Have yourself a merry little workforce with these 10 tips
With Christmas just around the corner, your employees are probably more interested in their present buying and festive decorating than they are in working. We give you tips to keep staff engaged in the build-up to Christmas.
Deck the halls - Don't just decorate the side of your store/building visible to your customers, decorate your stock room and staff rooms too. This will ensure that everyone is feeling festive all of the time, not just when they're serving customers.
Festive fun - Make festive games which staff can play during work hours. You could create a Christmas version of an Easter egg hunt for staff by hiding Christmas treats, e.g candy canes or chocolate Santas, around your store/building.
Secret Santa - Gift giving isn't just for outside of the workplace. Why not do secret Santa for your team. Set a budget of £5 so that everyone will want to join in; it should be fun and not a burden.
Food, glorious food - Nothing says Christmas like oversized tubs of chocolates and mince pies so treat your staff all month long. You could even do an advent calendar style theme and have a different treat for every day of the month.
Boost your sales incentives - The festive period is a stressful time for your employees so why not offer them an extra incentive to work a little bit harder. Choose incentives which they can use in 2018, which means they won't forgot about them when Christmas is over. A good example is an extra days' holiday in the new year. Travel/restaurant vouchers are also a good idea as these will require them to plan a visit.
Christmas jumper day - Who doesn't love getting out their Christmas jumper? After all, they can only wear it one month in the year. You can join the Save the Children's Christmas Jumper day on 15th December to donate money to the cause, just sign up here.
Awards ceremony - What better way to end the year then a company awards ceremony. Obviously nothing too serious, but it could include prizes for 'most organised' 'most likely to tell a bad joke' 'best tea maker' etc.
Christmas cards - We don't mean a generic, cheesy card that will have no impact. We mean a card where you actually put a thoughtful message inside, thanking staff for their hard work and contribution.
Christmas quiz - Create a Christmas quiz that teams can play on their lunch with a decent prize for them to win. To make it slightly work related alternate the Christmas themed questions with work themed questions (e.g targets, products, or sales).
Get stuck in - Managers should put in that extra bit of work on the shop floor, whether that be on the tills or managing the large crowds. Your front-line staff will appreciate that you're on their side trying harder to help them out.
