Holiday Spirit on the Road

With the holiday season quickly approaching it’s important to start thinking about how you and your employees can best benefit. The winter holidays are known to be centered on family but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate them in the workplace. Planning fun holiday activities for your company can be easy and will make a big difference in employee morale and happiness. Truck drivers are used to being away from their families but Holidays can be a tough time for them to be on the road. Most employees would love to have time off during every holiday, but because that is not always possible it’s important to make being at work as fun as possible.

Here are 5 ways to celebrate the holidays with your drivers:

1.    Have a holiday party for truck drivers and other employees

This seems like an obvious event to have during the holiday season but that makes it even more important. Make your holiday party something that your drivers are talking about before and after! Hold an ugly Christmas sweater competition, play fun holiday games, make a rockin’ playlist, and (most importantly) have great food! You want your drivers to be excited for the next holiday party. If drivers can’t make the party, you can hold a driver contest for sweater pictures uploaded or share the playlist through a platform like Soundcloud.

2.    Give out fun decorations for their trucks

This will help get your drivers excited for the season and will boost their spirit while they are on the road. Make it a competition! It will be fun for drivers to partake in and will boost employee engagement. Plus, it will make for fun social media pictures. For examples, check out these cool trucks on Overdrive.com.

3.    Work hard to give time off for at least one of the holidays

Everyone (especially truck drivers) knows that it’s not possible to have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years off. However, if your drivers know that they will get a few days off for one of the major holidays they will have something to look forward too. Send out a survey where they can rank what holiday they would be most excited to have off. Even if you can’t give every driver their first choice, they will be happy that you asked them.

4.    Give a holiday bonus

Not every carrier has the funds to do this, but if you can give out a bonus during the holidays, you should! A lot of companies do this and drivers know about it. If they hear about other drivers getting bonuses and they are not, it may cause them to want to make a change. Even if it’s something small, every penny helps during the holidays.

5.    Send out a holiday card to the families of drivers

This will not only make the driver happy but it will also get the whole family involved. Families will be excited that their driver’s company is recognizing their importance to the carrier, which will be comforting for them if their driver is out on the road instead of celebrating with the family. This is a simple way to show your drivers that you care about them. P.S. Take a picture at the holiday party and use it for the Christmas card.

Bonus tip: Make sure you know if you have drivers who celebrate other holidays and have something special planned for them. This way everyone can be involved in the fun, and no one will feel left out or offended!