How to Plan a Virtual Christmas Party for Remote Employees

December 14, 2021 - 10 min read

Maria Waida

As 2021 draws to a close, many employees are still working remotely across the world. With this in mind, businesses are looking at how they can involve everyone within their organizations in a fun and memorable virtual Christmas party. In this guide, we’ll provide practical insight into the planning and hosting of virtual Christmas parties. Keep reading to discover the tips, tricks, and tools you need to create a successful digital event your team will actually enjoy.

How to get everyone involved in a virtual Christmas party

Engaging an audience of remote workers seems challenging at first. They’re already used to virtual events but not necessarily the fun kind. In order to make your virtual Christmas party exciting, you’ll need to follow some best practices for planning virtual events. The three hallmarks of improving engagement at any virtual event are the inclusion of a physical component, an interactive process, and being able to see other attendees.

A physical component of a virtual event can include something sent to an attendee’s address ahead of time that they can use on the day. For a virtual Christmas party, this may be a funny themed hat or a present.

Most companies choose to do virtual gift cards as their Christmas party presents for employees. Instead, make the day more exciting by sending a physical gift to every attendee. Creating a gift box or basket that people can actually open will make your virtual Christmas party that much more memorable.

An interactive process requires audience participation before, during, and after the event. For example, you can spark engagement from the moment you first invite guests by using a virtual registration process that gets them excited about the event.

For large groups or events, registration should be done at least two weeks in advance. And just like at an in-person event, your virtual Christmas party team leads should interact with the confirmed attendees ahead of time through fun event reminders and announcements.

Pro tip: Having a virtual event registration process helps differentiate your virtual Christmas party from other digital office gatherings. It shows that this is more than just a calendar invite for a training session or regular meeting. E-cards such as the festive holiday cocktail party ones from Paperless Post are great for this.

Finally, host your virtual Christmas party on a video call platform and not just on a one-way livestream or audio-only app. Require cameras to be on throughout the event. Create opportunities for guests to use every feature of the event platform.

For example, you can play part games and designate teams by having Team A use the raised hand emoji and Team B use the heart emoji on Zoom. You can also use breakout rooms to create smaller groups for team building activities and Christmas-themed challenges.

Top tips for planning a virtual Christmas party

Planning a virtual Christmas party can feel and look a lot like planning a virtual work meeting. Here are some ways to make these two events different yet well organized:

Designate a charismatic host who can keep track of the event timeline and keep everyone engaged.
Use a team collaboration software like Wrike to project manage your virtual Christmas party.
Ask your team what they’d like to see happen at the virtual Christmas party so they can feel involved in the planning process too.
Include team building activities and icebreaker games to kick off the social part of the evening.
Double-check that your host WiFi is strong and guests can hear and see you clearly.
Your party should be scheduled for a Friday night instead of a Saturday afternoon if you want to maximize attendance. If you decide to go all out, make sure to provide alcohol-free transportation or driver services.
If you organize a virtual Christmas party during work hours, make certain that your team is prepared to handle the additional workload.
Go all out with your background decorations to make the event feel truly special. This can be a physical background filled with a Christmas tree and gifts or a customized virtual background everyone can use that has a festive design.

Virtual Christmas party ideas and games your team won't hate

Host a sommelier-led wine or hot cocoa tasting complete with nuts, candies, and cheese.
Participate in a remote escape room experience. The winning team gets a Secret Santa gift.
Have a Christmas cookie decorating competition with management as the judges. This requires some prep ahead of time but will be a visual feast for all attendees.
Dress to a theme and host a contest for the best ugly sweaters, Santas, and other Christmas character outfits.
Bring in classic board games such as bingo, charades, and virtual Apples to Apples. Look for versions with a holiday or Christmas twist.
Invite guest performers to do stand-up comedy, play live music, or even do magic while dressed as Santa.
If children are in attendance, screen a Christmas movie like “A Muppet Christmas Carol”. If it’s adults only, watch something like “Die Hard”.
Host a creative workshop such as cocktail making, scarf knitting, or ornament crafting.
Invite a local school, church, or community group to sing Christmas carols during the event.
Start a Christmas-themed trivia game for prizes.

How do you make a virtual Christmas party inclusive?

