Boosting Staff Morale Over The Festive Season

Read our suggestions on how you can overcome 2020’s winter challenges with digital Christmas parties, fun festive events and more.

Updated on 03/12/2020

The Christmas period has always been special in the UK. An invisible wave of energy sweeps the nation, lifting people’s moods as we transition into the colder months, turn on the Christmas lights and share some mulled wine or a mince pie.

The impact of Christmas is normally felt by offices too, with employees and teams enjoying the subtle wellbeing boost that comes as part of our festive culture.

Obviously 2020 is by no means a normal year and the likelihood is that the pandemic will change how offices have traditionally celebrated Christmas; especially if the majority of us are working from home. It wouldn’t be true, though, to say that Christmas is cancelled.

Quite the opposite, in fact. We’re charging full steam ahead by sharing our suggestions for how you can boost office morale during the winter months and bring all of your employees together (virtually, at least).

It’s time for the Christmas office party to evolve and enter the digital sphere. Fun and games will still be at the heart of every Christmas event - so here’s some ideas for how they could play out.

While you’ll need to be a little more organised in getting your secret Santa presents sent off to each other, opening presents together virtually over a video call will still be wholesome and hilarious.

All you need to do to get the ball rolling is collate everyone’s addresses before setting your company up on a secret Santa generator. The generator will then ask everyone for their names and draw names randomly. There’s a great segment for your team call carved out already.

Whether you’re the staff member who takes casual competitions a little too seriously, or the person who just enjoys watching all the action from afar - you’re going to enjoy a good old Christmas competition.

There are tonnes of ways you can do this over video calls, including:

• A baking competition. Set a challenge and encourage everyone to bake their best Christmas cakes. Create certificates for the winners.
• Best Christmas outfit. We all know that either the high-effort Santa or the Grinch is going to win but seeing everyone in costume never fails to raise everyone's spirits.
• Best take-away. If we’re unable to meet up to enjoy a Christmas meal with our colleagues, having a take-away competition might be the next best option. Just remember to set a price limit in case anyone tries to order from the Ritz!

A huge part of Christmas is the music. It just isn’t a Christmas party without the music. That’s why you might want to consider setting up a company Spotify playlist and asking everyone to chip in with their favourite Christmas tunes.

It’s a sure-fire way to get everyone in the mood and start the festivities. Some programs, such as the free voice-chat software Discord, allow you to add a music bot to your group chat so you can all enjoy the tunes together.

An interesting trend that 2020 could bring about is an increase in demand for digital Christmas party hosts. Having an external host run a night of organised fun might be a good way of letting everyone de-stress and go with the flow; knowing that there’s a fun agenda planned out for them.

Aside from exciting digital Christmas party antics, as a business leader you could also consider taking small actions to lift the morale of your team during winter. You could look to send out some gifts in the post, or even demonstrate how grateful you are for their commitments by personally writing to each of them to express your appreciation.

Seemingly small gestures can go a long way in terms of making employees feel wanted and included, which may be especially important during tough times. Not to mention, it could improve your employee retention!