Person using a laptop at a table outside.

In most organizations, the end of the year is the time to celebrate and recognize the successes of your team and employees’ hard work throughout the year. But this year, 2020, the holiday season takes on a different shape and a different expectation.

Truly, it will take ingenuity, empathy and care to find a way to show and support your employees, colleagues and collaborators through this atypical holiday and end of year season.

For companies that have gone completely remote, celebrating in person is a write-off this year. Even for social distancing and health-safety reasons, you may want to forego the idea of celebrating in person.

With that in mind, what can you do as an employer to celebrate your team and make them feel appreciated while also finding ways to decenter Christmas?

Here are our suggestions.

Two people smiling and communicating through video call.

Book in advance

No matter what route you choose for celebrating with your team this holiday, make sure that you provide your employees with advance notice so they can book it in their calendars early. Scheduling mishaps happen more than you think, and especially in a remote-first world, it can be easy to double book.

Since everyone is far from one another, encourage the use of video to create a sense of community and unity by showing their faces and their backgrounds.

Don’t forget, although people have accepted the current virtual event and meeting format (#zoomlife) remember that only one person can talk at a time, making events or exercises feel longer than usual.

If you’re a manager or a leader that is providing a speech or announcement to the participants, aim to keep it succinct then allow your team to have conversations in smaller groups. There are some “breakout room” functions available to you depending on the video platform you use. These can be randomized or preplanned.

To counter this, you could kick off your virtual celebration with a speech to all of the participants, then let people have conversations in smaller groups.

Organize a Group Activity

Team-building activities are always an opportunity to help your employees connect and learn to work with one another better. In some cases, they can be really great to help promote relaxation and a place to blow off some steam. It can also help connect employees with one another when they don’t traditionally work together on a day-to-day basis.

Here are a few examples of some fun activities you can do as a team:

Viewing party: Teleparty (formerly Netflix Party) is a fun way to watch TV with your team online. Teleparty synchronizes video playback and adds group chat to Netflix, Disney, Hulu and HBO.
Jackbox games: A party favourite even before the pandemic, these party packs available online come with several group games that can be fun to play together.
Karaoke: an old favourite that we know you’ve missed since March this year, free platforms like Watch2Gether bring the magic (and embarrassment) of karaoke to your team.
Escape room games: you don’t need to go to a physical location to do a fun (and often challenging) escape room!

A person communicating with someone via video call through their laptop. An open book is also visible beside the laptop.

Provide a happy hour, lunch or dinner

You can keep it simple this year and plan a happy hour or a lunch event with your team. This can be the best option in a virtual world and can appeal to the majority of people on your team.

If you go the route of having a meal together online, build in preparation time into the schedule. You can also just ask the team to order a meal of their choice from a local restaurant (#buylocal) and reimburse them for it, a favourite practice of ours here at Crescendo.

Keep it light: the goal of any event or get-together should always be allowing your team and employees to connect and spend time together.

Reminder: be aware that not everyone on your team celebrates Christmas or observes the holidays as you do, or they may also not consume alcohol. Keeping these considerations in mind, check out our other blog post on planning end-of-year parties for more suggestions on how to provide a diverse workforce with an inclusive event. Check out our blog to find out more tips on how to celebrate holidays while keeping inclusive!

Send a Gift

One of the best ways to show your team appreciation for their hard work is to send them a token of appreciation, or a gift. You can send them a gift, a gift card or let them choose one from a list.

A small gesture like this can help people feel connected despite the distance that 2020 has put between us all. Not interested in providing a gift? There are other options, such as an extra paid day off (especially for those who do not observe Christmas) or you can also make a donation to a charitable organization.

Low-angle view of a person's hands holding a gift wrapped in brown paper with a red ribbon.

Make gift exchanges optional.

A common practice across North American companies has been gift exchanges and white elephant parties. Managers should consider making these events optional and employees should not be expected to buy gifts for their co-workers.

Interested in keeping this tradition alive? Don’t put the financial burden on your employees to spend their money. In some cases there may be some financial constraints that you do not know about. A better option that some companies have recently employed is providing all employees with a $20 Visa gift card that can be used to purchase a present for a colleague.

Give your employees the option to participate by signing up on a website or via Google Forms.

It starts with you.

There you have it! An easy way to get your team connected through the holiday season and some tips and tricks to make it easier for you to manage. Connect with us to learn how Crescendo can help make DEI programs run better at your company.

Decentering Christmas: Managing a Remote Holiday Season