Thanksgiving is all about being grateful for the things we have in life. Usually, people celebrate this holiday with their families. However, workplace Thanksgiving celebrations are also getting more popular with time. There are many things to be thankful for as a company; good performance, good growth, and most importantly, good employees.
Your employees are the driving force that helps you achieve your goals. They are the ones that get the work done daily. As such, you can celebrate Thanksgiving at the workplace with them to show your gratitude for their work and support. There are multiple things you can do to that end. From thanksgiving emails, bonuses, and even company dinners. Here are some of the best tips for celebrating Thanksgiving at the workplace.
Send Out Thanksgiving Emails
Thanksgiving is all about expressing gratitude. As a company, the easiest way to do that is by sending out a company-wide email. Fill it with words thanking your employees for their dedication and hard work. Such emails raise morale across the company and motivate the workforce to work harder.
You can create these emails easily with PosterMyWall Thanksgiving email templates. These are professionally made email templates, so you can be at ease that you will get a quality product. You can get a decent headstart on your designing process this way. You can also prepare several emails to send over a few days.
Paid Holidays
Give your employees a treat by giving Wednesday or Friday off along with Thanksgiving Day. This way, they will have an extended holiday, especially if you give Friday off. Then they can have a long weekend off. Doing so will be a treat to your employees and a way to thank them for their hard work.
When they return to work, they will be energized and more motivated. They will work harder and make the company grow and achieve all the goals you have set for them. It will be like a mini-vacation that they can spend with their families, go out, have fun, and enjoy this holiday.
Pot-luck Lunch
Hold a pot-luck lunch at work, where everyone will bring something homemade to work. You can use this opportunity to give thanks at the workplace. The company can provide Thanksgiving turkey while the other employees can bring side dishes, desserts, and whatnot.
This activity aims to get everyone involved outside of their work duties to relax and have some fun for an hour or so. This happens during their break hours, so no work hours are lost in this activity. People can have a nice lunch, socialize with their teammates, and then go back to work afterward. It’s a nice break from the daily grind and your employees will be all the more thankful for it.
Wall Of Thanks
Take one of the walls at the workplace and create a wall of thanks at it. Put up a white screen on the wall and invite your employees to put up messages of gratitude on it. Employees will put up messages of thanks and be reminded of the blessings they have in life. And that is the spirit of the holiday.
You can be thankful for good performance, the employees can be thankful for something in their personal lives, they could be thankful for great management, etc. These messages will help encourage people and look on the bright side in life. That in turn cultivates a positive mindset and helps the company overall as well.
Thanksgiving Bonuses
One of the best ways to give thanks at the workplace is to give some bonuses to your employees. These can be a slight one-time bump in their paychecks, coupons or discounts, or even a holiday deal for their vacation. Anything can work here that makes your employees feel valued so ensure that the bonus or gift you’re giving is something they can appreciate.
You can include this information when you design your email to wish your employees a happy Thanksgiving. This is the best place to inform them of any bonuses or deals you may wish to offer them on this holiday.
Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt
Organize a scavenger hunt at work a day or two before Thanksgiving. Divide the workforce into teams and then have them search for a ‘treasure’ by looking for clues you would have left across the office building. Everyone will work together and it can be a good team building exercise for the employees. Of course the employees will have a good relationship with each other in their own teams, but this way they can collaborate with others and work towards a common goal.
This can be done after work hours or during the last hour of the work day. Let everyone know to wind up their work an hour or so early and then you can announce the scavenger hunt and have them search for their treasure. It’s a great way to end the work day on a high note and everyone will be energized.
Concluding Remarks
The goal of this holiday is to give thanks, to express gratitude for the blessings we have in life. As a company, this also includes your employees. The ideas listed above are some ways in which you can celebrate Thanksgiving at your workplace. Of course, there are other ways of doing so as well, but these will give you an idea of how to proceed. Whatever you end up doing in the end, if it expresses gratitude, it will work. You should also consider that whatever your plans for the workplace celebration, they must not interfere with people’s engagements with their families.
