month, while engaged employees only take 1.25 sick days per month. This decrease in absences translates into an increase in revenue.
Ensuring employee wellbeing will benefit your organisation. And what better time of year than the holidays to set up a wellness policy in your company? But how do we get started?
With these 6 tips from the Novative team, you will support employee wellbeing over the holiday season 👇
#1 Improve Wellbeing by Understanding What Makes Your Employees Happy
Firstly, absorbing the meaning of “wellbeing” is crucial.
The whole mental, physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing of your staff is referred to as “employee wellbeing.”
Wellbeing includes happiness, job satisfaction, integration, engagement, sense of belonging and work-life balance. But the order of priority may vary from company to company or employee to employee. This is why it is important to understand what is most important to your employees. But how?
To better understand your employees and what motivates them, you can start by conducting a survey and asking what would support them over the Christmas period. Some will tell you that they would like more time off to enjoy their family, others prefer a few days of remote working or a special bonus. Knowing this, you can tailor your measures to the priority needs.
It is entirely beneficial for your company to encourage the expression and communication of needs. This helps to reduce the frustration of your teams and increases the commitment of your employees. And we all know that motivated and happy employees are always more productive. Supporting employee wellbeing during the holiday season is therefore the smartest move for your business.
#2 Get the Team into the Holiday Spirit
Embrace the festivities & get the team into the holiday spirit. And even if part of your team works remotely, it is possible!
Holiday spirit is a powerful motivator. It is a time of joy and goodwill. Start by decorating the office, organise Christmas activities such as a party or a meal, give gifts to your employees and above all, make sure that you… thank them! There is nothing more satisfying than recognition.
Running out of ideas? No problem, here is our selection of the best Christmas activities in the office:
- Plan a Secret Santa! You can even arrange it with your remote team. Find out how!
- Hold a competition for the best decorated tree
- Start a company advent calendar with a surprise every day!
- Launch the best Christmas jumper competition
- Create a shared Christmas playlist, ask your employees to add their favourite Christmas song and start a Music Trivia Game.
- Host the best Christmas party ever!
Set up one or more of your activities to support employee wellbeing during the holiday season!
#3 Celebrate the holidays or not, it is up to your employees
Hiring internationally is now a common practice, and your team will undoubtedly include people from various religious and cultural backgrounds. This means that Christmas is not for everyone.
You need to make sure that your employees are not under pressure to attend the Christmas party or activities. This way, everyone will be free to choose and no one will feel bad about not coming if they don’t want to or can’t participate.
Also, if you are planning a Secret Santa or gift-giving event, make participation optional. Some employees may not have the time, money or inclination to participate. And there is nothing wrong with that!
The holiday atmosphere should be festive and joyful and should not add extra stress to employees.
#4 Surprise your team with a free day off
It’s critical to understand that achieving targets with tight deadlines, especially during Christmas, forces people to put in extra hours. Such a situation can increase your employees’ stress and dissatisfaction as they can’t get some good rest.
Surprise your employees with a free day off to help them renew their energy. With Nova Smart NG, you can apply a day off to your entire teams in just 3 clicks. Check how!
#4 Surprise your team with a free day off
It’s critical to understand that achieving targets with tight deadlines, especially during Christmas, forces people to put in extra hours. Such a situation can increase your employees’ stress and dissatisfaction as they can’t get some good rest.
Surprise your employees with a free day off to help them renew their energy. With Nova Smart NG, you can apply a day off to your entire teams in just 3 clicks. Check how!
#5 Enhance Employee Wellbeing through Social Media Shout Outs
Shouting out employees on the company’s social media profiles is one of the simplest free employee appreciation ideas that can enhance employee wellbeing. It can also be beneficial if you manage a remote team.
Creating shout-out content will cost you nothing. All you have to do is take a high-quality photo, make a list of the best performers’ names, positions, departments and mention their key achievements.
Make them feel like SUPERHEROES . 🦸♂️ 🦸
You can also post a simple and funny mini-interview, asking random questions to show the funny side of your employees.
Identify the best performers across the departments and contact your marketing team to create content and plan it in their content calendar.
#5 Enhance Employee Wellbeing through Social Media Shout Outs
Shouting out employees on the company’s social media profiles is one of the simplest free employee appreciation ideas that can enhance employee wellbeing. It can also be beneficial if you manage a remote team.
Creating shout-out content will cost you nothing. All you have to do is take a high-quality photo, make a list of the best performers’ names, positions, departments and mention their key achievements.
Make them feel like SUPERHEROES . 🦸♂️ 🦸
You can also post a simple and funny mini-interview, asking random questions to show the funny side of your employees.
Identify the best performers across the departments and contact your marketing team to create content and plan it in their content calendar.
#6 Support your employees in coming back to work
Coming back to work after a break can be hard, but you can overcome this by planning ahead on how to settle back into work.
By encouraging departments and individuals to plan for the return of the office, you can help to ensure their wellbeing.
Ask your employees to send an email with all the tasks, the status of each one of them, and who you have appointed to oversee any task while they are on vacation.
Also ask them to set up an email autoreply with a simple message indicating how long they will be off and who to contact in the event of emergency.
It’s also an opportunity to remind your employees that holidays are for resting and that they don’t need to answer their emails during this period.
During the holiday season or any other time of the year, the well-being and engagement of your employees is crucial to the success of your business.
At Novative, this is a subject we discuss regularly. Follow us to make sure you don’t miss any of our content on this subject!
During the holiday season or any other time of the year, the well-being and engagement of your employees is crucial to the success of your business.
At Novative, this is a subject we discuss regularly. Follow us to make sure you don’t miss any of our content on this subject!
