Celebrations at Workplace

Gone are the days when celebrations used to be confined with in the boundaries of home. Employees, today, savor the festive time even at their workplaces. Making workplace more lively often involves celebrations at various occasions so that a joyous ambience is created. The fact that the workplace is as important as the work itself can't be ignored. Companies, nowadays, are finding festivals the best way to reach to their employees in that way creating a casual environment to make them feel at home even while working. Such a culture fosters an environment of love and trust and enhances the bonding as well as team spirit in the overall professional environment. It reflects how much an employer cares for his employees.

At what occasions to celebrate often is a difficult question to answer. Apart from the religious festivities like Holi, Eid, Diwali, Christmas, etc. companies also celebrate events like Independence day, New Year, or the organization's foundation day. Some organizations like Mafoi Management Consultants Ltd even go out of their way to keep a festive theme every month. Some even incorporate annual celebrations as part of their corporate culture. The tradition of annual celebrations in the company enhances employee motivation. Celebrations allow employees to relax and recharge. Such celebrations send a positive message that you value and respect your employees. Apart form organization wide celebrations, companies also indulge in department or team celebrations. Acknowledging the target achieved and sharing the moment together with the team improves team spirit. In some companies, even the birthdays are celebrated or an off is given on the day. Different firms have different methods of celebrating the occasions. Some do it through corporate gifts, some through special meals and feasts while some celebrate by throwing corporate parties on a particular day. Decorating cubicles, distributing gift vouchers and other coupons, organizing contests, lucky draws, fun games and other merry making events are a part of celebrations. The purpose behind all this is not just to create a great work culture but also to motivate the employees and inculcate a sense of belongingness among them. This will enhance loyalty and motivate employees for a longer stay with the company, thus in turn, reducing the attrition rates of the organization. These celebrations also pave the path for social interactions among employees with diverse backgrounds. Such interactions also break the barriers created by management hierarchies. Choosing a few appropriate festivals and celebrating them annually always turns out to be a good idea to bring together all the employees. It is important to find or develop celebrations that are meaningful to a particular work environment and best suits the organization. Just because other companies hold parties in a certain way, doesn't mean that your employees would respond to the same events. As the culture of an organization reflects its values, so should the celebrations do. What the company celebrates highlights the importance it places on the event. Therefore the celebrations should reflect the culture and values of the organization. However, employers often face situations where in it becomes difficult to decide at what occasions one should celebrate and up to what levels these should be celebrated. How diverse the organization's workforce is, also acts as an important factor while deciding for the appropriate celebrations. In an organization with diverse workforce it's very easy to make a lot of employees feel excluded. This happens mainly when the parity between the celebrations is not maintained. For example in USA, only Christmas is being celebrated at workplaces while festivals like Eid are partially ignored as majority of employees are Christians. In order to deal with it, companies are coming up with some innovative ideas like "holiday swapping". Here, a non Christian employee can work on Christmas and take an off on some other day as per his relevance. Other companies are polling workers to come up with a list of 21 holidays that are particularly meaningful to them. They can then choose to observe any 11 of those holidays. Relevance of the revel: Celebrations at workplace directly correlate to productivity, loyalty and job satisfaction. Workplace celebrations are an important component in keeping employees happy and focused. Moreover, in a diverse environment, such as that is seen in multinational companies, it helps in workforce integration and creating a congenial atmosphere in the workplace. Annual events reaffirm the company's belief that all employees are like one big family. It is worth making budget allocations for such celebrations. Motivated employees lead to greater productivity and organizational success. These social events enhance employee loyalty too. Source: naukrihub.com