10 Meaningful New Year’s Resolutions for Your Office

Start January off right with these ten meaningful and effective New Year’s resolutions for the office. Find inspiration to get you started with company-wide goals that can benefit your entire workplace.

Updated: December 5, 2023

New Year’s resolutions for the office may seem like an odd concept, but January offers the perfect opportunity to set goals to better both your employees’ and company’s overall well-being.

Of course, there are many times throughout the year that you can – and should – take stock of how your organization is doing on a people level. So, why stop and take a beat with the start of a new year?

Researchers suggest that only 9% of Americans who make resolutions complete them. In fact, 23% of people quit their resolution by the end of the first week, and 43% quit by the end of January. There are four reasons why people seem to fail at New Year’s resolutions.

Plus, many resolutions are linked to the workplace, with a few popular ones including:

• Better work-life balance
• Career or role advancement
• Pay raises or bonuses

So, with employees feeling a renewed sense of motivation around this time of year, it’s a great chance for the HR and leadership teams responsible for employee wellness to reflect on ways to re-invigorate the office as a whole.

Find out how you can set office New Year’s resolutions that can help you support your team’s growth by bettering your organization.

10 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Office

Interested in the concept of New Year’s goals for your workplace but unsure of what that may look like? Here are our top ten recommendations for office resolutions to help you get started.

Office New Year’s Resolution #1: Improve Your Workspace

Your physical office can play a huge role in your employees’ productivity, collaboration, and happiness. In fact, in our blog post, How Office Design Can Help Your Team Work Better, interior designer Morgan Thomas suggests that our behaviors are directly driven by the space we’re in.

Try sprucing up your workplace with easy and affordable improvements, such as:

• Artwork – Anything visual, including paintings, prints, and even figurines, can all add some life and bring character to your space.
  
  
• Paint – A fresh coat of paint can transform just about any room and, depending on the color, possibly help fuel some inspirational and outside-the-box thinking.
  
  
• Plants – Add some greenery to desks, entryways, or boardrooms. Find out some of the benefits associated with workplace plants in our blog post 5 Office Plants That Can Spruce Up Your Workplace.

For more ideas on how to create a more lively and productive space for your employees, read 50 Ways to Improve Your Office Working Environment.

Office New Year’s Resolution #2: Strengthen Retention & Entice New Talent

Colleagues, career advancement opportunities, and competitive salaries are all important in retaining and attracting top talent in your industry. But changes to these circumstances aren’t always possible.

One tactic that you can try instead this year is introducing a new company perk. This can be a bonus offering for employees to use throughout the year.

For example, here at Outback, our team has access to the following:

• Fitness Fund – Once a year, employees can opt to put $100 towards any athletic activity of their choice.
  
  
• 5 Personal Days – In addition to vacation time, each person can take up to five personal days throughout the year.
  
  
• Get Out of Your Comfort Zone – This perk offers employees the chance to do something that challenges them, such as bungee jumping or dance lessons, paid for by the company.
  
  
• Volunteer Day – Members of our team can choose to spend a day volunteering in our community instead of being in the office.

Office New Year’s Resolution #3: Give Employees a Voice

If you’re looking to hear more from your employees, try offering regular surveys. For example, at Outback, we ask our team to provide feedback on a monthly and annual basis.

To get the most open responses and really give your company the chance to voice their opinions, ensure that people can submit responses without having to identify themselves. Employee survey providers like TINYpulse and Officevibe can help you receive honest, anonymous feedback with quick and easy questions about your organization.

You can also ask your team what they’d like to see change or stay the same over the upcoming year. Our HR and leadership team at Outback provides regular Stop-Start-Keep sessions to get a pulse on what’s going well or where improvements are possible within the business.

For advice on how to put together an employee engagement survey for your team, check out our blog post, Employee Engagement Survey Questions, Template, and Tips. Or read our case study on How Outback Improved Employee Engagement by Over 100% in Just One Year to learn more about the ways that Outback gives our team a voice.

