Halloween. It’s not necessarily a holiday that we generally equate with office celebrations. Often, it’s relegated to the parental role of taking your kids out trick-or-treating the night-of. Stocking up on candy at home for the holiday, costume shopping, decorating the house with the scariest graveyard scene you can manage. It’s a holiday you either embrace or avoid.
The big question is whether you should participate as an office. Many Managers shake their heads at the thought of participating in Halloween celebrations because of the time it takes away from work and the craziness of over the top costumes and office pranks gone wrong.
Here are five spooktacular reasons you SHOULD have your office participate in this hallmark holiday.
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Team Building
Getting a healthy team competition together for the best costumes is a great way to get your office connecting. Not to mention the creative thought process and planning you’ll see from the team to ensure that they are the champion.
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Creates a Fun Company Culture
While it sounds silly, celebrating holidays like Halloween in the office impacts culture. It creates an excitement that doesn’t come from any other event. People will plan for this all year! They can have fun, show their humor and creative side; elevating the culture to something personal and interactive.
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Allows Employees to Interact with Upper Management
In a lot of companies, upper management and higher-level executives are thought to be separate from the team by the nature of their role. Â A Halloween party provides an outlet for interacting with managers and helps build a rapport with positive interaction. It allows the employees to get to know their management team and form a relationship, which in turn builds team trust.
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Morale Boosts
As the holidays approach, this is the time to make sure your people are engaged, even when they are in the midst of the end of year heavy workloads. This can feel like chasing the impossible, which makes it that much more important to offer a fun reprieve. Halloween just happens to be the starting point into the big holiday season – making it a fun morale booster to get the office together and have some fun for management and the team is a great way to kick off the season. This is the opportunity to get your team reinvigorated and remind them why they choose to work with you.
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It Provides Opportunities for Individual Recognition
Lack of recognition is one of the biggest reasons that employees leave. While you shouldn’t save all recognition for the holiday parties, this is another outlet where you can recognize the commitment, hard work, and contributions made by your people. They work hard throughout the year, and this is a great time to allow some fun!
While not all employees will want to participate in a themed office party for Halloween or dressing up, encourage it, but never force it! Offer candy prizes, decorate the office with a few cobwebs, have some punch and a potluck. Inter-office parties are a great way to build your company culture and alleviate a bit of work pressure – and yes – take some blackmail photos of the team in crazy costumes!
