End of year functions are an important event to celebrate and to recognise the year’s efforts and achievements. Workplace celebrations are important at anytime, but after surviving another year of uncertainty and stress, it’s even more important to recognise the wins for your business big and small. We know you probably just want to get this year over with and move on to brighter times, but before you write 2022 off completely, take a moment to recognise your fantastic team. End-of-year celebrations are festive events and activities to bring teams together before the new year.
What is a company end-of-year celebration or party?
A company end-of-year party is a workplace celebration at the end of the year, held around Christmas, to commemorate the season and achievements made during the course of the whole year. It can be mostly a social event for your employees, but it can also be combined with a year-end company review, bonuses, gifts, and other forms of company reflection or employee recognition. This type of event can be held at the workplace or offsite at another venue but it can involve the whole company or just specific teams or departments. Sometimes, different departments or teams have their own celebrations.
The benefits of a year-end party for your team
When you have end-of-year celebration for the workplace, it gives employees recognition for the accomplishments they have made at work, showing that the employer values their contribution to the workplace. Celebrations from birthday parties, holiday parties, to reward for accomplishments in the company also give employees something to look forward to. When staff is noticed through workplace celebrations, employee morale is boosted as the feeling of being appreciated helps employees to improve. A party provides a fun break from regular routines and gives an extra confidence boost. Employees are more likely to work efficiently and stay with the company when they feel confident in what they do, and are acknowledged for what they do.
Motivate employees for next year and reflect as a business.
A year-end function is a great way to show your team that you see and are grateful for their hard work. Hosting an end-of-year corporate party motivates employees, giving them a newfound drive and determination to succeed next year. You can use this opportunity to thank employees for their hard work and dedication. As a result, employees will begin the new year with greater motivation. On the same note these end-of-year corporate parties can be a chance for leadership to reflect on the past year with employees and to share goals for the upcoming year, ensuring everyone is pulling together and is aware of where the company is heading.
It creates a sense of unity
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Celebrating team accomplishments and having workplace celebrations gives employees a chance to bond and get to know each other. Personal connections help people to work together better. It gives your team time to discuss where they have come from and where you’re heading. They can bond over difficulties the company has overcome and the achievements that everyone collectively worked towards. This sense of unity carries over into the new year. They unify and reinforce company culture at the same time bringing people together, particularly if they follow times of challenge. A unified team is more productive than a collection of conflicting individuals.
They provide a timeout positivity boost
After a tough year, your team needs space to breathe and step back from work mode so it can start the new year fresh. A workplace celebration is a great way to bid farewell the old and welcome the new. End of year corporate events are positivity boost to all employees as they redirect and boost confidence of employees towards the employer. It’s easy to get caught up in everything that’s going wrong and forget about what’s going right. Workplace celebrations shift the focus to the good things.
Reward and recognition
Recognition and reward are essential to keep your team engaged and motivated. The end-of-year celebrations are a lovely reward for hard work after a year of trials and tribulations.
A year-end function poses the perfect opportunity to celebrate and share business achievements for the year, such as positive sales figures and any special projects that have been completed. It is also a chance to reward those who have performed well during the year, to say thank you to all employees for overcoming the business challenges they have faced and achieving their annual targets. Some companies give certificates or monetary rewards as a token of appreciation.That will energise other employees to work even harder.
A time where employees give honest feedback
Employee feedback is where employees and managers use informal and formal feedback systems to connect, align, and accomplish goals.
A year-end function also gives employees a more relaxed and ‘open’ platform upon which to offer new ideas and recommendations to senior management and provide honest feedback from the year gone by. Employee feedback is one way you can make experiences truly transformative, through the quality of our connections and conversations especially during these end of year parties. By developing our feedback muscles and making it a shared accountability to be great at delivering and receiving feedback, we can create distinctive employee experiences.
Solidifying company core values
At a year-end function, the whole company is generally present. This means it is a great time to make a short and sweet presentation to reaffirm to everyone, the core values of your company and what you are all trying to achieve. This is not the focus of the function and should be followed by a quick recap of the year’s successes, which are essentially the motivation behind this event, and then bring it back to the celebration.
Nothing is as beneficial as having a reason to celebrate a great year in business and have some fun while doing so. You and your workforce have earned the right to be rewarded for all the effort put into maintaining client relationships, all the new client acquisitions, maximising sales, and essentially keeping the business up and running for another year.
- Emmanuel Zvada is a human capital consultant and international recruitment expert. He writes here in his personal capacity.
