Reward and recognise individuals
Recognition should be an integral part of your people strategy year-round. However, the holiday period offers a perfect opportunity to acknowledge the hard work and achievements of your team throughout the year, setting a positive tone for the year ahead.
eCards provide an easy and seamless way to foster a culture of peer-to-peer gratitude. They can also be a highly inclusive and personalised method to recognise celebrations and holidays of all faiths and cultures, helping you value your people for who they are, not just for what they do.
And if you're planning on offering monetary awards, Reward Marketplace offers an excellent way to gift your employees with their choice of experiences, retail items, and travel opportunities. Allowing your people to choose ensures the gift is both appreciated and utilised, in contrast to token gestures that are often forgotten or disregarded.
Give flexible holiday allowance
Holiday Trading is always appreciated by employees, especially during this busy time of year. Each person can customise their holiday allowances to meet their needs. Employees can trade in days for additional pay or purchase extra days for more time off to enjoy holiday celebrations or to fit in an extra trip (or two!) throughout the year.
To foster an inclusive holiday culture, you could also offer flexibility with Bank Holidays. Allow employees to choose their days off, enabling them to use these for their own holidays and faith celebrations instead of Christian holidays like Easter and Christmas.
Stretch salaries with savings
We all feel the pinch over the festive period, but you can support your staff by providing access to in-store and online savings through exclusive discount codes, instant vouchers, reloadable cards, and cashback opportunities across hundreds of retailers.
From gifts to groceries, this benefit extends beyond Christmas, helping salaries go further on everyday spending. Employees can also track their savings in real-time, allowing them to see the tangible benefit that you, their employer, are providing them and their family. Employees saved £ during the 2023 festive season using our SmartSpending discounts platform.
Prioritise physical and mental wellbeing
The festive period is often a busy time filled with fun and socialising, but it can also mean we're eating and drinking more than usual, which can make us feel less than our best. For others, the festive season can be particularly challenging, with stress and mental health issues becoming more pronounced.
Consider providing employees with personalised and inclusive resources on exercise, nutrition, stress management and financial education. This will help your people maintain balance and wellbeing during this season, reduce absenteeism and boost productivity.
Give financial support for life's bigger-ticket items
Whether it's critical household appliances or the latest gadgets for the family to open, SmartTech™ takes the pressure off employees with the cost of big-ticket items. With interest-free loans that are repaid over 12-48 months through net-pay deductions, gift your employees this benefit so they can gift themselves or others in return.
SmartTech™ is offered in partnership with Currys, giving your employees instant access to thousands of tech and everyday appliances. So when essential white goods need replacing, or expensive seasons like Christmas arrive, you're able to offer this financial support to your workforce. Plus, you can set up spending limits and automated approvals, reducing your admin time.
Take advantage of salary sacrifice schemes
Enhance your employee value proposition this festive season and beyond with a variety of valuable benefits for both employees and the business through salary sacrifice schemes.
Transport benefits like Cycle to Work and car leasing programmes provide employees with cost-effective access to high-quality bikes and cars while also providing your organisation with pre-tax salary deduction savings.
HR Holidays Calendar
It might only be the summer, but as you'll know the countdown to Christmas is on when it comes to planning your end-of-year employee engagement programs.
We've put together this handy, interactive calendar which highlights milestones to help you keep on track of your planning as well as key celebration and holiday dates to factor in to your strategy too.
On-Demand Webinar
Watch our webinar, Proactive Strategies to Support, Appreciate & Retain Your People for a Rewarding End-of-Year to help support your end-of-year people strategy.
Learn from industry experts, and Greencore's People Team, on how to effectively support and appreciate your employees during the holiday season, ensuring they feel valued and motivated as the year comes to a close.