Although there are various holiday celebrations and festivities that happen throughout the year, they seldom get the same attention that they deserve. An inclusive approach encourages employees to recognize that they come from a variety of faiths, traditions, and cultures.

To make your virtual Christmas party more inclusive, leaders should make their employees feel valued by turning it into a virtual office holiday party instead.

Or, if hosting a true Christmas celebration is important to the majority of your team, make sure you’re upfront about it.

Sometimes an employer will announce a regular holiday event that ends up feeling, looking, and sounding a lot like a Christmas party. But according to the experts at the Society for Human Resource Management, it’s much better to be upfront about which holiday or holidays will be represented at your party than mislabeling it for the sake of inclusion.

If you do host a virtual Christmas party, make sure to also acknowledge and give the appropriate time off for other winter holiday celebrations for employees who celebrate those instead.

How to plan a virtual Christmas party with Wrike

Wrike is an online task management system that manages to-do lists and multi-department projects, including events like virtual Christmas parties. Its advanced features allow it to efficiently organize groups of people.

To start, it's important that the virtual Christmas party planning team has a centralized folder for each major portion of the event running at the same time. This way, they can easily identify which parts of the plan are complete and which ones are still in progress.

Next, each team has its own subfolders, which can be organized into areas of responsibility and major initiatives. This system also keeps all of the important details organized, allowing each team to set its own deadlines and work seamlessly with the other event crew. For virtual Christmas parties, this means keeping track of everything from mailing invitations and gifts to arranging live performers.

After, Wrike users can add a registration folder to their virtual Christmas party project. The registration folder contains all the necessary information related to attendee registration. From there, tasks can be broken down into specific sub-tasks with more detail. For example, if your task is to host a cookie baking contest, your sub-task list may include the item “draft contest rules by December 15”.

In addition to adding dates to tasks and sub-tasks, members of the event management team can add custom tags to each item. This will make tasks easier to find, sort, and assign to the appropriate team members.

Each team can customize their tag options in Wrike to fit their own guidelines for breaking down tasks into action items. For example, teams can designate certain tasks as “Administrative” to automatically sort logistics-based tasks into one skimmable list.

Once you've created a list of tasks, you can start scheduling them in Wrike. Doing so in the timeline view will help organize them nicely and ensure that your announcements, invitations, RSVPs, and party shopping all get done on time.

There are lots of ways to view tasks once you have them created and assigned. Drag-and-drop tasks can be organized in a timeline view. You can also group them into predefined hierarchies.

And if one task is dependent on another (such as waiting for RSVPs to come in before putting together the gift baskets), Wrike allows users to connect tasks and send automated notifications and reminders to the appropriate people when it’s time to move on to the next steps.

Having task dependencies makes it easier to identify which tasks are dependent on which part of your virtual Christmas party plan. Also, it saves you time when you need to update the status of a specific task since Wrike will trigger these reminders for you.

And after your virtual Christmas party is over, you can simply just drag and drop the entire folder into a "Past Events" folder for next year.

Create a templated version of your planning process to streamline future event planning and organizing. Or simply keep a record of the fun everyone had and how you brought it to life.

No matter how you use the information, it’s handy to have on file within your project management system for future reference.

Ready to get your virtual Christmas party organized and on track to be a big hit? Get started today with Wrike’s two-week free trial to take advantage of our detailed task management capabilities.

Maria Waida

Maria is a freelance content writer who specializes in blogging and other marketing materials for enterprise software businesses.

#Event Planning #Remote Work #Company Culture #Remote Teams #Human Resources #Holidays

Remote Working 10 min read

What Is Hybrid Remote Working?

