The Key to Motivating Employees Through the Holiday Season

By Jezabel Southard

Posted on November 16, 2018

As the holiday season approaches, you’ll notice employees may be busy, stressed, unmotivated.

It’s up to you to keep them engaged and on track throughout this distracting season. It can be challenging when you’re feeling many of the same emotions they are.

Here are a few tips that will keep you and your team productive and motivated throughout this challenging season.

7 Ways to motivate your staff during the holidays:

1. Minimize the must-do’s

The holidays are both exciting and stressful. Gift exchanges, parties, get-togethers – they may be fun, but they add tasks to days that may already be packed with obligations. People are busy, both in and out of the office this time of year. Between holiday chores and year-end crunches, it can be difficult to keep up. Move anything possible into the relatively low-key beginning of the year. Eliminate non-essential meetings or projects so your employees can focus on their core tasks.

2. Create mini-goals

If you have a large milestone to reach or project to complete by year end, it’s crunch time. The best way to accomplish these objectives is by creating measurable goals that can be reached throughout the project. Being able to check off accomplishments can be highly motivating. Reward your team as they reach each objective with treats such as a pizza lunch or coffee shop gift cards. Schedule a celebration for when the milestone is reached.

3. Look to the future

The holiday season also marks the end of this year and the beginning of the next. Set aside some time with your employees to discuss how the company did as far as reaching goals and what the next year’s plans are. Get them thinking about what their individual goals may be for the coming year. Setting and achieving goals can be motivating.

4. Give time off for holiday errands

Reduce employee stress by giving them a little space in their day to take care of non-work-related obligations. Offering an afternoon off or a couple of two-hour lunches to take care of shopping for gifts, decorations and holiday meals can boost goodwill. Your employees will appreciate the time and will return motivated and eager to express their appreciation with hard work.

5. Be more flexible

Some of the tasks people need to accomplish are difficult to do outside of work hours. Be flexible if employees are traveling and need to leave early to catch a flight or start a road trip. Be understanding when they have child-care glitches or gaps around school holidays. Offer to let them work from home when possible. This kind of consideration can help to build loyalty.

6. Celebrate after the holidays

The company party can be a great way to show appreciation to your employees, but can become just one more thing on a to-do list. If you wait until the busy season is over, everyone will be more likely to relax and enjoy it.

7. Bring on temporary help

Consider temporary employees when you need additional coverage to achieve year-end goals or to replace employees who have taken time off. Temporary staffing can help you keep up with the workload without excess overtime.

How TERRA Can Help You

When employees feel appreciated, they are loyal, engaged and highly motivated. If you would like to discuss strategies to increase year-end productivity or need temporary employees to pick up the slack, contact us today. We can help you hire in Seattle, Portland and Phoenix.

Categories: Employee Engagement Ideas

Tags: Holiday Management Tips, How to Motivate Your Staff, Keeping Staff Motivated

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