👉 Ideas for the Holiday

TLDR: Letting employees pick their own adventure a strong start as this allows them to host events and get togethers within their team. Ideas around food for the holidays are strong, like gingerbread, hot chocolate, coffee making, and more. If your organization is looking for a good employee gifting experience, TeamClass is a great place to look into. TeamClass provides high-quality experience without having to break the bank. 

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• Choosing your own adventure allows co-workers to host events within their team. This makes the experience more natural and less stressful due to already knowing your coworkers. 

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• Food making and small food events are a great way to eat the stress away. These experiences are filled with fun experiences and mistakes where employees can compete with each other and learn new skills 

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• TeamClass is a good idea for gifting employees. New methods, skills, and ideas can all be experienced through TeamClass. They provide a high-quality employee experience and user experience.

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👉 Small or Big Events / Hybrid or In-Person

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TLDR: Both small and large events are good for the right people. Some people prefer small events due to social distancing reasons or wanting to enjoy the holidays with the team. Others prefer big events to socialize with individuals across the company. Both should be encouraged during the holidays as it's a great way to relax and destress. Due to the pandemic, hybrid events have been skyrocketing. However, employees missing out has also started to increase due to in-person events. One way to tackle this is by little the employees to choose if they prefer to join an in-person event or a hybrid event. 

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• Some people like small events as it's a great way to enjoy the holidays with people they know, rather than entering a big event. Others prefer the bigger events as this is a great way to start to know other team members across the organization.

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• People do want to get together but it does leave out the remote employees. It is best to give them an option of either virtual or in-person, but not both. 

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• Not everyone celebrates Christmas, one way to be inclusive is by understanding the culture. Bringing people from different cultures and backgrounds allow for a deeper connection. Celebrating different cultures creates inclusion and a learning experience. 

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👉 Putting together a Playbook

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TLDR: An employee experience playbook is a smart way to allow managers to get involved during the holiday season. Managing multiple events and teams is extremely hard, one way to get around this is by creating a playbook of best practices and experiences that managers can host. 

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• Record best practices into a playbook that will allow people managers to decide which activity best fits the team rather than HR or EX needing to get involved. The playbook explains a step-by-step detail of the process managers can take, what to consider when hosting an event, and the budget. 

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• Events people or leads should provide details on how to contact resources. This is important so anyone who wants to create an offsite or any event can look into the playbook for guidance.

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👉 Onsite Experiences

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TLDR: While many companies are fully remote or hybrid, creating events onsite is vital to company culture. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the most common days when employees come to the office as they wish to have Fridays off or prepare for the weekend. Some ways to host onsite events is by splitting up the event into two, one event being hosted in the morning and another being hosted in the evening. Splitting up the event gives everyone a chance to participate without it feeling congested. Getting to the office is not accessible for everyone, subsidizing the cost of transportation allows everyone to participate in company events. 

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• Tuesdays/Thursdays are the best days to go to the offices with Thursdays having the highest employee attendance. Hosting events on Thursdays can be proven to be beneficial as this allows everyone to engage in the event. 

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• Teams might be split up into two for happy hours where one is hosted in the morning and another done in the afternoon. Splitting up the day makes it less congested and less crowded but allows everyone to participate. 

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• It is hard for many individuals to come into the office due to the location. Public transit and parking make it hard for individuals to come into the office. Using Uber or Lyft to subsidize the cost can increase employees coming into the office for the events or host an annual meeting where everyone can participate if they wish to. Anyone who wasn't able to participate in the in-person event can access another virtual event. 

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👉 Increasing Visibility

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TLDR: Communication and visibility are one of the most important things when hosting a successful event. One way to get higher visibility is by decreasing the number of channels and having just one for corporate announcements and another for company events and parties. If that method does not work then notifying friends to boost the event will have a higher engagement rate. People reacting to the event will make the event feel higher in priority. Lastly, using Cameo can help people be notified by their favorite influencer or celebrity of the event. 

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• Have two channels for sharing and one for corporate announcements. Channels are often over thrown by general messages, this makes everyone ignore the channel. By splitting the channel into two can allow people to share and communicate for events rather than private messaging each other. 

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• Allow people to join whatever channel they want to join (other than the required ones). This way people only want to join the channels they feel comfortable with. Doing so can allow a higher engagement rate and attendance as the people who want to join know their friends are also going to be involved

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• Notify as many people as possible. If employees react to the messages and events, this will create a false sense of hype around the event. People become more curious about what the event is, when it is being hosted and how they can be involved. 

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• Use Cameo to make the announcement. Having an influencer or celebrity speak about an event will have people talking about it. This way you can market the event via word of mouth.

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• Have a gatekeeper where there isn’t multiple channels. The gatekeeper will be in charge of what new channels must be needed and what is not needed. This way employees know where to look for events without needing to go down a rabbit hole. 

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Want to get involved in the next Virtual Employee Experience Roundtable? Apply to join our Community.

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