Happy December and the "official" start of the holiday season.

Busy time of the year.

Economically critical time of the year.

Distracting time of the year.

So, how does a business continually encourage employees to engage in their work, their customers, and everything else that crowds the holiday season? And not feel overwhelmed by it all?

Here are 3 quick-and-easy tips:

Support diversity and engagement at the same time. Throughout the season (not in one lump dump) distribute or present information about the different holidays: their history, their meaning, their celebration. Here are three good online info resources:

• Christmas. Christmas, as we celebrate it today, is a combination of traditions and rituals much older than 2000 years.
• Hanukkah. Hanukkah has grown from a minor Jewish holiday with a blend of historical fact and dramatic saga.
• Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga as a pan-African holiday to celebrate being both human and African.

Engage employees by allowing them to distribut the information. Create opportunities for follow-up discussion and sharing.

Provide holiday greeting (and re-greeting) opportunities. Whether your business exchanges gifts or has a party or keeps a low holiday profile, it can't hurt to let employees express their seasons greetings to one another. In a central space, provide plenty of holiday cards (they need not be fancy). Be sure you include envelopes and a variety of colored pens and markers. Promote the greetings sharing. Keep the cards available throughout the season.

Encourage employees to display the cards they receive. Do this by displaying on your cubicle, your desk,  your door, a bulletin board the cards you receive.

Offer plenty of stress reduction tips. Holidays can be mega-stressful. Make available information and resources, even samples, of ways to minimize stress, or to remove it altogether.  Here's a very thorough and helpful listing of ways to get the best of stress. This comes from the Whole Foods Market blog.

Stop by tomorrow. We'll look at 5 ways to keep retail employees engaged and in a holiday spirit.