127. The gifts your employees really want (and don’t want) this holiday season

Transcript – Episode 127: The gifts your employees really want (and don’t want) this holiday season

Joe: Those well-intentioned gifts and gatherings you share with your employees during the holidays. Yeah, that’s not really what they want. [Music]

Joe: Welcome to the Boss Better Now podcast sponsored by Boss Hero School, where we teach leaders and business owners how to activate employee commitment in today’s everchanging workplace. And you know what? This might be hard to hear, but there are really only three things your employees want from you as a leader or business owner during the holiday season. The first is money. Yeah, I said it. This is one of the most expensive times of year for most people. Between travel and food and buying gifts, most people see their pockets draining quickly during the holidays. And nowadays, everything costs more. And so when we think about many of the trinkets and the gatherings and the swag that we share with our employees in an effort to thank them or appreciate them for their contributions year round, the truth is even though these are well attentioned and they might even be appreciated by folks, monetary gifts or bonuses are actually the thing that counters the economics of the season more than anything else. So, these are the gifts that are going to have a real impact on your employees. I wrote about a company in my book, Employee, who figured this out during a holiday season when they found a little bit of extra money left in their budget. They said, “How could we use this in a way that would really benefit our employees?” And in the conversations, they had, they ended up hearing a lot from people about the constant cooking and evening obligations that everybody has. And so, they ended up sending a Door Dash gift card to every employee in the company with a note that said, “Hey, we know it’s a busy time of year. Here’s one night when you won’t have to cook. Enjoy dinner on us.” This is the kind of orientation that you might want to have during this time of year. And make no mistake, this is the number one thing on the list of gifts that employees really want from their employer during the holiday season. The second is time. This is an expensive time of year and it’s a busy, stressful time of year. We have way more obligations after work and on the weekends during the holiday season than at other times in the calendar. Whether it’s shopping or I’ve got kids holiday concerts or now I’ve got to go to my spouse’s holiday party. We often as employers, as business owners, as leaders, we often plan parties or celebrations out of generosity or in the spirit of fun. We want people to know that we care about them, and we want to express our appreciation for them. But it is another thing on the calendar. It’s another thing people have to get dressed up for. It’s another back and forth. It’s another uh thing that we have to find time to shop for. If you’re planning that secret Santa or that white elephant gift exchange, if the truth is if your gestures or plans are taking time away from people, you may want to thoughtfully consider whether there’s a better way. I would argue that one of the best things you can do for your employees during the holiday season is to make time the gift. give them this time back or look for ways to reduce people’s workloads, trim their hours, or give them extra time off. And if you’re going to plan a gathering of some kind, do it during business hours and find a way to let people go home early if possible. When you give people the gift of time or the gift of fewer obligations, you actually impact their quality of life and that gets noticed. The third gift that employees really want during the holiday season, and they may not say it this way, but we know it’s true. Recognition. People want to matter. They want to know that the people in charge and the people around me, they notice my talents. They notice my contributions. They notice my effort. And this is something that as leaders, we should do all year round. But the holiday season is sort of a natural time of gratitude and reflection. And so, we can increase the frequency of recognition during the holiday season if we want people to feel seen and appreciated. And we can do this by being explicit about the contributions people make, about the effort that they put forth. So don’t just tell people thank you. Don’t just tell people I appreciate you. Be explicit about what they do and how they do it and the ways in which that makes a difference. Do that by leaving notes. do that in a handwritten card. In fact, imagine if the people on your team showed up to work one day and they had in front of them a handwritten card from you explaining that we weren’t going to do all of these extra obligations this year. I just wanted to make sure you knew how much you were appreciated and all the difference you’ve made this year. And inside that card was a significant check that would get noticed. Now, there are a couple of caveats or exceptions to this advice that I’m sharing with you. The first caveat is if you have a legacy tradition that is highly regarded. If you do something every year that people genuinely look forward to and that would be noticed and it would be a problem if it was cut or changed, then maybe you shouldn’t do that. My advice to you is not to assume that this is a highly regarded event. My advice would be to anonymously poll your employees about your holiday party or your gatherings to see if it’s something that people actually look forward to. Or maybe just ask around those other leaders on your team who really have their finger on the pulse of what people think. Those people are your truth tellers and they will tell you, “Yeah, you know, people really enjoy getting invited to your house and the nice spread that you put out for everyone, but you’re right. maybe it is time to change it up. And if you start hearing that, that’s a signal that maybe you need to go a different way. And also, if you do get a yes back on these legacy traditions, you should still invite employee input on the planning and scheduling of them so that they aren’t a burden for people to attend. Now, the second caveat to this advice is that you should not cut or change something that people are counting on. We’ve all seen the Christmas Vacation movie, right? with Chevy Chase who plays Clark Griswald. And all through the movie, we’re hearing about the surprise he has planned for his family where when his Christmas bonus check comes in, he’s going to announce that he’s putting in a pool for the kids. And then, of course, at the end of the movie, his bonus arrives and it’s an annual membership in the jelly of the month club. What we know is that if you have traditions that are repeated and that are things that people are counting on and you cut those, they don’t see it as a change to recognition or changing a gift. You’ve cut their pay and you’ve done it during the holiday season. So, be very careful about that. And finally, if you are making changes of any kind in some of the ways that I just discussed in this episode, you’re going to want to be very clear about why those changes are taking place. If you cut the secret Santa or get rid of the holiday party and you don’t explain that you’re doing it because you want to have a positive impact on their schedule and give them some time back, people are going to make up a story about why that change happened. The story might be, I guess our boss is feeling cheap this year, or maybe the company is in trouble. The truth is in that is that in the absence of a story, people will make one up. And the one that gets made up may actually increase disengagement and lower morale. So, avoid unilateral changes that don’t come with explanations. Discuss it, overcommunicate, and make sure your intentions are clear. So, there you have it, friends. The takeaway here is if you desire to have your folks feel recognized and appreciated and rewarded this holiday season, pay attention to time, money, recognition, and how the choices you’re making about your celebrations impact their quality of life. If I work for a boss who pays attention to those things, well, that’s the gift that keeps on giving. I would love to hear from you. Drop a comment in the box below this video on YouTube or you can email me at boss bettergmail.com. Thanks for being here. See you next time.

Joe: If you like these episodes, then make sure you subscribe to my boss better email newsletter. Once a month, I’m going to send you an email packed full of insight, advice, articles, and more on activating employee commitment in today’s everchanging workplace. This is also where you’ll find out about opportunities for programming for Boss Hero School and more. Just go to bossetnow.com to subscribe. [Music]