Hybrid remote working bridges the gap between remote work and office work. It offers employees the opportunity to work in an environment that suits them and has a substantial impact on both overall performance and productivity. Despite the weather-related small talk, many people still want to be with their co-workers. And if companies aren’t too eager to return to full-time hours on site for all employees again, there is a solution that is less black and white. In this article, we’ll provide an overview of how hybrid remote working functions and why it could benefit the companies that employ it. What is a hybrid remote working model? A hybrid work environment includes both in-office and remote employees. This arrangement allows employees to work from home while still maintaining a physical office. Combining the two work models has major benefits for a number of vulnerable groups, including women, people who have disabilities, parents of young children, millennials, and Generation Z employees. If that’s not enough to pique your interest, the hybrid remote working model also seems to be a more productive and cost-effective strategy for everyone. There are plenty of companies still pushing the envelope when it comes to working conditions. But many are starting to realize that they need to care more about how their employees are getting things done and where they have to be to do it. This results-oriented mindset is the driving force behind many decisions to switch to a hybrid remote working model. When it comes to the day-to-day practicalities of this approach, it can vary widely. In general, hybrid workplaces need conference rooms, at least one large general use space, and a robust online tool for a successful transition. This can save companies real estate space and office expenses which are only a couple examples of the many benefits of hybrid remote working. What are the benefits of hybrid remote working? After working remotely during the pandemic, many employees are eager to return to their desks. But despite the enthusiasm for shared workspaces, many companies are still reluctant to return to the traditional office setting. That’s where hybrid remote working comes in. Easier planning Companies can work together with employees to create schedules that everyone will champion. For example, instead of working from home on the same days every week, an employee or team member will come to the office at agreed-upon times instead. This eliminates the need for an office manager to plan meetings and events for in-office hours. Smarter resource management A manager can then customize their work schedule to suit a specific company project. For example, all members of the same team can work from the same office then alternate with another team the following week. More flexibility Alternatively, companies can choose to give employees the freedom to go into the office whenever they want with the caveat that they do it a minimum number of times per week. An entirely flexible schedule allows employees to customize their work schedules to fit their personal needs. This concept is ideal for people who work from home for disability-related reasons or are on a tight deadline. Happier employees Many of us know from experience now that flexible work can boost employee satisfaction. It’s also a great way to reduce turnover and can be a major selling point for recruitment. What are the challenges of hybrid remote working? The traditional workday is no longer a requirement for many workers. Instead, they expect more from themselves and are more focused on results-oriented tasks. In fact, studies have shown that there is a link between feeling content with work and being productive. For employees, this expectation presents various challenges that employers have to consider. These challenges include but are not limited to: Management Company culture Miscommunication Micromanagement is one of the biggest challenges of both remote working and hybrid remote working. This can be counterproductive and may even lead to resentment amongst employees if taken to an extreme. For example, having to check in constantly or always be online while working from home (even after hours) may lead to a big enough decrease in morale that employees choose to quit. On the other hand, creating a culture of autonomy can help employees feel secure and accountable. Tip: Strong remote work management training and a great project management platform can help executives monitor teams in more productive ways. One of the other biggest challenges of hybrid remote working is finding ways to connect people part-time. Simply put, you can't force team culture. Instead of assuming teams will come together socially on their own, managers should try creating a space both online and in-person where everyone feels welcome. This can create a more intimate environment where people can connect and discuss their concerns. Another key issue is communication. Employees need to be able to communicate with each other wherever they are without having to travel to a physical office. By creating an online communication plan, you can easily integrate apps and messaging platforms into your existing systems. Considerations for going hybrid remote For some businesses, switching to a hybrid remote working model may be an impractical or impossible choice. While it is a great alternative to an entirely remote team, it does require more effort and an investment of time to implement. This is especially true when you consider how switching work models affects your company holistically. When it comes to going hybrid remote, team bonding is more important than ever. Just because you're not in the same location doesn't mean you can't do team bonding activities. Create remote team activities that are both fun and professional. From holiday parties to corporate