Are you ready for the holidays? Are the gifts purchased and ready to hand out to your employees before the holiday break? If you haven’t even started yet, you are not alone. Many shoppers procrastinate. And, for many it isn’t because they don’t want to purchase the gift, they just don’t know what to buy. It’s hard enough when you are buying for people you know personally, but times it by ten when you are choosing gifts for your employees.
This can be the year you get ahead on your gift giving. Use these tips to choose holiday gifts your employees will actually want to receive.
Everyone loves cash
It will be hard for you to find an employee that doesn’t love receiving cash. It’s an easy way to give your staff something that every person will use. And, since they can choose what they spend it on you know it will either be something that they really needed or that they want. However, there are some reasons you might not want to hand cash out for the holidays, and the main one is lack of it in the first place. It’s one thing if your employees is able to open an envelope with a few hundred dollar bills in it. But, it doesn’t hold the same excitement when the envelope has a single twenty in it. Then, it’s better to go with purchasing a gift.
Give an experience
People are overloaded with stuff and they don’t always need or want more of it. So instead, offer them an experience. This can be tailored to the staff that you have. If you have a lot of employees with young children consider throwing a holiday party at the zoo. Your employees can spend time with their families seeing the animals and you can kick it off with a meal with your entire group together. There is nothing that people love as much as their families so when you include them in the holiday party your employees will truly appreciate it. This also helps your team grow closer as they get to connect on a more personal level outside of work.
If you want to keep it to just employees take everyone to an Escape Room. Your employees can try to beat the clock, or each other if you are split into groups. When everyone has finished, take them out to lunch or for a drink.
Or, give them a gift certificate so they can have an experience with the people of their choosing. If you are completely honest you know that your employees don’t always like the idea of hanging out with coworkers when they could be with their family or friends. In this case, you can provide them a gift certificate to dinner and a movie and allow them to go with the people that are special in their life.
Give them something they will use
People love getting consumables because they don’t have unlimited space to store more items. Do not give your employees a gift with the company logo on it. Do not give them a coffee mug, paperweight, or any other promotional type item. If you are struggling to think of a gift, go with something that they can consume. If you know they are wine drinkers you can buy them a bottle of wine. Or, follow suit with other companies that provide each employee with a Christmas ham, steak, or prime rib. These are nice touches that you turn into a company tradition and do every year. It makes it easy for you and will become something that your employees look forward to receiving.
Personalize it
If you have a small staff consider personalizing the gifts to each person. Stick to the same budget for each employee, or based upon their position and status in the company. In order to pull this off successfully, you will need to know your employees so you can choose something that you know they have been wanting or something they will love. While this tends to be more time consuming it will also be appreciated by each member of your staff.
Choosing gifts does not need to be a stressful process. However, if you wait until the last minute it will definitely increase your stress level. Start early to make your process smooth and to assure you have gifts for your staff before the holiday arrives.
