Once again, the holidays are here and the festive music gets piped into all the stores and other places of employment along with the holiday decorations that adorn doors, walls, and windows. Most people will try to get into this holiday spirit, but not everyone seems to be able to join in with that happy spirit.

As a manager or a business owner, you probably care about your employees and their overall health and mental well being. You more than likely want them to be able to enjoy this time of year as well as help increase your business. You may want them to try and go out and get more customers or client during this time, so this means they need to be more focused. This means they need to be happy and motivated. So how do you motivate your employees this time of year? Here are a few tips that might help you out.

Recognition

One good way to motivate employees is to give them recognition. For those who are doing especially well, it’s important to give them public recognition for their work. If you don’t already have an employee of the month program you should create one. But, during the holidays you might want to recognize a new employee each day. Make sure to be specific about the kinds of things that employee has done very well and make sure that the recognition is something that’s fun.

Pamper Employees

Another good way to motivate employees is to offer them some perks during the holidays such as free snacks throughout the day or give them some extra breaks during the day. Other things to consider are giving out small stocking stuffers or gift cards for restaurants, theaters, or retail stores.

Keep Them Fed

Good food can motivate a lot of people, especially if the food revolves around the holidays. Holidays can be frustrating and often when employers bring in catered lunches or dinners for their employees to enjoy, it can really lift their spirits. It also helps if they are given plenty of time to enjoy what they are eating and don’t feel like they have to rush. Offering a family holiday dinner is a great motivator because it shows that you care about and appreciate them by including their family members.

Make it Fun to Come to Work

In order to help your employees keep their minds off the stress of the holidays, try to make coming to work more fun. Try and make a game of sales goals. For instance, if you run a retail business you might want to set a goal to sell the most of a certain product and then offer a special gift for the first employee to reach that goal. If you don’t want to make it an individual goal, then create teams and award gifts to the team that reaches the goal set. Find fun games in the holiday spirit that will motivate them and make each day a fun experience.

Offer Charitable Activities

One of the best ways to feel good is to give. Giving to those who have less can help to motivate people and make them feel better about themselves. Even though this could be the busiest time of the year for you, by organizing some sort of community charity event will let your employees know that you care about the community. Examples are working at dog shelters, visit retirement communities, read books to kids at schools, work with food banks, or have a blood drive. These are just a few ideas for charity events.

Be Understanding

Not only can the holidays be stressful for your employees, but the weather can also be a problem. Traffic can be horrible, days are shorter. It’s flu and cold season–the season is full of obstacles to being fully engaged while at work. This is why it’s important to be mindful of the issues employees may be dealing with during the holidays.

If you are serious about being able to motivate your employees at any time of the year and want to know more about how we can help, contact us today!