announcements, there are endless possibilities. The goal is to show your employees that they're valued and treated the same regardless of where they work. It'll also help them feel included in the team even if they are in an entirely different timezone. You should also consider taking a temperature check (no pun intended) of your post-COVID company culture. At-home employees are typically more productive, less likely to quit, and generally happier than their in-office counterparts. After many months of telecommuting, you may find that your specific group is better suited to one model over another. Another important point of consideration is your management team’s style. When managers are used to being around their employees, they may not know how to manage a remote team, much less a part in-person, part remote team. There may be learning curves over time. One of the other important factors that companies should consider is the number of days employees can work in-office. Again, flexibility is key. Companies should not make strict rules around a minimum number of in-office days unless those rules are directly tied to goals and projects. Tips for managing a hybrid remote team Set expectations. First, get in touch with your employees to find out their preferences. Then, make sure they're prepared to measure their results no matter where they’re working from. After, discuss the hybrid office options with your senior executives before making the transition. Make a plan. Create a clear and flexible office schedule for the first couple of weeks back. This transition period can be used to document the various changes that will affect the office environment. Your return-to-work plan should also outline the procedures for the IT department. Develop meeting types. These may serve different purposes or function in new ways compared to the types of meetings you currently host. Make sure to divide up one-on-ones and status meetings so that each remote individual receives some personal attention. Have fun. Fun should be part of all in-office and remote work cultures. Online multiplayer games, virtual happy hours, trivia, and even hybrid karaoke can bring together remote and in-person teams no matter how far apart they are. Build a foundation. Before the project begins, provide all the details and requirements in advance. This will help avoid misunderstandings and confusion later. Another good step is keeping important documents and communication centralized. Take it slow. Transitioning to a hybrid remote working model doesn’t have to happen all at once. Small changes can be made each month or quarter so that no one gets overwhelmed. This also gives teams time to assess progress and reevaluate their model as they go. Implement meeting policies. Unscheduled meetings can be disruptive to hybrid remote teams, which is why companies may want to formally schedule them within their project management software or calendar tool. If you do have informal meetings, leaders should document the takeaways within project files and individual tasks as needed. Keep things fair. Leaders should carefully consider the perks of the office and extend them to those who are outside the office. For example, if a team member is remote but still needs to access an onsite gym and daycare, this could be difficult to accommodate. How to support hybrid remote teams with Wrike When remote work is no longer required, what happens when employees choose to work from home? For many companies, this is their first step into a hybrid working model. They need to prepare for this transition to implement it successfully. Here’s how Wrike can help. Wrike is a hybrid remote working software that lets you work seamlessly across time zones, spaces, and teams. Wrike helps streamline your collaboration by allowing everyone on the team to save, edit, and share project-related documents in real-time. Having a centralized storage space makes it easier to review, approve, and print documents too. Wrike also puts micromanagement concerns to rest through visual task management tools. With a clear view of your team's tasks, you can see who's working what, who's available, who’s not, and what the status is of every active project component. Building trust within your team in this way is an absolute necessity to keeping things running smoothly. In that same vein, Wrike’s dashboards give your management team ample support before, during, and after the transition to hybrid remote working. Essentially, they provide a bird's eye view of projects and the ability to dig deeper when necessary. With custom dashboards, you can see the status of all your team members' work, as well as the individual's workload. Our collaboration tool makes it incredibly simple to keep track of all your meetings and status updates. Also, it lets you outline the agenda and record notes in the same file. Using Wrike will help both your remote and in-person teams to time too. At-a-glance tools like these prevent employees from having to send or receive status updates to the entire team via email or messenger throughout the day. And by making project plans and task assignments visible to everyone within Wrike, team members will better understand the roles and responsibilities of others. Not only does it increase their visibility, but it also serves as a constant reminder of what they are working toward. It can even help them feel accountable to themselves and the team. Wrike can even help simplify and streamline the hybrid remote model scheduling process. The custom calendar feature is a great way to keep track of flexible and remote work arrangements all in one place. The promise of a future where hybrid remote working is the norm is exciting. With Wrike’s help, your team can easily experience the many benefits of the hybrid remote working model for themselves. Start your free trial today.

