A warm and fuzzy spirit fills our hearts when Christmas rolls around. At the office, a buzz is in the air as employees speak of their upcoming Christmas vacations and family holiday rituals. Office parties are planned, projects are worked around and Christmas decorations are hung on cubicle walls. If you are the manager or lead for a group of employees, why not get your team members holiday gifts as a token of your appreciation for all the hard work they have put in during the year? However, before you run out to the bookstore to grab fifteen copies of “How to be a Better Worker” to hand out to your team, here are some gift ideas to help get you going in the right direction.
* Sure, it would be nice to hand out a different gift to each of your employees, but, if that is not feasible due to time or money constraints, invest a few dollars into a group gift your employees will love to share. Orange juice and donuts or bagels for an impromptu Christmas breakfast is a great idea for a fun and inexpensive holiday gift to show your appreciation for your group.
* Most offices usually have an old-fashioned and overused coffee maker sitting somewhere in the back of the office or in the break room that makes the same bland coffee day after day. Liven things up a little and get a few carafes of some gourmet coffee from your favorite local coffee shop. Most coffee shops will sell coffee by the gallon in easy to tote cardboard boxes. Your employees will thank you for it and your pocket book will hardly feel a pinch.
* Few gifts go over as well as the all-encompassing gift card. Here you can set a fixed amount you will use on each employee. Be sure to spend the same on each employee, since you don’t want to send any wrong signals or start rumors on employee favoritism. Find out what each employee is interested and gear the gift card towards that. For example, if you have a film buff in your group, get him/her a gift card to a local movie theater or video rental store. If you have an employee that drinks specialty coffee each morning, get him/her a gift card to the nearest coffee shop.
* If you have the authority, why not give your employees a few hours off the day before their official holiday vacation is to start? Or let each of your employees take off a few hours sometime in the month of December to get a head start on Christmas shopping.
* During the holiday season when families are rushing around trying to purchase those last-minute gifts, it is easy to overlook the less fortunate. Pets are abandoned during the holiday season, homeless people search frantically for a shelter with space to sleep away the cold nights and the elderly in nursing homes find themselves spending their holidays alone. Make a donation to a needy organization on behalf of your team during the holiday season, or let your employees leave early one Friday afternoon so your entire group can volunteer their time at an organization like a shelter or nursing home.
