Reasons to write a happy holiday message to employees

A holiday message can offer a warm greeting that makes your employees feel recognized. It shows you value your team while acknowledging what’s important to them outside of work.

Writing an effective holiday message can help support:

• Company culture: Consider your employees’ priorities to help strengthen your company culture. You can also incorporate key elements of your business values in the message. For example, if inclusion is a key value, writing a message that includes all holidays reinforces that value.

• Employee recognition: As you reflect on your company’s growth over the year, you can also recognize how your team contributed to that success.

• Holiday cheer: Receiving a holiday greeting helps create a cheerful, festive environment at work, potentially boosting morale and increasing employee happiness.

How to write a holiday message to your employees

Writing a happy holiday message to employees is easier with a framework. These steps can help you create custom holiday wishes for your team.

1. Identify your goals for the holiday message

The main purpose of the message is to wish your employees a happy holiday season, but you need to decide what else you want to add to create an effective message. You might want to highlight company achievements and encourage employees to continue their hard work. Keep your goals in mind as you write your holiday message.

2. Respect the holidays your team celebrates

Employees may have a wide range of religious and spiritual beliefs, and many may celebrate different holidays. To address this, you might recognize each holiday or use broad language, such as “Happy Holidays.”

Universal themes of gratitude can also replace specific religious expressions to ensure all workers’ beliefs are respected.

3. Decide what company information to include

Holiday greetings often touch on company details, such as success from the previous year or a personalized message from your leadership team. You may also choose to introduce business goals for the next year.

4. Show appreciation for your employees

Acknowledging your team’s work efforts helps them feel appreciated. Consider including successes or specific highlights from your department or team to help increase employee morale.

Tips for writing professional holiday wishes for employees

Follow these tips to create a successful holiday message:

• Lead with empathy. If you have team members who are experiencing a difficult holiday season, offering resources, such as employee assistance programs (EAPs), additional time off, ability to work remotely or willingness to talk about challenging situations, can help build a culture of empathy.

• Be inclusive. Offering a general holiday greeting helps ensure all workers and the individual holidays they celebrate are included.

• Use your company’s tone and voice. The holiday greeting should reflect your brand voice. This helps support your company culture and create a sense of collaboration among your employees.

• Keep the message concise. Employers may be more likely to read shorter holiday messages with concise points.

Sample holiday messages to employees

Personalized messages based on your company’s values and accomplishments are often the most effective. Consider the examples below when writing your happy holidays message to employees:

1. As the holiday season begins, I want to take a look back at the previous year. We overcame many challenges, and you came together as a team to help us achieve our highest year of sales to date. Our company couldn’t help as many customers as we do without every one of you embracing our values of curiosity, innovation and passion. Before we start working on next year’s goals, I hope you all find time to slow down and spend time with the people who matter most. Wishing you all a holiday full of joy and memories!

2. Happy holidays to the team that set new records for customer satisfaction ratings, sales and productivity! We appreciate all the work you’ve done this year, but now it’s time to focus on your loved ones and take a break to celebrate the holidays. We wish all of you a joyous holiday season.

3. Season’s greetings to the entire team! We know you’re planning holiday celebrations with your loved ones, but we wanted to take the time to share our sincere appreciation for the work you’ve contributed this year. May you have a safe and happy holiday season!

4. We all celebrate holidays differently, but I like to use this time of year to show gratitude to the people in my life. To my high-achieving team, I want you to know how proud I am of you for using challenges as a motivator to innovate. I know the new year will bring just as much success for our team!

5. Cheers to another year of success! Take time to celebrate your favorite holiday traditions. I look forward to working with a refreshed, energized team in the new year!

Frequently asked questions about holiday wishes to employees

How should you distribute your employee holiday message?

You can send holiday greetings in any format that makes sense for your organization. A company-wide email can be an efficient way to share the greeting.

Using your collaboration tool can also encourage other team members to add their holiday messages. Other options include printed messages posted around the office, individual cards for employees or virtual messages on Teams or other messaging channels.

When should you send the holiday greeting?

The timing of the message is flexible, but it should come before any of the holidays being recognized. Consider your employees’ holiday celebrations, such as Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, and the dates they fall on so you can send the message before they start. You can also send multiple holiday messages throughout the season.

Should you include a gift with your happy holiday message to employees?

Whether you give a gift depends on your standard procedures and budget. Gifts can add another form of recognition, but they’re not necessary to show your employees that you appreciate them. A well-written, personalized note can be just as effective. If you give your employees gifts, include a message to make it more meaningful.

Are there any drawbacks to sending a holiday message to employees?

Consider all holidays your team members celebrate so you can include them in your message rather than focusing on one specific holiday. Ensure your message is inclusive, positive and specific enough to feel meaningful and create a positive response.