Christmas at work: 5 strategies to engage your employees

Christmas messages that truly engage

Rather than sending out the usual year-end email or corporate speech, turn your holiday message into a participatory event. For example, invite team members to contribute short voice messages, video clips, or photos that reflect their proudest moments of the year.

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Compile everything into a creative company montage and screen it during a casual in-office breakfast or digital toast. The result? A collective celebration that’s authentic and inclusive.

Giving wall: Encouraging small acts of kindness at work

Move beyond Secret Santa with a “giving wall”: a physical or virtual space where employees can post offers of help or small acts of kindness.

Whether it’s offering a home-cooked dish, pet-sitting for a colleague, or donating a skill like guitar lessons, this fosters real connection. It’s simple, low-cost, and deeply human.

Boosting ownership through collaborative event planning

Instead of planning top-down Christmas parties (by the way, here are some interesting ideas if you want to plan something original), involve employees in designing parts of the experience. Create teams to curate music playlists, choose event themes, or organize quirky challenges during the celebration. Engagement grows when people feel ownership — even over the fun stuff.

Drum circle: Recharging motivation through non-verbal activities

To reenergize the team after the break, try something unexpected: a drum circle. This group percussion experience requires no musical skill, but it’s a powerful tool for building synergy, listening, and shared energy. It’s a non-verbal team-building activity that breaks routine and boosts post-holiday motivation.

Fostering connection through QR code messages

Swap out traditional holiday cards for messages shared through QR codes. Each employee receives a code to scan, revealing a hidden message from a colleague—anything from warm wishes to thank-yous or funny memories. It’s a playful, digital, and unexpected way to spark authentic connections, even between team members who don’t work closely together.

Rethinking holiday engagement with originality and intention allows companies to create moments that have enduring significance, extending past the festive season. It’s not just about celebrating — it’s about building genuine connections among colleagues and strengthening the sense of community. This approach ties in naturally with more structured team building efforts, helping to foster a more united, motivated, and collaborative work environment. The holidays thus become a strategic opportunity to invest in team wellbeing — not just in December, but all year round.

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