Five ideas for engaging employees this Christmas

There’s nothing like a bit of festive record breaking to get you in the Christmas spirit, and it’s no exception for employee engagement.

Guinness World Records has hand-picked five records you can re-create at work to help invigorate your team during the final push before Christmas.

Largest human Christmas tree

The charity organisation Mission Chengannur and Legislator Sobhana George from India broke the record for the Largest human Christmas tree on 19 December 2015. The attempt involved 4,030 people, many of whom where children from the village of Chegannur.

An attempt similar to this would maximise engagement with employees as well as be great visual aid for a wider campaign. By involving everyone from the office, this is a great team building activity for everyone and could also be a great way for employees to get to know each other.

Longest Christmas cracker pulling chain 

Cracker pulling is done at almost all Christmas meals, and in 2011 Vodafone HQ decided to utilise this opportunity to achieve the title for the Longest Christmas cracker pulling chain to support its wider charity campaign, Text Santa in conjunction with ITV.

This raised more than £4 million for charities such as Age UK, Barnardo’s, BeatBullying and The British Heart Foundation by using Vodafone's JustTextGiving service which allowed viewers to simply text in and donate.

The attempt included over 250 employees and 566 crackers. This made our top five not only because it brings some Christmas cheer to all staff that took part, but it showcases how investing in technology can support a wider cause.

Most people wrapping presents simultaneously

Jewson bosses decided to spruce up their two-day annual conference in December by achieving this record, which involved almost 1,000 people (879 to be exact).

Staff worked together to give back to their local community as part of the Jewson partnership with the charity Barnardo's.

The record united team members from different departments and challenged their skills. This is a great way to not only give back to a community but create an internal community for everyone to be a part of.

This isn’t the first record that Jewson has broken. During its 2015 conference the company broke the record for Largest gathering of people wearing Christmas jumpers, however this was later broken by Kansas Athletics inc (US).

Longest wish list to Santa

This time last year Hyundai and Mohe Tourism Bureau were gearing up to achieve the record title for the Longest wish listto Santa in order to create brand awareness for the new Hyundai vehicle and the region of Mohe.

This record was with a massive with a total of 124,969 wish entries.

The record was presented at Santa Village in Mohe, Heilongjiang, China. These records are an amazing way to emotionally engage staff and the consumer.

Largest gathering of people wearing Christmas jumpers

The record title was achieved in the US by Kansas Athletics Inc.

The record was broken during a game against Montana in Lawrence, Kansas, on 19 December 2015. 3,473 people, including supporters, the marching band and the team's bench staff, sported the brightly-coloured knitwear throughout the game.