Skip to the main content.
GET QUOTE   Trial

5 min read

Holiday Employee Engagement Ideas: Internal Communication Campaign

holiday employee engagement ideas-1As another busy year winds down, there’s an opportunity to use internal communications within your organization to reflect on the year that was, celebrate achievements, look forward to next year’s goals and take time to celebrate the holiday season. In doing so you can help to boost engagement and morale and help to build a cohesive, unified team.

Tips for successful holiday communications

If you’re going to communicate with employees up to and during the holiday season, here are our top tips to make the most of your efforts:

1. Plan ahead

Having a plan in place ahead of time will help you to devise and deliver creative and engaging holiday campaigns. You’ll be well-placed to align your holiday messaging with your business objectives and goals and plans for the year ahead.

2. Create and schedule content in advance

The holiday season can get pretty hectic as people have a lot of social and other commitments going on in their lives while also trying to finish up work for the year. You can avoid adding to the end-of-year stress by creating your internal communications content for this period in advance and scheduling it so that it will appear at a date and time when you want it to.

3. Ensure your communications are inclusive

A modern, diverse workforce will be made up of people with different beliefs. Many may not celebrate Christmas – at least not as a religious holiday. Understanding your workplace demographics and using it to inform the tone of your messaging can help to ensure your communications are respectful and inclusive.

4. Involve employees

End-of-year celebrations in any workplace should be people-centric. Your people are the key to your successes – both those in the past, and successes in the future. Find ways to include your employees in your holiday communications so that you can truly reflect this: this includes using them in imagery or directly involving them in activities, such as any gamification.

5. Have fun with it

The holiday season is a time of year where people like to have fun and celebrate… avoid serious and boring communications and introduce some fun into your activities. This might be creating animations, interactive elements, making games, having a countdown to the holidays such as an Advent calendar, etc. You want to encourage people to engage with your content, and making it fun is one of the easiest ways to guarantee that.

How to create a holiday communications campaign using DeskAlerts

DeskAlerts can make your holiday communications run smoothly and save you lots of valuable time during this busy time of year.

DeskAlerts is an internal communication software solution that is installed on employee computers, mobiles and tablet devices and features a range of channels and tools to boost and enhance internal communications and engagement.

The system is deliberately designed to get employees’ attention, bypassing other less reliable channels such as email, so that you can be sure your communications have been seen. It also provides you with innovative and eye-catching ways to deliver your internal communications content so that it is memorable.

The following holiday internal communication campaign can be run entirely through DeskAlerts:

1. Send an end-of-year message from the CEO

All good corporate communications campaigns should have buy-in from senior management… and end-of-year messaging is no exception. This year, don’t just send a holiday email to staff - record a video of your CEO thanking your employees’for their work over the past year that also includes an appropriate holiday message. Videos can be sent as pop-up alerts straight to employees’ desktops with DeskAlerts – they’ll never miss an important CEO video update again.

Sample holiday message to employees:

Hi everyone! We’ve had a challenging year this year with COVID and the economy, but I’m so proud of the work that everyone at [company name] has done to help us deliver good sales results and an increase in market share. Looking forward to next year, I know we will continue to go from strength to strength as we expand into new markets and launch new products. Our headquarters will be closed from Christmas Eve until Monday 3 January and I hope you all take that time to rest and recharge, surrounded by your loved ones. Have a merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year – I look forward to seeing you all after the holidays!

2. Share multiple news items easily

There can be a lot going on at the end of year and it can be tricky to communicate it all in one place, outside of a happy holiday email to employees. A scrolling desktop ticker can help you to send information about multiple topics, in short bursts of text. The ticker works in the same way as tickertapes do on the bottom of the TV screen during a news program, and people can quickly read it, or click through for more information, and have a good idea about what is going on.

Example of text for scrolling tickers:

Happy holidays staff! Don’t forget to RSVP for the Christmas party by 15 December

Our offices will be closed from Christmas Eve until New Year’s Day

Our year in review is now live on the intranet! Click here for more!

3. Create and send visual content

Get into the festive spirit by sending holiday themed imagery that also reflects your brand. DeskAlerts tools such as lock screen alerts, corporate screensavers and wallpapers are a good way to send celebratory messages, reminders about events and company achievements directly to employees’ computers so that they are displayed directly on their screens.  These tools help you to create colourful digital displays on any corporate screen.

Example text for corporate screensaver:

Merry Christmas and happy new year to all [company name] employees! See you back at work on 3 January!

 

4. Make it easier to RSVP to corporate holiday events

When you send invitations to corporate events via the email system, they can easily get lost or forgotten about in the deluge of other email that employees receive every day. Nobody wants to miss out on their workplace Christmas party! Make sure that your staff know about it by using the DeskAlerts RSVP tool. It will send a pop-up to employees’ screens telling them about the event and give them the option to RSVP straight away.

Example text:

It’s that time of year again! Let’s gather and celebrate together at the [company name] annual Christmas party! This year we’ll have catering by [company], our annual staff recognition awards, prizes and fun. The party will be on 18 December from 7pm. Please RSVP by 12 December and let us know if you have any special dietary requirements.

 

5. Gather feedback about the year that was

The end of the year is a time for reflection, particularly when it comes to planning for the next year. What went well? What went badly? What improvements could be made? DeskAlerts has a survey module that lets you send surveys as pop-ups to employees’ screens. They can then select answers and you will get results in real time.

Example survey questions:

1. Do you think we had a successful year?

  • Yes
  • No

2. What do you think could be improved for next year?

[include a free text box]

6. Send fun quizzes for holiday season fun

Fun engagement activities are a great idea any time of year. It helps to build strong teams, break down silos, forge bonds and help staff feel happy and engaged. You can send fun quizzes to employees with DeskAlerts in a similar way to how the surveys module works. Quizzes could be on general trivia, Christmas trivia or even fun facts about colleagues.

Example quiz questions

1. Which team member regularly vacations in Hawaii?

  1. a) Stanley
  2. b) Phyllis
  3. c) Dwight
  4. d) Kelly

2. Who dressed up as Santa at last year’s office party?

  1. a) Jim
  2. b) Michael
  3. c) Ryan
  4. d) Pam

***

Taking a little time to devise a holiday internal communications campaign helps to strengthen your corporate culture and make your employees feel part of the family. Get in touch with us today for a free demo to find out how DeskAlerts can help you deliver your employee engagement Christmas activities for office staff these holidays.

FAQs

How can I make employee engagement fun?

Employee engagement can be made fun by implementing creative and inclusive team activities that employees will find enjoyable to participate in.

How do you celebrate holidays with your team?

Work teams can celebrate holidays together in a number of ways. It might be celebrating at a party, a special lunch, hosting Christmas themed team building exercises, reward and recognition events, playing staff holday games and more.

Top 30 Newsletter Ideas for 2024

14 min read

Top 30 Newsletter Ideas for 2024

Internal communication is important in every organization, large and small. Sharing information, news, advice, directives and celebrating success and...

Read More
Emergency Response Plan

9 min read

Emergency Response Plan

In today's unpredictable world, emergencies can occur at any time, without notice, disrupting normal operations and posing serious risks to...

Read More
Employee Newsletter Name Ideas

8 min read

Employee Newsletter Name Ideas

An employee newsletter serves is a vital communication tool within an organization. It helps to keep employees informed about company news, updates,...

Read More