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05 Tips to Celebrate Your Holidays with Remote Team

Remote work has been one of the popular trends in the labor market along with the rise of technology and COVID-19. It is reported that 55% of global businesses now have capacity for global remote work.

Nearly 70% of companies reported that they would plan to adapt to the remote environment very soon. This is the skillful set for both HR professionals and managers to increase internal efficiency and lay the groundwork for culture and values onwards, especially during holiday seasons.

Effectively managing remote teams not only results in productive management and outcomes for firms in terms of operations and business goals, but it also has a great impact on employee happiness and experiences, fostering a community of caring with strong connection.

In this post, Waw Asia will give five tips for celebrating the holidays with your remote team during a time when our workplace is through multiple changes and challenges.

Host a virtual holiday party

Free food, drinks, cocktails and a chance to dress up would always be a part of the company's activities and culture. Thanks to Zoom, Teams and any other communication platforms, we now can communicate with the other team members easily. Therefore, a virtual holiday party isn't out of question!

You can host a virtual party through video conferencing platforms with different themes through backgrounds, online activities and dress codes for everyone. Building contests or games will definitely warm up the atmosphere and make your employees feel excited about the games as well. Do encourage your employees to bring a guest (surely they would have!), dress up, get some special food or drinks during the party and decorate the background together if they want. If you want more special things, a gift card or voucher from online local food and restaurants would be great to share together.

Organize a virtual contest

Zoom has a wide range of backgrounds from different sources for users to make changes and design based on their personal preferences. Invite your colleagues to join the competition of designing a great holiday background of their own, then have winners with attractive prizes. This will surely engage everyone as they are all excited to show their own ones. Besides, they can post their own workspace with unique decorations on the platforms to vote for the winners.

In addition, quizzles, Q&A sessions would be great ideas for team members to join, not only to gain knowledge but also understanding of the company and other people working with them. The winner might get an Amazon gift card to decorate for their home office.

Have holiday movie night

After a long day at work, a night spent together watching an exciting movie would be wonderful, especially for those with children and families. Choose a day (or several) to watch a holiday movie with your family, either after lunch or during the hours spent on virtual web platforms. This will allow individuals to unwind while also giving them the opportunity to talk to one another about movies and other topics.

Create a holiday channel

As office workers, remote ones also have their own lives with families, friends, and personal experiences. Holidays are a great time for those valuable people. Therefore, you can create a channel to celebrate the experiences of all remote members by encouraging them to share their photos, videos, texts, cards, music, recipes, activity ideas. Everyone will be surprised and learn a lot from each other.

Have a cooking party

Nothing brings people together like eating. Food and drinks are also important throughout the holidays. When working with remote teams, it would be extra spectacular if they came from all over the world, bringing with them diverse cultures, cuisines, and food ideas. As a result, a group cooking party may provide an opportunity for everyone to share their meal while also allowing them to understand one other in a more "human" way than regular activities.

With the year drawing to a close, the Christmas season is a great opportunity to thank your workers for their hard work and make them excited for the next year. Celebrating the holidays with your remote team helps to build and maintain a business culture that shows employees that you care about what they do—not just this month, but all year.