
With the holidays fast approaching, things are looking a lot different both at law firms and at home than they did years prior. Normally at this time of year, employees start looking ahead to the winding down of the year and look forward to holiday parties, lunches, and time spent celebrating with their co-workers, friends, and families. This year, all of those special events are likely to be cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing pandemic.
The COVID pandemic has been incredibly challenging and stressful for employees across the board as many law firms have had to transition to a largely remote workforce. Even before the pandemic began, many large law firms had added a Well-Being Officer or Director to their leadership teams, tasked with fostering the health and well-being of firm employees. There are many firms that also have Wellness Committees or Teams, with a cross-section of firm employees that includes attorneys, paralegals, administrative support, etc. to promote and encourage healthy living and assist with life/work balance challenges.
Promoting and fostering a culture of health and wellness for your employees is even more critical as we face unprecedented challenges in both our home and work lives. Even if your firm doesn’t have a Chief Well-Being Officer or Director, there are still things you can do to promote health and well-being for your employees during this unprecedented time and make the holidays fun and enjoyable for your employees.
Be creative in finding ways that your employees can safely celebrate this holiday season. Some suggestions:
Send a weekly email alert with links to articles about health, exercise, and mental health. Include healthy holiday recipes, video links for short workouts and stretches they can incorporate into their workday, and articles related to health and wellness.
Send your employees plants for their home offices. There are numerous benefits to having plants in your office, including fostering creativity and reducing stress, anxiety and depression.
Host a virtual holiday lunch and allow employees to order their favorite meals for delivery and reimburse them for the cost.
Have a cookie swap with colleagues who live nearby.
Host fitness challenges and award prizes to motivate your employees to stay active during the holiday season. Colleagues who have similar interests could pair up and come up with targeted challenges. For example, doing 10,000 kettlebell swings in a month, walking five times a week for 30 minutes, practicing yoga by doing one Yoga with Adriene video per day.
Send your employees a Starbucks Gift Card and have an informal Virtual Coffee Chat where employees can pop in and say hello.
Adopt a disadvantaged local family and designate teams to coordinate gift purchasing.
Plan a Secret Santa gift exchange by using DrawNames, a 100% touchless and virtual Secret Santa gift exchange.