HR MATTERS: ‘Tis the Season to Show Your Staff You Appreciate Them
As we wind up 2019, here are 5 ways to celebrate your employees this holiday season
1. Bonuses – have money left in your 2019 budget? Give it to your staff. Bonuses don’t have to be just for fancy corporations. A little bit can go a long way, and I would argue there is no better investment than in your staff! Even better—put it in the budget for next year.
2. Fancy up your Holiday get-together—instead of having a potluck, cater in lunch. Set up a hot cocoa bar in the break room. Organize a dreidel tournament. Make Yule wreaths together.
3. Take time to reflect on 2019—highlight the good work of your staff, volunteers, and board. I’m not talking about an annual report, I’m talking about really making people feel special. Put a piece of paper on everyone’s desk and have the staff write something they appreciate about every person. Make a timeline of 2019 on the wall of the office and have people add post it’s for the people who made big things happen this year. Send a memo to the board outlining the important work of your staff by name.
4. Do something fun out of the office – I created a whole list here of inexpensive ideas. My advice? Spend the morning doing something fun and then give everyone the afternoon off to go do their own holiday stuff (shopping, baking, taking a solstice walk, napping, making latkes, watching Hallmark movies, whatever!).
5. Give people time off! What’s the best way to say “Thank you!”? Time off. Close the office the last week or so of December. Take a collective breath together as an office, and take time off together. Is there anything better than taking time off and coming back to NO emails? That is gift. A true gift! (And a gift requires nothing of the receiver, so don’t count this towards staff PTO).*
*Please note that this year Hanukkah, Kwanza, and Christmas overlap within this time frame, but they don’t always. Also, there are more than these three holidays that people celebrate. Give your staff the time they need to celebrate their traditions.
*Sometimes development folks are VERY busy during the last week or so of year, so this may not feel like a gift, work with these folks to make sure they get time off that works for them.
As always, the best way to ensure you pick the activities that are enjoyed by everyone, is to give time and a budget to a staff team to plan them.