You need to pay bonuses (be it the 13th cheques, performance bonuses, or profit sharing) in accordance with your contract with each employee and any relevant agreements with trade unions and bargaining councils. You might have to pay bonuses to employees who have not been with the company for the full year on pro-rata basis for the months they have worked.
Make sure you prepare in advance, and inform employees when they can expect to be paid. The information might be in their employment contracts, but it is not a bad idea to send them a reminder.
Also, check that you do not have any employees who owe you leave or any who have built up a huge reserve of leave days. If there are, send them a letter reminding them of their leave debt or asking them to book some time off.
Whether you provide loans and advances or not, it is a good idea to have a standard policy in place and to enforce it consistently. If you do not have a policy yet, draw one up and communicate it to employees along with the January pay date. This will help them to plan their finances.
It makes life easier for them and for you. You will be able to sign off leave forms online and have electronic records readily available. That will make it a smoother process to plan who will switch the lights on every morning and respond to urgent customer requests over the holidays.
If you are using the right software for your payroll and human resources, you will be preparing for a stress-free December holiday knowing that your business is under control wherever you are. The right solution will make it a snap to, for example, calculate bonuses or put your entire workforce on leave over the December shutdown period.