How You Can Encourage Your Staff To Celebrate Holi In The Workplace

Whilst we might think of Holi as a time for being outside to celebrate the return of Spring and all things bright and colourful, the reality is that most of us still have work in the lead up to the festival, and sometimes even during it. That can make celebrating one of the nation’s most loved public holidays feel impossible, but luckily, there are some easy ways to bring a sense of festivity into your workplace.

In this article, we’ll share with you our easy to implement ideas on how you can still celebrate Holi in your office, striking a good balance between festive celebrations and day-to-day productivity. 

When your team is in a good mood, they’ll work better and more efficiently. So read on to discover how you can encourage your staff to celebrate Holi in the workplace.

Decorate Your Office

We’re not suggesting you throw dye all over the walls (but don’t let us be the ones to stop you!). Make your office or workplace fun and colourful and design your own Holi posters, put up wall hangings and lay bright rugs. Bring in flowers and colourful lights – as long as they’re not too distracting – and rangoli decorations to pin around the space. Not only will this make your office a more lively working environment, it will show prospective clients who enter the space that you’re able to have a bit of fun at work, which will make them feel immediately more at ease. 

Go one step further and get your colleagues involved in the making of decorations for some creative, team bonding that doubles up as a craft stress reliever. This doesn’t need to take more than a couple of hours with the help of easy templates on platforms like the Adobe Express app for creating Holi cards, banners and Holi embellished company logos. Host a competition to see who can create the best rangoli decorations for a perfect Friday afternoon activity to bring out some healthy competition.

Celebrate Apart & Together

Most workplaces typically have public holidays off, and if you’re in the position to be able to grant a day or two to your employees, they will most likely be grateful for it, since millions of people celebrate Holi in India each year. Encourage your employees to get involved in the festivities with their friends and family, and share what you got up to after the holiday.

In some workplaces however, such as within the healthcare and hospitality industry, public holidays are just another day at work. Whether you are working on the actual day or not, try to take an afternoon off as a team together if you can, and put work completely aside. You could suggest each person brings a small contribution, such as traditional Holi snacks like mathri and gujiya, or thandai to drink. Or, tell your staff to come in wearing bright colours on the day. There are still ways to feel involved even if it’s ‘business as usual.’ 

Encourage Cultural Inclusion

In an increasingly globalised world, it’s entirely possible that there are multiple nationalities in your office or workplace. For people who didn’t grow up in India, knowledge surrounding what Holi is and how it’s traditionally celebrated may be limited. Make sure these colleagues who do not or haven’t celebrated Holi before feel included, and able to learn about India’s biggest Spring event. 

It’s also a great opportunity for increasing wider cultural awareness and team bonding. Ask your colleagues how their culture celebrates the new season, and whether there are any Spring festivals and rituals specific to their home country.

Talking about home, whether yours or someone else's, will help you better understand someone’s background, and feel closer to each other beyond just sharing work. Use the Holi festival as an opportunity to share warmth and knowledge between each other.

Use Holi To Your Advantage

The hustle never stops. Holi is such a widely celebrated festival that you can use it to harness your entrepreneurial skills in a genuine and earnest way. Holi is a time when people are out more, meeting up with friends and family, and possibly likely to be spending more money. Align your branding with the Holi spirit to show that you too are part of the ‘Festival of Spring’ community, and hold customer competitions, giveaways, discounts and holiday special offers on your products or services to line up with the holiday dates.

 Whatever product or service you provide, chances are your small business can profit from Holi. It’s important not to make this a priority when taking the down time to actually celebrate the festival for yourself among your team. But, it should still be recognised as a valuable and easy way to generate new leads, or persuade existing customers to return.

There’s nothing wrong with bringing a little life and colour into your workplace - and Holi is the perfect time to do just that. Remember that fun and work can and should co-exist, and your employees will be all the more productive if they’re surrounded by beautiful decorations and a sense of festive spirit at this rejuvenating time of year.

Celebrate Holi in and out of the workplace with these easy tips. Our sincere greetings and best wishes to all SME business owners from the team at SMEStreet.