Holiday periods are the most exciting time of the year because people sometimes get days off of work and get to spend quality time with friends and family, cooking, laughing, and celebrating. Festive periods in Myanmar vary in length, with some of them lasting for just a couple days while a few of them last for up to a week or more. Holiday periods are an ideal time for employers to create something nice for their employees, which can be done in numerous ways. Listed below are just a few such methods to create a more special bond between employers and employees by making the most use of any upcoming holiday period.
Celebrate the festive period as a team
Some employers like to celebrate the holiday periods with their employees by calling together a party or outing. Many employees enjoy and appreciate that, the reason being it allows them to bond with others company members in a different context while allowing a good chance to have fun and unwind. A nice low-key restaurant party evening, a potluck dinner or office catered event, or a group game night/teambuilding activity are all appropriate yet inexpensive versions of holiday gatherings that employers can host to celebrate the festive season with their employees. These events allow people within the company to get to know each other and network in a relaxing setting while still maintaining a decent amount of company vibe.
Plan for a vacation
Holidays are the best time to take one’s mind off of things for a while after a long stretch of work throughout the year. Everyone in the company could use some vacation to get refuelled and come back refreshed once the holiday is over. Planning early is the best way to avoid hassle and extra expenses for a corporate getaway. In addition to that, company vacations or retreats allow a lot of room for employees to bond with their colleagues as well as their employers because a company trip offers an atmosphere that is totally different from a typical corporate setting. Myanmar is full of trip-worthy destinations fit for every vocational occasion at any time of the year. There are a lot of places to choose from depending on the time and budget the company could lay out for its employee vacation.
Allow flexible schedules and telecommute
Holidays are a prime time when distant family members are able to gather together. Many employees find themselves not able to spend much time with friends and family throughout the rest of the year due to varying commitments; and as employers, giving employees an adequate chance to reunite with their loved ones is a very nice thing to do. Accordingly, employers can arrange possible flexible working hours for their employees and allow them to work from home, giving them a chance to spend some time with family at home while still getting the job done during the holiday period. Myanmar has some long holiday periods like Thingyan festival and Thadingyut festival and many companies have different holiday time-off policies for their employees, but the bottom line is flexible working hours or even no office hours at all during official holiday periods is itself a holiday gift that employers can give to their employees.
Offer perks and bonuses for their contributions
Some employees may find themselves having more capacity to contribute more actively to their job than the others during these periods. This may partly be because they live far from their immediate family members or because they have the need to work some extra hours to complete time sensitive tasks. So it that’s the case, it can be appropriate for employers to offer these hardworking people some bonuses and perks as recognition of their hard work during the holiday periods. Giving bonuses is not just a gesture of appreciation, it can also allow the employees to use their free holiday time to be productive and to make some more income. Nonetheless, bonuses do not have to be the only offer employers should extend to these hardworking employees; as a matter of fact, any sort of gift that roughly equates to the amount of dedication they show would show the employees that you care and recognize their effort.
Recognise their achievements
Holiday periods are also the best time for employers to extend their appreciation toward the employees for their hard work and dedication to the cause. Employers can host appreciation nights or recognition ceremonies to reward exemplary employees for a job well done. Recognizing high achievers not only makes them more motivated to achieve further, it also inspires other employees and potentially keeps them mentally fuelled to perform better in the future to gain their own special mention.
Keep some back-up part-timers
Individual people may take a break during the holidays but the business doesn’t and oftentimes cannot. It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that there are some key staff to keep the operation up and running without taking away the employees’ quality time to properly enjoy their holiday. This can be accomplished by keeping some part-time employees as back-up just to make sure that there is someone who can take care of certain segments of the company operations in cases of emergency, as well as making sure to rotate them in appropriate intervals to make sure all get to recharge somewhat. It is usually appropriate to compensate these part-timers with overtime/holiday pay because they are working for their company when many others are spending their time with their family; so a little extra wage is a good gesture to recognize their contribution.
No matter how an organization decides to approach an extended holiday – it is important to recognize the hard work and contributions that employees make day in and day out to further the goals of the business. As long as the business can continue to operate, using the long break can be a great time to honour employees and enrich everyone’s lives.