Office New Year’s Resolution #4: Crystalize Performance Management

Help your employees achieve their career aspirations with a rock-solid performance management system. Here’s what that could look like for your team:

• Consistent Check-Ins – Meet regularly with your employees to ensure their goals and deliverables are on track and everyone is on the same page.
  
  
• Clear Documentation – Provide your team with a template and ask them to fill it out as it relates to their role. With expectations for their performance in writing, there’s little room for error or confusion.
  
  
• Offer Support – If a member of your team is having trouble, ensure that they know that they can turn to their leader or colleagues for help.

Once your performance management structure is in place, employees should know exactly what is expected of them. If you still have someone on your team who is struggling, check out our blog post that provides 8 Performance Improvement Tips for Managing Underperforming Employees.

Office New Year’s Resolution #5: Support Professional Development

This year you can help your employees hone their skills and continue to grow by offering learning and development programs.

Here are some of our most popular options for corporate groups:

Emotional Intelligence

Help your team improve their EQ by developing their self-awareness and social skills at work.

Conflict Resolution

Find out how you and your colleagues can turn a negative clash with a coworker into an opportunity to strengthen relationships.

Coaching Fundamentals

With this program, leadership teams can learn constructive ways to nurture the people they’re accountable for.

Practical Time Management

Discover how to minimize distractions and make the most of your time at the office.

Clear Communication

Become effective communicators by developing strong verbal and written skills.

Office New Year’s Resolution #6: Hybrid Work Model Optimization

Evaluate and optimize the hybrid work model to ensure it meets the needs of both remote and in-office employees. This could include flexible scheduling, technology upgrades, or reconfiguring office spaces.

Office New Year’s Resolution #7: Enhanced Remote Work Infrastructure

Invest in better remote work infrastructure, such as secure VPNs, collaborative software tools, and high-quality communication equipment to ensure seamless remote working.

Office New Year’s Resolution #8: Mental Health and Well-being Focus

Implement initiatives that support the mental health and well-being of employees, recognizing the unique challenges posed by remote and hybrid work environments.

Office New Year’s Resolution #9: Diversity and Inclusion Goals

Strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, ensuring that hiring practices and company culture are inclusive, especially in a remote or hybrid setting.

Office New Year’s Resolution #10: Add to Your Company Culture

One of the simplest ways to add some life to your company’s culture is with social events that help your employees get to know each other away from their desks.

It’s also important to be mindful of including remote or hybrid employees in today’s increasingly diversified professional landscape.

By forming a social committee, you can source great ideas for celebrations while also delegating responsibilities so that you don’t have to take on this task alone. Try to recruit members of your organization from various departments to ensure each team is represented, and let the fun begin!

Not sure where to start? Team building activities are an easy and effective way to make your next event memorable and exciting.

Virtual European Adventure

If you’ve got a team full of colleagues who love traveling and learning about new places, this is the perfect budget-friendly team building activity for your group. 

Virtual European Adventure is all about connecting with your colleagues, testing your wits together, socializing, and collaborating through high-energy rounds of European-themed trivia.  

In this activity, your group will break out into teams. Then, you’ll take part in a warm-up social mixer followed by three rounds of trivia, a Jeopardy-style lightning round using cellphone buzzers, and a European travel conversation to finish it all off. For each trivia challenge answered correctly, your team will earn points. The team with the most points at the end of the activity will be crowned the Virtual European Adventure Champions! 

Hollywood Murder Mystery

The case is fresh, but here’s what we know so far: we’ve got an up-and-coming actress who’s been found dead in her hotel room following last night’s awards show.

We have several suspects, but we haven’t been able to put the crime on any of them for sure yet. Now, it’s up to you and your team of detectives to crack the case. Together, you’ll review case files and evidence including police reports, coroners’ reports, photo evidence, tabloids, interrogations, and phone calls as you determine the motive, method, and murderer and bring justice for the victim.

