This year has really thrown up some difficulties for practice teams and it would seem rather scrooge like not to not see the year out with a bang, socially distanced of course! Your staff have really worked hard and had to significantly change their working arrangements to keep their practices afloat and their patients healthy.

It should go without saying that your team deserve a huge thank you, a festive pat on the back and some light relief to mark the end of a really challenging year.

Despite the ongoing restrictions, you can still have fun with your team even if you can’t have your traditional party to celebrate.   Some of you out there may even feel slightly thankful of getting to avoid the awkwardness of making small talk with Deirdre from Reception’s husband or being forced into dancing to Wham.

To help you and your teams get into the Christmas spirit, here are our top 6 ideas of ways to celebrate;

• Virtual Xmas Meal

Normally, our team are very lucky at Christmas and go out for a Christmas meal, followed by drinks and perhaps a few dance moves. This year it simply isn’t going to be happening so we have opted for a Zoom Christmas meal. We have all been given a sum of money to cover the costs and we have all chosen our treat meal of choice and will wine and dine from the safety of our own homes. Just think – it saves on a Christmas outfit and taxi fare!

If that doesn’t appeal to you or perhaps you feel the team are too big then you could order in some food to the practice and some fizz to toast the last working day of 2020.

• A Christmas Quiz

You may have rolled your eyes when you read this but a tailored final quiz of 2020 could really create some giggles within your team – we are opting for this to accompany our meal. Categories of questions could include scenarios that have happened within the team this year, or a what happens next round or even a scavenger hunt.  Perhaps each team member can be responsible for a round of questions.

• Award ceremony

This is something that can be done online depending on the space available. Depending on your team size, you could either have a handful of categories that people can vote for or if you have a small team, an award each and the category can be something silly like best baker in the practice or most amusing scenario that has occurred in the past year.

• Secret Santa

Everyone does /secret Santa differently, but you could make this extra fun by creating rules like the gifts have to be made or bought from a charity shop. Alternatively, if people are worried that they could end up with “tat” that they’d only throw away perhaps you could all club together and donate the money to charity or buy something collectively to donate.

• Competitions

Nothing beats a friendly bit of competition at Christmas and if anything, you could use it as a warm up before the obligatory family Christmas card or board games.

One of our clients has done Christmas tree decorating and we thought it was a brilliant idea. All it involves is purchasing small Christmas Trees (potted) for each department and they all compete to win the prize for the best decorated tree.

Place the blank Christmas trees with each team and tell them they have a certain time frame to decorate it (without using bought decorations) and this can either be stuff they find in the practice, or things they can make or find at home. Then you can judge the best tree and potentially have a prize for that team. Our client even went one step further and said the team also had to keep it alive for the year ready for next year’s competition or you would start on minus points the following year!

If you don’t want the burden of a Christmas tree perhaps look at Gingerbread house making competitions or even host your own Royal Variety Show.

 

• Hampers

If you normally put on a large event for your company, chances are you are going to be saving on that budget in 2020.  Why not use it to send your team a Christmas hamper for them to enjoy and if there is anything left over, why not donate it to charity.  We normally buy client gifts and will really miss delivering those this Christmas but we will be donating the budget to a worthy cause instead.

 

These are just some ideas you could use to wind down to Christmas with your team and we feel it’s important that practice owners and managers take the time to celebrate with your valued team and appreciate the work everyone has done.

If the email count in your inbox is only growing and you are leaving the practice later and later then perhaps before the festivities start you should consider whether  you need to expand your team in the New Year. We have a tool specifically designed for these situations called ‘5 Signs it’s time to recruit’ so get in touch to know more.

Don’t wait for 2021 if you are struggling now, give the team at EVS a call today!