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Saturday, July 31, 2010
Buying employee Christmas gifts can be trickier than it sounds. Depending on the size of your company, you might have a limited budget, and nice employee Christmas gifts can get pricey. On the other hand, you don't want to give out trinkets or garbage. Employees are generally pretty smart, and they'll recognize token employee Christmas gifts for what they are. So how can you express genuine appreciation and gratitude without breaking the bank?
What Not To Get
If you want your employee Christmas gifts to express real appreciation, there are a few things it's best to avoid:
*anything with the company logo
*coffee mugs
*anything with "World's Greatest Employee" or the like stenciled across it
*trinkets
*"joke" gifts: they may seem amusing, but if an employee misunderstands one, you could have a problem on your hands
Group Gifts
If you're working on a seriously limited budget, or you have a huge pool of employees, think about group employee Christmas gifts. Rather than getting each person something small, you can splurge on a nice gift basket for the employee lounge. Food is always popular (so is alcohol, although you'll probably have to keep it to after hours!). Just make sure that there's enough to go around and that the basket is genuinely nice -- fill it with food, not styrofoam. Professionally prepared gift baskets are probably the way to go.
Generic Gifts
If you can spend a bit more on your employee Christmas gifts, you're still faced with the problem of finding something that's right for everyone. Generally speaking, it's best to get everyone the same thing, or the same kind of thing: for example, you can get one employee a bottle of wine and the other a liqueur, but don't give one a key chain and one a bracelet. You can see how that gets out of hand!
It is acceptable, though, to purchase one set of employee Christmas gifts for women and one for men if you have a mixed workspace. Generally speaking, it's best to keep the gifts generic. Some ideas include:
*Flowers (probably for women only) or, better still, potted plants
*Pen and pencil sets
*Gift certificates (these can range from "the thought that counts" (five bucks from the local coffee shop) to the grandiose (a getaway at the local day spa)
If you really want to get creative, and you own your own business, try giving your employees the best gift of all: time! You'll be amazed at the goodwill created by a half day of paid leave as employee Christmas gifts. Create little vouchers, distribute them, and watch your employees' jaws drop!
Whatever you decide, make sure your employee Christmas gifts inspire your crew for another year of hard work!
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