Remote Working 5 min read

Working Across Borders: How COVID-19 Shattered The Confines of Physical Locations and Work

For many global employees, work has traditionally been a physical location upheld by norms around attendance, communication, and collaboration. Over the course of the COVID-19 crisis, as swathes of global office workers transitioned from physical to remote work attendance, many attitudes around work have evolved. From reigning in an out of control “always on” culture to prioritizing workplace flexibility, employees are exploring new ways of managing work. As organizations pay special attention to hybrid and remote-first hiring, it has become clear that our collective understanding of where work can take place is changing, too. Distributed work before the pandemic Though COVID-19 significantly increased the number of people working from home on a regular basis, remote work has been on the rise for years. Improved infrastructure and work management innovations have enabled digital nomads to travel while working or connecting with teams from decentralized office locations. Remote-first organizations are hardly a COVID-era phenomenon, either. Companies like Hubstaff, Doist, and Zapier have been remote-first pioneers for years, highlighting the cost and talent acquisition benefits of distributed hiring. “We can hire people wherever we want to. We don't have to compete for Bay Area talent, and instead, we get to hire the best people all over the world,” wrote Zapier co-founder Wade Foster back in 2020. “Not only does it increase the size of the applicant pool, but it adds a layer of diversity into the company.” The steady rise in remote work has also made the modern workplace more accessible overall, allowing workers with varying needs and backgrounds to access opportunities they might otherwise have missed out on just a few years ago. The structures that make distributed work possible have been a long time coming. However, if 2020 taught businesses and their employees anything, it’s that “making it work” could also mean “making it work remotely.” [caption id="attachment_466235" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash[/caption] Reconsidering work and where it happens “Effectiveness can’t be measured by the number of hours people spend in an office,” Spotify wrote in an announcement for their distributed-first work policy, Work From Anywhere. “Instead, giving people the freedom to choose where they work will boost effectiveness.” In February 2021, Spotify outlined their decision to allow employees to choose “whether they’d prefer to work mostly at home or in the office — as well as their geographic location.” Spotify’s WFA policy is by no means the “norm” for enterprise or even the company’s industry peers. Still, it does underscore the idea that work potential and effectiveness are not tied to a physical location. Employees know this, too. Many have spent the last year doing jobs they were previously told could only be done in an office. Now that tools like Slack, Zoom, and Wrike have empowered digital workspaces, organizations are adapting their approach to hiring in an environment where workplace flexibility (geographic and otherwise) is a top priority for jobseekers. Distributed hiring LinkedIn data offers additional insight into how organizations are approaching remote and distributed hiring. As of May 2021, the career networking site said that the percentage of paid “remote work” job listings on their platform was up by 457% from the previous year. The industries that saw the greatest percentage of remote work growth, according to their data, include media and communications, IT, and corporate services. Presumably, these jobs won’t just disappear once the pandemic is over, signalling a shift in how companies are thinking about talent acquisition over the next few years. In one survey of US-based HR professionals, one-quarter of respondents said they’d be willing to hire fully remote workers anywhere in the country (up from 3% pre-pandemic), with 7% saying they’d even hire globally for open roles (up from 2% pre-pandemic). Even as global vaccine rollouts see more and more office workers returning to in-person and hybrid attendance, the last year has certainly tested the strict geographical limitations of the pre-pandemic office. Looking beyond local As with any complex conversation about the ever-evolving workplace, there’s much to consider beyond changing attitudes. COVID-19 may have impacted the way we think about where work gets done, but experts warn about the tax implications of an increasingly remote workforce. Even Zapier’s Wade Foster calls this the “compliance and regulatory elephants in the room,” noting that hiring, payroll, and taxes for teams in multiple jurisdictions can be a huge undertaking. Still, we are witnessing a real-time evolution in how organizations and employees view work and where it happens. Gradually, many are moving away from the idea that you have to travel each day to a physical location to achieve work goals or connect with colleagues. By revisiting ideas about strict in-office attendance and creating more remote opportunities, organizations can access a wider talent pool of workers and increase opportunities for diverse and more inclusive hiring. Building the workplace of the future with collaborative work management The tools we use to meet objectives, collaborate with co-workers, and manage tasks are more important than ever. Wrike’s collaborative work management features empower an increasingly hybrid and dispersed workforce to manage tasks, collaborate in a flexible environment, and build systems and workflows that reflect how they achieve their goals. Learn more about how Wrike helps teams adapt to the evolution of work by creating digital hubs for innovation and enabling work management from anywhere. Try a free two-week trial and discover why 20,000+ teams trust Wrike.

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How to Plan a Virtual Christmas Party for Remote Employees

How to get everyone involved in a virtual Christmas party

Top tips for planning a virtual Christmas party

Virtual Christmas party ideas and games your team won't hate

How do you make a virtual Christmas party inclusive?

How to plan a virtual Christmas party with Wrike

Maria Waida

How to Plan a Virtual Christmas Party for Remote Employees

How to get everyone involved in a virtual Christmas party

Top tips for planning a virtual Christmas party

Virtual Christmas party ideas and games your team won't hate

How do you make a virtual Christmas party inclusive?

How to plan a virtual Christmas party with Wrike

Maria Waida

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What Is Hybrid Remote Working?

Working Across Borders: How COVID-19 Shattered The Confines of Physical Locations and Work

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