Connecting remote employees for Christmas

This year has forced organizations to adapt their ways of working a multitude of ways, and it’s evident that the Annual Christmas Party is another item to add to that list. Whilst fancy office parties, and karaoke nights might be off the cards for this festive season, it’s important for employees to still try and connect for some festive fun with their co-workers.

At edison365, we’ve already been working to connect our global employees regularly through digital social sessions, playing a virtual variations of ‘Would I lie to You’ (a British gameshow) and building up a bank of other suggestions on our internal Innovation Hub.

“The social sessions are a really good way to get a break from the workplace but still connect with your colleagues. You never know where the conversation is going to head and you end-up finding very cool facts and anecdotes about the people you work with. It gives you a break from the work talk whilst helping you become better at your job as you are strengthening your team.” Paloma Armada Gamboa, Innovation & Client engagement Executive at edison365.

“The social sessions help me feel more connected to everyone, even members outside my own team who I don’t typically interact on the day-to-day. It’s nice having some time to just forget about work and to get to know people on a more personal level.” – Ellis Putnam, Campaign Executive at edison365.

As many of our team are spread across the globe and might not have been able to attend a Christmas party should this have been possible, so we wanted to explore how we might do this remotely. We wanted to bring together our employee base and celebrate the work that we’ve all put in throughout this year. Once again, we turned to our employees to see how they’d like to do this.

It was decided that the Christmas part would run similarly to our social session, where employees are encouraged to eat, drink and be merry with the added festivities of ‘B*tch that’s mine’. This game with many names such as ‘Yankee Swap’ or ‘White Elephant’, our employees will buy a gift and take it in turns to either pick an unknown present from the pile or steal it from the known ones already unwrapped.

“It’s incredibly important to me that as we expand our team across the globe and build more remote teams that we prioritise our company culture and employee wellbeing. I’m so glad we’ve managed to find a way to not only set up regular sessions for employees to connect outside of work commitments but have also found a way to host our Christmas party safely.” Ivan Lloyd, Chief Executive Officer, edison365.

Whilst these might seem like small activities, the impact they have on the organization cannot be overlooked. Having recruited some new people over the pandemic, many of our employees have not met their colleagues outside of meetings so social sessions and digital Christmas parties help teams bond, enabling edison365 to keep developing and maintain our workplace culture.