Halloween, Thanksgiving and the “holiday season” all fall in the fourth quarter, meaning the last three months of the year are jam-packed with celebrations and events, not only in your employees’ personal lives, but likely in your workplace as well.
But that festive atmosphere doesn’t have to fall only when the leaves do. Thanks to little-known holidays or theme days, you can easily discover things to celebrate throughout the year with your team. In fact, businesses may see benefits by doing so.
Impact on morale
Gallup found that 51% of employees who have a close work friendship consider themselves engaged, while 75% who have a best friend at work said they plan to be employed at their current company one year from now. Furthermore, those reporting having best friends at work were found to have higher levels of health stress management, even though they experienced the same stress as those who did not have good friends at work.
Building time for your team members to get to know each other and strengthen relationships is clearly good for morale, which is good for business. So how can your employees really get to know each other? With your help. Celebrating holidays or theme days year-round gives your employees opportunities to build connections with each other without the extra stress the traditional holiday season often brings.
Bonus tip: Get leadership involved! If employees see their managers skipping the events to stay at their desks, they’ll feel like they shouldn’t participate, either. Make sure to get buy-in from everyone and clearly state the beneficial impact of engagement.
Start with these
You can give your employees something to look forward to every year if they know your business makes a regular workday a day to celebrate something small. Start a tradition that’s unique to your company. Here are a few holidays that might be right for your organization to celebrate.
Jan. 26: Fun at Work Day
Make this day one your employees won’t want to miss! Maybe you bring in food trucks for lunch or schedule a team-building activity at a local place that holds corporate events and specializes in team-building (like cooking or painting classes). For extra fun, keep the day’s activities a surprise and try to do something different every year.
March 14: National Pi Day
What better way to commemorate 3/14 by holding a bake-off with a trophy for the office’s best pie? The winner can keep the prize on his or her desk and have bragging rights for the year.
April 26: Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day
Every organization may not be able to have an event like this during the workday. If not, you could organize an event after work as an open house to encourage employees to share with their children what they do. It also will give your employees an opportunity to introduce their families to each other without having to wait for your holiday part. Plus, it’s never too early to start recruiting.
May 4: May the Fourth Be With You
Named for sounding similar to a catchphrase from a super-popular movie franchise, May 4 is a fun “holiday” to recognize at the office, particularly if you know you have fans of the galactic saga. You might organize a costume contest or perhaps play one of the films in the company cafeteria or a conference room.
June 1: National Doughnut Day
This one’s pretty easy: Buy doughnuts for your staff. Take a midmorning break and enjoy them together. Maybe spring for some coffee or bagels, too.
You can keep track of holidays like these, as well as critical HR and compliance deadlines, by downloading our free digital 2018 HR & Payroll Calendar.