{"id":8896,"date":"2020-11-30T10:32:31","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T15:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/?p=8896"},"modified":"2024-08-30T11:09:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T15:09:05","slug":"company-holiday-party-during-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/company-holiday-party-during-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Have a Company Holiday Party During COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"company<\/em><\/p>\n

Like many work-related events in 2020, your organization’s holiday festivities are likely going to look and feel a little different this year due to the ongoing pandemic. Our human capital management partner isolved<\/a> offers these best practices for reimagining the company holiday party during COVID-19.<\/em><\/p>\n

Historically, company holiday parties have been a great opportunity for\u00a0employee engagement<\/a> and boosting morale. But, for many organizations, in-person cocktail receptions, dinners, activities, and other outings won\u2019t be possible in 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

As the end of the year approaches, we would like to provide some alternative ideas for how to celebrate the staff\u2019s hard work while keeping everyone safe.<\/p>\n

Whatever you do, don\u2019t abandon the idea of a year-end celebration<\/h2>\n

Although the in-person party your organization has hosted for years may not be possible, it won\u2019t be good for morale to simply call the whole thing off.<\/p>\n

This year, in particular, it\u2019s critical to recognize the resilience and dedication of essential workers, staff members who transitioned to remote work, individuals who were temporarily furloughed<\/a>,\u00a0and company leaders who faced the challenge of navigating an unprecedented public health crisis.<\/p>\n

Despite the unusual circumstances, take the opportunity to express gratitude for the entire workforce and give everyone something to look forward to.<\/p>\n

Add festive elements to video meetings<\/h2>\n

For workers struggling with Zoom fatigue<\/a>, hopping on one more video meeting or run-of-the-mill virtual happy hour won\u2019t feel particularly special. Instead, ensure that your virtual company holiday party is a success by adding engaging activities. The following ideas are beyond the norm and can get event attendees in the holiday mood.<\/p>\n

Coordinate a virtual gift exchange<\/h2>\n

According to\u00a0isolved’s holiday survey<\/a>, 62 percent of full-time employees are already not planning to buy gifts for coworkers this holiday season. However, a company-led virtual gift exchange can be a fun way to bring out the spirit of giving and restore a bit of lost camaraderie. To keep it simple, have members of smaller teams or individual departments each draw one name. Set a price cap to keep the exchange budget-friendly. Ask each gifter to mail their item off to their recipient. Finally, invite the whole group to connect and unwrap their surprises during a video chat.<\/p>\n

Host a gingerbread house decorating competition<\/h2>\n

Sending out gingerbread house decorating kits can be a sweet surprise and a wintery creative challenge. Encourage participants to enlist the help of family members and housemates. Make it a competition so your team members really use their imaginations when assembling their fanciful confectionary creations. Have everyone share the results and vote to see whose gingerbread house steals the show.<\/p>\n

Support local restaurants with gift cards or gift baskets<\/h2>\n

During the holiday season, booked-up dining halls and cocktail receptions usually bring a lot of business to restaurants. This year, consider supporting your favorite local spot by giving each employee a culinary experience they can enjoy from home. You could either send out a holiday card with a gift card so workers can treat themselves to a take-out meal, or have gift baskets filled with local delicacies shipped out to the whole team.<\/p>\n

While none of these experiences will feel the same as the company holiday party of years past, they can certainly still feature the same festive flavor and give hard-working staff members a taste of the company\u2019s appreciation.<\/p>\n

Communicating with a remote workforce is just one of the many challenges that businesses are facing as a result of COVID-19. Luckily, GTM clients have an easy way to stay connected with their teams through isolved<\/a>. The platform allows you to share employee data, feedback, and praise, while collaborating and getting questions answered, all through the system. Request a free quote<\/a> for more information and to see a demo of isolved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are some alternative ideas for how to celebrate the staff\u2019s hard work with a company holiday party during COVID-19, while keeping everyone safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[194,49,89],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-8896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consulting-services","tag-covid-19","tag-culture","tag-holiday-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8896"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8901,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8896\/revisions\/8901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8896"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=8896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}