Your 2020 Guide to Virtual Holiday Employee Engagement

2020 has been weird for all of us. Top Floor was no different. Just like other businesses, we were forced to adapt and adjust quickly on several different levels. The thing that has been the most interesting to me throughout all of this though, was how we were able to hold onto our culture while working in a remote environment. In less than a day, we went from working right next to each other every day, to a fully remote workforce.

At Top Floor, we have an employee engagement committee called Top BLUE (Top Badass Leaders Unifying Employees). This is a committee I’m very proud to be a part of! Each time we come together, I am astounded at the clever virtual employee engagement ideas the group has come up with to hang onto our top-notch culture, especially with our current office setting…or lack thereof.

I’m here to share some virtual employee engagement ideas for the holidays in hopes that your company can use these to keep your remote employees engaged! Bonus points for revamping each idea for other seasons or holidays.

Virtual Employee Engagement Ideas for the Holidays:

Encourage Holiday-Themed Zoom Backgrounds: The easiest, free way to add some holiday spice to your virtual meetings!

Post fun questions to the team: Using your communication tool of choice (we use Slack), pose fun questions for your team to answer to encourage conversations. Within Slack, we use “Know Your Team” and “Donut” to prompt these questions. The questions could be anything from “Share your favorite holiday recipe” to “What’s the weirdest gift you ever received in your stocking?” Be creative with it!

Holiday-Themed PowerPoint Parties: Yep. You read that right. If you haven’t heard of this, trust me, it is way more fun than it sounds. Have presenters pick a topic (the more random the better) and do a 3-4 minute presentation on it followed by a Q&A. If employees don’t want to present, that’s ok – they can still come to watch! Prizes are optional, but it may entice more participation. Here are some more tips on hosting a PowerPoint party.

Giving Back: Tis the season for giving! In the past, Top Floor has volunteered at Feeding America or other local charities. This year looks different for us – instead, we are coordinating efforts with friends & family to raise money for Hunger Task Force Milwaukee. There are plenty of ways to give, but the one we are going with is their Virtual Food Drive.

Delivery Days: This one works well for a small, local workforce. Coordinate a holiday care package to be delivered to each employee. Think SWAG, coffee mugs, blankets, candy etc. For us, Top BLUE was able to divide and conquer and provide a safe delivery service to all our employees. You could also ship them out too if you’re limited on delivery drivers!

Delivery Days – Plan B: If the last option is a bit too much to coordinate for you, support another business to handle the work for you! Snack Nation is a fun option and they do all the heavy lifting.

Virtual Holiday Parties: Utilize fun zoom backgrounds, encourage a dress-up theme (ugly sweater, Santa hats, you know the drill), and play games! Some of our personal faves at Top Floor are Jackbox.TV and kahoot.com/ for holiday trivia (thanks to my girl Abby). Don’t forget about prizes – Amazon gift cards are always well received!

It’s hard to believe the holidays are already here! I hope these virtual employee engagement ideas got your creative juices flowing and you’re able to win your 2020 holiday party planning. If you try these or any other ideas – We’d love to hear them!

You’ve got this!

-Emily