How to engage employees in the countdown to Christmas
It’s Christmas week! While that means spirits are naturally high, a large number of employees have taken time off and those who are working are probably just counting down the days until Christmas Eve. So how do you keep employees engaged during this period? There’s still time to use your intranet to boost employee engagement, whilst encouraging staff to return to your site. Three of our customers share some great examples that you can implement in no time at all!
Magenta Living is getting well into the holiday spirit using their intranet, YETI. The first thing Joanne Harvey did was make sure YETI dressed for the occasion:
A Christmas countdown has been added to the homepage:
And they created Elf Day; a fundraising day where employees dress up as elves (or Christmas jumpers if they’re not feeling very adventurous), and enjoy an array of activities, such as a cake sale and raffle. There is even a Santa’s workshop, where employees can bring in presents for volunteers to wrap – a service I would definitely take advantage of! Bakers and volunteers have all been commandeered though the intranet, and the proceeds will go towards Magenta Living’s corporate charity, Alzheimer’s Society.
In addition to all this activity, employees can find The Grinch List on YETI, enabling them to send Christmas wishes to colleagues through a Forum instead of sending cards. This is proving to be a great success as lot of employees using this aren’t usually active on YETI.
Joanna is also taking advantage of the galleries and polls on YETI – a Christmas Dinner poll received 30 votes within 2 hours! These simple ideas not only get spirits high, but encourage employees to return to your site.
Samantha Lamb of TaxAudit.com uses their intranet, TACtics, to share charity giving amongst their 3 locations in California; Citrus Heights, Santa Ana and Camarillo. Each location picks a charity they want to champion for the holiday season. As well as promotion throughout the site, there is a progress chart to encourage some healthy competition amongst employees!
TACtics is the only place employees can go to access information about parties and events, as well as being the place to go to access the photos afterwards – both of which ensuring employees visit the site.
3BM employees are full of the Christmas spirit thanks to Rob Pidgley’s efforts on their intranet, Purple Planet. As soon as they arrive on the homepage they are met with a Merry Christmas banner and an advent calendar which takes employees to a festive related video on YouTube.
The Employee Committee are also making the most of the season as they are hosting a drop-in event, promoted through the intranet, where employees can pop in for a mince pie and hot chocolate. There’s even a Christmas quiz, and who doesn’t love a quiz!
