Know What to Say in Your Year-End Message to Employees

As December draws near, it’ll be time once again to address your people with a year-end message, which you can avoid sounding generic and/or insincere with these considerations

It’s “the most wonderful time of the year”, and along with celebrating the holiday season, many are also reflecting on the twelve months that was. Indeed, part of moving forward is looking back, and as your company readies itself for 2020, it’s likely also taking into account the 2019 that it had.

As the CEO– or one of the top executives– or the Operations Manager or Company Administrator, you have likely already been addressing your employees with year-end messages every December. If you haven’t, then there is no time like the present to start.

After all, while performance reviews assess how well employees and executives fulfilled their roles for the past year, a year-end message is what reinforces everyone’s sense of belonging and helps build excitement for the coming year.

If you don’t know how to begin, or would like to improve your year-end messages from before, the following are some things you might want to be mindful of.

Pick the Best Method

Before thinking of what to say, you’ll have to consider how you’ll say it. While conventional wisdom says having a face-to-face meeting with employees is the best way for your message to come across more sincere, by no means is this the only way to do it.

For one, it may not be the use of time for all of you given the year-end rush, even more so when you have a large team that may require multiple meetings.

A well-crafted email can be more than enough to get your message across, especially if for this particular message, you tone down on the “business voice” and speak more sincerely and from the heart.

Start With Saying Thanks

Whichever way you decide to share your message, make sure you begin by giving a sincere thank you to everyone on the team.

Receiving an expression of gratitude from the “higher-ups” can mean a great deal to those who put on a great deal of effort for the company all year round, even more so when the thank you makes mention of people/teams individually and why they are being thanked.

In the event that you don’t have time or the inclination to compose a full message, thanking everyone should remain the core element. It doesn’t matter if you don’t talk about the company’s achievements, but NEVER forget to thank the people who made it possible.

Take Pride in Your Success

Speaking of achievements, did the company indeed have a good year? If it did, cite a few statistics of how the company did well, especially despite negative expectations.

Point out the accomplishments of particular teams or personel, and tie them to the company’s overall goals. And again, take the opportunity to thank them for what they did.

Doing this will help strengthen a feeling of community within your organization, and also give employees a better picture of how their contributions fit. After all, most employees want to know that, no matter what position they hold, they are a vital cog in a successful enterprise.

Make Mention of Recent Challenges

Of course, not everything was surely roses and rainbows for the past year. Remember, your year-end message will sound more authentic if you also acknowledge challenges, and even failures, you’ve faced as an organization.

As the leader, or one of the leaders, of the company, you can take this opportunity to take responsibility for the things that did not work, and remind employees of the lessons you’ve learned from the experience — and underscore how things will be different in the coming new year.

Employees will appreciate being reminded that change for the better is constant in the company, especially seeing it come from the top.

Look Ahead

You’ll likely make mention of the new year ahead, but instead of making a detailed report of goals you want to achieve, take your year-end message as the opportunity to instead inspire your team and help them become excited for what’s coming next.

While not running down a technical list of things to do for 2020, you’ll want to at least lock-in on key areas– be it sales, customer service, or innovation– and elaborate why those are essential to the company’s, and in effect their, success.

When mentioning departments and individuals, again make sure to tie their goals with the organization’s overall goals.

End With Saying Thanks, Again

If it hasn’t been made apparent yet, thanking your team for their time, efforts, and sacrifices is the center of your year-end message.

Show your gratitude by not only writing the words thank you, but also by reminding everyone that for the end of the year/holiday season, family comes first. Encourage them to reflect on the good things that have happened, and to enjoy the season without thinking too much about work.

Things might be a little different if your company is one that is busiest during the last two months of the year (i.e. retail), which in this case, it’s best to remind them that things will settle down as the year ends. And, again, thank them for the hard work they are doing now.

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