How Do We Engage Employees in Year-End Communications?
Employee engagement tends to drop at the end of the year due to holiday distractions and vacation plans. This season poses a unique challenge for internal communicators: how can you keep employees informed and connected? You’ll need creativity and a bit of holiday cheer! Here are six creative and accessible end-of-year internal communications ideas to grab employees’ attention and drive engagement.
1. Countdown-to-the-holidays series.
Host a multi-day countdown series. Each day, share a short, engaging piece of content. It could be twelve of your biggest company wins this calendar year or ten 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 anticipate, and you can use visuals to keep things festive.
2. Year-end win wall.
Invite employees to submit entries to a “year-end win wall.” While big company wins—like sales totals or subscription renewals—are visible and easy to share, behind-the-scenes efforts aren’t always publicly recognized. By inviting employees to share personal and team wins, your company can create a year-end win wall highlighting less visible yet equally impactful contributions. Win walls are a great way to celebrate diverse employee contributions. The public acknowledgment can also help foster an environment where more employees feel appreciated. You can even pull wins from the wall and incorporate them into other communications like your year-end newsletter.
3. End-of-year kudos board.
Similarly, the end of the year is a perfect time to invite employees to recognize and celebrate each other with a kudos board. Create a “kudos board” where employees can leave short notes acknowledging their colleagues’ help, personalities, or positive impacts. Consider creating a digital kudos board on Teams or Slack if you’re hybrid or fully remote.
4. ‘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.”
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.
6. 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 thankyous, include specific examples of their impact—or the challenges they overcame that year—and sign off with a holiday message from leadership.
Put a bow on things
Keeping employees engaged as the year winds down can be challenging, but with some creativity, year-end communications can help build a sense of community and appreciation. By asking employees to participate in things like a “win wall” or “kudos board,” you inspire them to engage. And by demonstrating your appreciation with surprises and delights, you can boost morale at a busy and, sometimes stressful, time. These low-cost, high-impact ideas can help employees feel valued and connected even as the holidays approach.