You’ll need to put your problem-solving skills to the test as you share theories, collaborate, and think outside the box with your fellow investigators.

Virtual Friendly Feud Social

Gather your colleagues and take part in your very own virtual Family Feud-style gameshow that fuses high-energy competition with engaging social mixer activities.

Virtual Hollywood Murder Mystery

An up-and-coming actress has been found dead in her hotel room the morning after an awards show. Now, you and your remote team need to channel your inner detectives as you review the evidence, assess potential suspects, and determine the method, motive, and murderer in the crime.

Virtual Escape Room: Mummy’s Curse

In this virtual escape room experience, your team will be transported into a pyramid cursed by a restless mummy. You’ll have to work together to uncover clues and solve complex challenges to lift the ancient curse.

Virtual Jeoparty Social

Work collaboratively with your teammates as you put your collective trivia knowledge to the test in this high-energy and immersive virtual Jeopardy-style competition infused with a fun social twist.

The Virtual Do-Good Games

Team up with your colleagues to do some good in the world and give back to those in need while having a blast. The Do-Good Games is a morale-boosting virtual team building activity that transforms friendly competition into charitable donations.

Wild Goose Chase

In this scavenger hunt activity, your team can get out of the office and explore your city in a whole new way. Together, your team will need to think outside the box, bond as a group, and venture outside into the community in order to complete a series of fun and unique photo and video challenges.

Charity Bike Buildathon

Split into teams to build, decorate, and put together an advertising campaign for children’s bicycles. After each group has presented their bike, you get to donate them all to a charity of your choice!

Trivia Time Machine

Take a trip through pop culture history and transform your office into your very own game show experience – featuring a witty game show host, scoreboard, buzzer, and all!

Game Show Extravaganza

Play in a game show-style competition trivia challenges covering everything from pop culture to politics.

Corporate Castaways

Transform teammates into tribemates with this activity inspired by the “Survivor” TV show.

How to Avoid Failure with Your Office New Year’s Resolutions

If you’re worried about succeeding with the New Year’s resolutions you’ve planned for your office, here’s how our team recommends avoiding defeat:

• Set Expectations – Communicate your resolutions with your company – you won’t want to let employees down after they’ve gotten excited about them.
  
  
• Make It Official – Hold yourself accountable for each goal by telling your boss that these are tasks you want ownership of this year.
  
  
• Spread It Out – Don’t force yourself to take on everything at once. Plan to tackle your resolutions for the office throughout the year, and set clear objectives and due dates. See the below chart for an example of what this could look like.

MONTH	RESOLUTION	OBJECTIVE	DUE DATE
January	Give Employees a Voice	Find the right platform for your company and send out monthly employee surveys. Make time to analyze results during the first week of every subsequent month.	January 15 for survey provider  Monthly for survey distribution and analysis
February	Strengthen Retention & Entice New Talent	Get approval for and announce new employee perk for the year.	February 1 for approval  February 28 for announcement
March	Support Professional Development	Offer a training and development program for employees every quarter.	March 31  June 30  September 30  December 31
April	Improve Your Workspace	Complete spring cleaning and a spruce up of your physical office space.	April 30
June	Add to Your Company Culture	Form a social committee; start with a summer BBQ and then gear up for fall and winter events.	June 15 for social committee  July 31 for BBQ  September 30 for fall event  December 31 for winter event
November	Crystalize Performance Management	Review current performance management structure and prep improvements to launch in January of next year.	December 31

New Year’s resolutions for the office provide your team with the opportunity to help employees achieve their goals while improving your company’s well-being. With goals that focus on your people, processes, and workspace, you can make the most of the year to come!

Have you ever set office New Year’s resolutions before? Share how it went in the comments below.

Learn More About How Outback Can Support Your Group All Year

For more information about how team building, training and development, and coaching and consulting solutions can benefit your group throughout the year, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.