Hi Ashish,
I know that working in the night shift will be very difficult and boring, employees will be feeling very hectic and 50% of employees will be trying to skip.
Normally most of the organizations will provide tea and snacks for the employees attending in night shifts and in addition to this some of the organization will be paying some shift allowance also.Previously only some of the organizations have this system but after globalization and MNCs entered in to Indian business and the organizations which are on BPO and call centres it has become a routine.
You can plan some activities like mind boggling games which are going to rejunovate their interest, enthusiasm and energy which is not going to hamper the basic purpose for this you have to distribute the entire working group in to TWO and organize on relieving mode, some good books can also be provided where they can read in that Half-an-hour interval time, some very short time games like spot the difference, colour the image, short notes on very important aspects and some quiz type of activities on the business part and once in a month you can give small gifts for the winners.
Over and above this normally all the senior staff will be attending duties in the day shift and the supervisory cadre staff only are entrusted the responsibility of handling the night shifts. You can plan differently that in each night shift one Manager and above cadre people should be present on rotation basis so that there will be lot of encouragement on the part of employees. You can also plan to celebrate the Birthdays of the employees who are in night shifts sharp at 00.00hrs by gathering the shift employees at cafetaria or at an open place where you can plan Birthday cake cutting process.
As a senior person is available in the night shift you can also plan an 1/2 hr session on developments and new happenings in an quiz mode and arrange some gifts for the winners ( it may be a pen worth of Rs. 20) and display their names in the notice boards at prominent places which will surely improves enthusiasm among the employees.
Idea generation for any burning problem in the organization can also be a business oriented mind blogging activity.
If security is not a problem and if it is acceptable to all you can invite spouses ( a minimum of two ) in the night shift so that they can come prepare some tea/bisuits and arrange to serve and spend 1/2 hr and get dropped at their home so that employees will feel homely atmosphere, this need to be planned very carefully and there is every chance of backfire. This is purely based on the culture and acceptance levels of your employee community. In my earlier organization we had very frequent canteen problem and after working with lot many alternatives we practiced the above formula where in we used to invite the spouses along with kids for the lunch and they will go around the plant along with their spouses and have lunch and get dropped at their home and it worked out very well. The spouses in most of the times used to question their spouses very openly infront of the plant and HR heads that " why very regularly you are complining about your canteen food where the quality is good" and finally over a period of time this problem get resolved.
These are some thoughts.
regards - kameswarao