Christmas cheer builds morale within companies

Christmas is a great time for companies to participate in team and morale building activities. People are generally in a good mood and tend to be more tolerant of their coworkers especially if the company had a good year and bonuses are forthcoming.

The goodwill that is generated at these events could be enough to get employees to look at morale and teambuilding in an environment where it seems natural and not forced. Here are a few simple activities.

• Hold an annual company party.

If you do not have one already planned for this year, it’s not too late. Cater lunch for your employees and take an extra hour or so to celebrate, mingle and just laugh a little.

Some companies make their holiday party a major event by hosting a buffet dinner and raffle off items such as trips, appliances and cash.{{more}}

• Decorate the office.

Encourage a friendly office decorating competition and offer small prizes for the best decorated office, cubicle or desk.

Employees get excited about competing and for the creative types, this could be their opportunity to showcase a hidden talent and strike up conversation with someone they do not usually interact with.

• Get Involved with Community Service.

Your employees have so much to offer the community. Let them think of how they would like to spread some holiday cheer this Christmas. Some ideas might be to visit the hospital and give gifts to sick children or team up with a church or the Salvation Army to give bags of groceries to needy families.

• Include foreigners.

Companies might explore ways to bring a taste of a Caribbean Christmas to visitors on the island. Cruise ships and the airport might be places where you can welcome guests with a few Christmas carols and offer a taste of local dishes. This can build the potential for visitors to return and your employees to get some time away from the office.

• Make it annual.

Nothing says stability like a time-tested tradition. Once you’ve decided on an activity, make it an annual event so employees have something to look forward to. You can vary the activity each year but make sure it occurs annually and let the employees decide what they want.

• Get full participation.

Activities are even more successful when the CEO of the company takes part as a regular employee. Employees like to see that if only for one day their CEO/ President is able to put aside their title and be one of the workers. The CEO should not try to run the show but take orders and do as told to make the event an even greater success.