As Christmas approaches, many employers have difficulty deciding how to thank and honor their employees in a budget-conscious manner appropriately while still maintaining employee morale.
Employee Morale Is Tricky
Many employees have recently reported that the annual Christmas party has been nixed from the holiday lineup, much to their relief and happiness.
Christmas parties can be morale-boosting experiences, or they can be pure torture. Plan it well, and it will serve to benefit your business and keep your employees happy. If the Christmas party is an unbreakable tradition, then keep it appropriate by inviting spouses or even making it a family experience.
One employee recalls year after year of watching her married CEO get plastered at the annual Christmas party and then hit on his female employees with reckless abandon.
So if you cancel the company Christmas party, or even if you still have a party, the question of what to get the employees for Christmas remains to help maintain employee morale.
Clarence Darrow wrote a response to a similar question by simply stating, “My dear woman, … ever since the Phoenicians invented money there has been only one answer to that question.”
In a recent survey, employees overwhelmingly favored getting cash for Christmas than having a party or receiving any other kind of gift.
Cash can seem a very cold way to tell someone thank you, so if you go this route, be sure to make it personal. Write out a card. Tell the employee what you appreciate about them. Cite specific examples of how they benefited the company in the past year.
Christmas should be a warm, happy time and your words of appreciation and praise will go a lot further to ensure employee happiness than any amount of cash ever will.
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