For many industries and companies, the holiday season is the busiest time of the year. All employees, management, and administrative staff will have their hands full with orders and important phone calls as the year comes to a close. With the pandemic and transition to remote work, this year has been a roller coaster with slight inclines and sharp declines for most companies. It’s been a hard year for you, your management team, and your coworkers—so help end the year on a high note with heightened morale and holiday festivities. These ways to boost company morale during the busy holidays will skyrocket the mood of your employees and help them start next year on the right foot.

Host a Virtual Holiday Event

It may not be possible at the moment to host your company or business’s annual holiday party, much to the anguish of all employees. Promote togetherness with a live virtual event for employees to attend from the comfort of their own home office. Get creative with the event—try to come up with presentations or shows that will intrigue and keep attendees interested. For large scale events, you may need to prerecord some parts of the event to avoid technical difficulties or miscommunications. If you have multiple offices, leave some portions of the big event to the offices’ lead administrators so that they can personalize it and make it even more special.

Office Gift-Giving

Spreading cheer during the dreary winter months can be as easy as holding an office Secret Santa gift exchange. Anonymously gifting employees is even easier over the internet with help from online stores. Have every employee make an online wish list, and then everyone can draw a name and choose what to buy them based on their wish list. If you’d rather be the one to buy presents for your employees to raise their morale, pick the perfect gift to buy in bulk so that everyone gets a gift of the same value.

Holiday Bonuses

One of the most effective ways to boost company morale during the busy holidays is to give every employee a holiday bonus that truly matters. Don’t give employees gift cards to use as their bonus—it’s more purposeful if you give them a monetary addition to their paycheck instead. The most important part of keeping a holiday workflow going with high morale is to let each employee know that you care about them as a person—not just a worker. Find any way you can to let them know that their happiness is essential to the workplace.