More often than not, the Ber months are considered a favorite time of the year by most people not just because of the vacation that comes with them but also because of the general vibes they give off. There’s the sound of Christmas songs playing in most malls, the holiday decorations propped up wherever you go in the city and the unexplained excitement felt in your office for lease in Mandaluyong. There’s also the possibility of getting holiday bonuses.
With these in mind, it’s no surprise that the 4th quarter of the year is usually the most turbulent and hectic time of the year. This is also the case when you’re the employer with bonuses and 13th month pay rates to handle, not to mention the possibility of some employees going on vacation leaves that can potentially slow down production a bit. As an employer, it’s your responsibility to keep productivity going but at the same time maintain that spirit of holiday cheer. Here are a few things you can do to prepare your business for the Holiday season.
Put Up A Christmas Tree
In the Philippines specifically, nothing signifies the arrival of the Ber months aka the Christmas season than the putting up of a Christmas tree. Being a sign of life and abundance to many cultures, the (Christmas) tree is more than just a place where you place your gifts, it’s an emotional and spiritual refuge people can go to in case things get particularly difficult.
In this case, putting one up near the entrance of your office is a great way to remind your people that the business shares in the spirit of the holidays. It doesn’t have to be a towering tree, nor does it have to be the flashiest one – all it needs is to be noticeable. The rest of your office can become a wonderful reminder to everyone that while work is an essential part of life, they don’t necessarily have to forget the holidays.
Make Everything Festive
If there’s one word that describes the Christmas season in the Philippines (and the Philippines’ celebrations of mostly anything, really), it’s FESTIVE. Outside, barangays and subdivisions put up Christmas Trees, Ornamental Lanterns like Parols and Christmas Wreaths to highlight roads and local amenities in what seems to be an attempt to outdo the other.
You don’t have to go this far in making everything festive in the office. After all, it still requires a little bit of professionalism and needs to be conducive for productivity. You can opt for a more conservative way to make things look festive like lining the pantry and lounge walls with Christmas decorations as mentioned above. Parols are great to have hung up in the ceiling while Christmas wreaths adorn the doors of each department office. You can also have at least one parol or any large ornamental lantern put up in the middle of the production floor.
If you choose to be a little more detailed in the execution of this festivization for your office, you can choose to make office computer units’ desktop wallpapers into wallpapers that signify the Christmas season. You can have a Christmas decor put on each cubicle with an associated number for Christmas raffles during your Christmas party and what-not. At the end of the day, just having these subtle reminders of the season is great for upping morale in the office which, to some extent, maintains or improves productivity.
Prepare For Vacation Leaves
As mentioned before, some employees would like to take advantage of their respective vacation leaves before the year ends. After all, it is the Christmas season and some, if not most, companies that your business most likely works with will also have the same kind of holiday mindset. The thing is, this isn’t always the case and you might actually need some people to work over the holidays.
With this in mind, you might want to ask your managers who’s willing to take over the shifts of those who’d like to have a vacation. More likely than not, there will be a few who’d take the reins while the rest of your employees are on leave. Incentivizing them with added pay and recognition should compensate for doing work even on holidays. This hits two birds with one stone: Not only are you able to send the impression that you’re willing to give people time off during the Christmas season, you’re also willing to reward those who stay in spite of.
Have A Holiday Closure Policy
Granted, not all companies will have this considering that some of their clients don’t necessarily celebrate the season. But having a company-wide holiday closure policy won’t only set your clients’ expectations when it comes to working hours and deliverables, it would also send the impression to your people that you recognize the holidays, see the value in it and would like to enforce it.
You’re not only encouraging good will between your employees and yourself as the business owner, you’re also giving yourself a break. After all, you’re the boss and you run the whole operation – you deserve a break too.
Schedule A Christmas Program And Party
Before that holiday closure, make sure to hold a Christmas party for your employees. This can be a company-wide thing where people get to meet each other from different departments OR it could be a departmental thing. There are pros and cons for both methods, but either way, it’s important for you to be there.
It also helps to have a Christmas Program so your Christmas party isn’t just a dinner with additional steps. If you like to go big, you can hire a band to play and have end of the year recognition gimmicks. If you’d like to keep things simple, just have dinner, a sort of thanksgiving sharing session while you’re having dinner and culminate it all by exchanging gifts through Secret Santa and what-not. Apart from being an excellent way to personally catch up with your employees, it’s a valid team building exercise.
Remember The Reason For The Season
The holiday season is celebrated for a lot of different reasons, mostly for religious purposes. In the Philippines that remains mostly Catholic, it’s a celebration of faith and rejuvenation. Whatever the case may be, it’s important to recognize this and respect other people’s beliefs towards the season.
In order to do so, it’s important to give them the necessary breaks they need to celebrate these days.
Of course, if you’re looking for an office for lease in Mandaluyong that has easy access to places that spread and celebrate the holiday cheer, Greenfield Tower is the place for you. Apart from being literally just 5 minutes away from Greenfield District Central Park which houses several restaurants and establishments that are perfect for celebrating Christmas parties and what-not, it also has wide open spaces that your employees can take advantage of during their respective break times.
Because of intuitive master-planning and a fiber-optic internet backbone., you can expect it to have state of the art facilities that feature future-ready telecommunications interconnectivity. So you won’t have to worry about lags or any other connectivity issues that can potentially disrupt your productivity.
If you’re interested in Greenfield Tower, visit this web page: https://greenfield.com.ph/project/corporate-business/greenfield-tower/. If you’ve got more questions and you’d prefer to a phone call, feel free to reach out to this number: (632)-8-631-8651.