20 Ways to Engage Employees At Year-End And The Holidays

Appreciation-based employee engagement ideas

4. Personalized year-end thank-you messages or gifts.

Equip managers, HR, or other people leaders with the time and resources to create personalized messages or small gifts for each person or team. If you’re writing a note, it can be meaningful to acknowledge each employee’s unique contributions. For team thank yous, include specific examples of their impact—or the challenges they overcame that year—and sign off with a holiday message from leadership.

5. Surprise and delight days.

To boost employee morale, organize a few unexpected “Surprise and Delight” days where employees receive fun treats or thoughtful gestures. If people work on-site, consider bringing in breakfast or catering lunch, or having a local comedian perform a short set. If your team is distributed or hybrid, consider sending food delivery gift cards so employees can order coffee or lunch to their home offices. A few low-cost, spontaneous gestures can add holiday cheer and help engage employees.

Content & communication employee engagement ideas

6. Countdown-to-the-holidays series.

Host a multi-day countdown series. Each day, share a short, engaging piece of content. It could be 12 of your biggest company wins this calendar year, or 10 outstanding teams or individuals you want to highlight. Keep your messages concise (about a one-minute read) and visually appealing. A multi-day series gives employees something fun to look forward to, and you can use visuals to keep things festive.

7. ‘Year-in-Review’ infographic or video.

This year, go beyond your traditional year-end report and create an infographic or a short, animated video featuring your company’s most significant milestones and achievements. Be sure to include some standard metrics, like “total projects completed” or “employees promoted,” but also make space for some unexpected (estimated) statistics, like “coffee cups consumed” or “emojis sent in Teams.”

8. Holiday-themed digital backgrounds or swag.

Ask your design team to create a few festive touches for your internal channels or intranet: digital backgrounds for Teams calls, holiday playlists for remote employees to enjoy at home, or a festive spin on company swag.

9. Talk about the holidays.

Leadership may be tempted to minimize disruption by avoiding holiday talk, but that’ll only hurt employee engagement. Make this time festive. Recognize various holiday events and strike a cheerful tone with your standard messaging.

Scheduling & workload employee engagement ideas

10. Advocate for shorter meetings.

Encourage employees to schedule shorter meetings. Implement daily standups or quick check-ins in place of weekly one-hour meetings. Donna McGeorge, author of The 25 Minute Meeting: Half the Time, Double the Impact, says 25 minutes is optimal for people to focus.

11. Suggest a no-meeting day (or two).

An MIT Sloan study found that “When one no-meeting day per week was introduced, autonomy, communication, engagement, and satisfaction all improved, resulting in decreased micromanagement and stress, which caused productivity to rise.” And by introducing two no-meeting days per week, nearly half (47%) of the companies they studied reduced meetings by 40%.

12. Promote flex options.

If your organization offers flexible scheduling options, promote them. During the holidays, folks have different needs and varying schedules. Do you offer flex time? Remind people of the parameters. Can employees work a compressed work week? Explain how they can work four 10-hour days. Are there remote work options? Lay them out for your people.

13. Encourage time off.

After attending family get-togethers, traveling for the holidays, and meeting end-of-year goals, most employees want to decompress. Use your internal comms to encourage time off. After all, when employees take an appropriate amount of vacation, they reduce stress and minimize burnout.

Wellness & culture employee engagement ideas

14. Highlight well-being benefits.

Year-end and the holiday season are busy and potentially stressful times for your employees. Reflect this understanding by promoting benefits such as flexible work options, mental health days, or volunteer time off (VTO), and by reminding employees of your employee assistance program (EAP) and mental health resources. Encourage employees to prioritize their self-care, and support that focus with helpful policies and benefits.

15. Promote a “What I’m thankful for” prompt.

Create a dedicated Teams thread or digital board where employees can share short reflections about what they’re thankful for this year. Keep participation easy and optional.

16. Host micro-learning opportunities.

Offer quick, 10–15 minute learning sessions throughout the season on topics like setting boundaries during the holidays, staying focused as the year wraps up, or reflecting and resetting for the year ahead. These sessions are especially impactful when led by employees who want to share their expertise—they feel authentic and supportive rather than like another end-of-year obligation.

Festive employee engagement ideas

17. Organize a giving campaign.

Ensure your campaign is not performance-driven but rather creates real value for a community. One example is to partner with a local family shelter, mutual aid network, or domestic violence shelter. Ask them exactly what they need (often: grocery gift cards, winter clothing in specific sizes, diapers, hygiene items), and provide those items directly.

18. Organize a holiday photo contest.

Invite employees to submit pictures of anything festive or seasonal—holiday decorations, cozy outdoor scenes, winter activities, baked goods, pets in winter gear, or anything that captures their version of the season. Keep the categories non-holiday-specific and encourage creativity. You can showcase submissions in a Teams channel or newsletter, allow employees to vote on their favorites, and offer small, meaningful prizes (like a donation in the winner’s name).

19. Share favorite holiday recipes.

Create a space where employees can share their favorite seasonal recipes. Encourage people to add a short note about why the recipe matters to them or when they usually make it. This can spark genuine connections as employees learn about each other’s backgrounds and traditions, discover new meals to try, and build a sense of community through shared stories.

20. Plan a year-end gathering.

A common way to engage employees is with your holiday party or gathering, where employees can relax and enjoy each other’s company. During these events, leadership can express their appreciation, and people leaders can organize activities that bring employees together to foster social connections and build camaraderie. Consider how you can include remote and hybrid employees in your planning. To avoid overscheduling and protect your employees’ personal time, consider planning these events during the workday.

Let’s put a bow on it

When done right, year-end and holiday communications can strengthen culture, reinforce belonging, recognize valuable but often unseen contributions, and set the tone for the year ahead.

Start by selecting 3–5 high-impact ideas you can execute. Communicate clearly that this is a season of recognition, flexibility, and connection—not a lost quarter.

Use internal comms to communicate:

• “We know this is a busy time. We still value you, we still want you connected.”
• “You belong. Your contributions matter, even behind the scenes.”
• “Let’s finish strong and prepare for what’s ahead together.”

With a thoughtful, inclusive, and creative approach, the end of the year can help employees feel seen, included, and connected—even amid celebrations, travel, and personal obligations.