The countdown to the Christmas holiday season has begun! As soon as the Christmas tree goes up in the office, a relaxed atmosphere of yuletide merriment takes over as everyone gets in the holiday spirit. However, the Christmas season is also the perfect time to get more staff engaged in and using the intranet on a daily basis. Make your intranet the go-to platform for all things festive and you will find that your intranet usage stats enjoy a very welcome boost. Here are some ideas to get you started.
1. Office Christmas Party
The Christmas party is a great way to thank staff for all their hard work throughout the year. It’s also a good team building opportunity as colleagues get to spend time with each other away from the stresses of the office. However, it can be a nightmare to organize, but not so with the intranet!
And once the location has been decided upon, use the intranet’s news feed to publicize the event. In fact, why not get the president to issue a personal invitation to all staff on a vlog? Videos on the intranet are another way in which you can actively engage with staff and are often more powerful than an all-staff email or traditional paper invitation.
And don’t forget to publish some photos and a review of the event on the intranet’s news blog afterwards.
2. Secret Santa
Nowadays, it seems as though every office has a Secret Santa and they can certainly be lots of fun. The intranet makes it a whole lot easier to organize and run the process. Not only can you organize and publicize the gift exchange online, staff members can post the best and worst Secret Santa presents on the staff blog for a bit of light-hearted entertainment.
3. Online Christmas Cards
Exchanging greetings cards at Christmas is a time-honored tradition, but in today’s more environmentally aware workplaces more colleagues are preferring to send online cards to cut down on paper and card usage in the office. Encourage employees to send their holiday greetings on the intranet and you will also be contributing to a greener world.
4. Coordination Of Corporate Cards And Gifts
5. Corporate Calendar Of Christmas Events
As well as the office Christmas party, there are usually a whole host of other Christmas events to keep track of. It could be celebrations hosted by clients and important customers, industry events or suppliers’ yuletide parties. A central corporate calendar displaying all company events is an absolute must at this time of year. The calendar can be organized by team or geographic location as well as on a corporate basis so that employees can keep up to date and see at a glance what’s going on throughout the company.
6. Christmas Charitable Opportunities
Many companies focus their charitable efforts on the Christmas season. It could be carol singing in a local rest home, collecting food donations for the city mission or a gift collection for a local charity. Whatever the case may be, the office intranet is the perfect vehicle for publicizing and organizing any charitable or fundraising initiatives.
7. Christmas Decorations Competition
8. Christmas Vacations
The holiday season is of course a popular time for employees to take some vacation. A team calendar on the intranet can be used as a planning tool to ensure there are enough staff on hand to keep operations going. And instead of sending an email or filling in a paper form, get employees to complete an online vacation booking form. The intranet will automatically route the form to the manager for approval. It’s a far more efficient way of doing things and eliminates the risk of paper forms going astray or emails being lost in a sea of unopened messages.
You can also use the intranet’s news feed to remind staff about other policies that are relevant at this time of year such as the corporate gifting policy, rules relating to client entertaining or emergency procedures to be followed outside of standard office hours.
9. Festive Fayre Recipe Exchange
10. Festive Thanks
Finally, the end of the year is the perfect team to say thank you to employees for all their hard work throughout the year. Use the CEO’s blog on the intranet or better still post a video message for a more heartfelt thank you message.
In addition, consider setting up a festive high five area on the intranet. The idea is that colleagues can acknowledge the help and support of their fellow team members or co-workers in other teams with a virtual high five. It’s a great platform for spreading yuletide goodwill throughout the office.
Kickstart Intranet Engagement This Christmas
As we have seen, Christmas is the perfect time to revitalize interest in your intranet. And so, if intranet usage has recently taken a dip in your company, then making it the go-to platform for all things festive will give your intranet that all-important boost which will last long into the new year.
For more ideas on reinvigorating your intranet or driving intranet adoption, then get in touch with the expert team at MyHub who will be happy to help. Plus if you’re after a failsafe Christmas pudding recipe, then we can help you there too. Happy Holidays!
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