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With all the festive cheer of the holiday season also comes major distractions for the workplace. It can be challenging for employees to focus on the work at hand when they’re thinking about social events, shopping, decorating, and other holiday-related tasks – and not to mention any upcoming time off from work. Although it may be helpful to adjust your expectations to account for less coverage and engagement from your team, key work still needs to be done. Here are five ways you can motivate your team during the holidays:

1. Recognize Their Effort

If you want to boost your team’s motivation, using positive reinforcement will be more effective than threatening consequences, which would likely just make morale plummet (and still not increase output). To get your employees more engaged with their performances during the holiday season, make it a point to recognize the effort they do put forth. A simple thank you and acknowledgment of a job well done will make them want to continue doing more for you, since you clearly appreciate them.

2. Make Goals More Fun

When motivation is lacking, don’t double down on setting difficult goals for your team. Instead, aim to make goals more fun so that it doesn’t feel like so much effort. Think of ways you could gamify key tasks or projects, such as creating teams for friendly competitions or giving out ways to track their performances and keep score.

3. Offer Incentives

Make the holiday season work for your team’s motivation levels instead of against it by offering compelling incentives for achieving results. For example, you could take the team out to lunch, give gift cards to the highest performers, or if possible, offer a monetary bonus or allow them to leave early or have an extra day off if they produce agreed-upon results.

4. Ensure They Take Breaks

If the holiday season means more work for your team, whether due to reduced staffing levels because of vacations or an increase in business demand, it’s crucial to prevent burnout if you want to maintain their motivation. Ensure your employees are taking their allotted breaks, no matter how hectic things get. They may want to continue to push through the busy periods, but taking breaks allows them to recharge and return better able to focus and perform.

5. Add Some Holiday Cheer to the Workplace

Just because your employees are at work during the holiday season doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get to enjoy some festive holiday cheer. Add some seasonal decorations, plan some fun activities, bring in treats, etc. These simple touches can make the work environment a little more pleasant and help keep morale up, which in turn, improves productivity.

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