As we reach the end of 2020 the holidays are on everyone’s mind and one thing is for sure: this holiday season is going to look different. For many employers, holiday parties are the highlight and main celebration of the end of the year, so how can managers and HR teams replace these parties with a similar company-wide culture and camaraderie standpoint?
This year, your organization may have reallocated budget for the annual holiday company party to other higher priority items, or the budgets for holiday rewards and parties can’t be determined yet because of constantly changing business circumstances. In a year where it’s more critical than ever to show appreciation for employees in a thoughtful and genuine way, eGift cards can help make up some of the fun deficit 2020 has brought on by providing an easy, effective, budget-friendly and flexible way to deliver end-of-year holiday rewards and incentives.
How to Create Holiday Office Culture from Home...and On-Budget
At the end of a long, tough year, the holiday season is usually an opportunity to bring the office together over special meals, parties, gift swaps and the like. It’s certainly been a tough year, and remote employees are more likely to feel isolated, given the lack of office socialization throughout most of the year, culminating in a lack of office holiday activities. So, finding ways to celebrate the holidays in your remote office can not only add some fun, but it can be critical to boost morale, increase engagement, and maintain productivity as everyone makes the last push in 2020 and builds momentum into 2021. Here are a few ways to create holiday office culture from home and on a budget:
- Rethink your holiday events by producing social events employees can participate in from home like virtual beer or wine tastings or a virtual trivia night.
- Encourage employees to take time off to recharge around the holidays by providing extra PTO or adding extra company holidays to your corporate calendar.
- Send holiday gifts and rewards to employees. Whether it’s company SWAG or meal delivery that they can enjoy with their families, it will provide a change up to their routine.
- End of year recognition (sales incentives and employee performance recognition rewards) with gift cards brands from popular categories including streaming services, home improvement, sports & outdoors, and health & wellness.
As you think through how you’ll execute your holiday employee engagement programs, think of your Finance team as a partner, and not an adversary. Work with finance to find a budget that works for everyone, especially as the end-of-year budgets work to get rectified to reflect the whole year.
How to Use eGift Cards to Say Thank You
As you work on your plan to build company culture around the holidays from afar, it’s also important to thank employees, either individually or broadly for their hard work and contributions over a challenging year. eGift cards are a great way to say thanks. They are easy to deliver and provide instant satisfaction to the recipient. eGift cards can also meet any budget requirement and provides employers the flexibility to confidentially gift different employees different amounts.
So you’re probably thinking “that’s great, but what gift card brand should I choose that best fits my whole workforce?” The great part about an eGift card program is that you don’t have to pick just one. Employees can choose a brand that works for their lifestyle and their family. Because of this brand diversity, gift cards also provide ROI that lasts longer than cash bonuses. The experiences employees have with a gift card and the memories they make last longer than having some extra cash that may just go into a bank account and go unnoticed towards paying monthly bills.
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which means employee gifting season is too. eGift cards can be delivered instantly and require little to no turnaround time or onboarding, so you still have time to thank your employees by late November.
Register for your free account on Engage2Reward™ today for access to over 300 gift card brands that can be delivered at the click of a button this holiday season!
