Christmas is a strange time of year for businesses. Depending on the kind of industry you are in, the festive season will either be incredibly busy or extremely quiet.
Meanwhile, employees will be thinking of what gifts to buy for their friends and relatives and looking forward to their Christmas party.
Yet it’s true to say that many businesses don’t go to a great deal of effort when the festive season comes around.
Nobody is realistically suggesting that Christmas carols should be piped through the speakers all day and that fake snow should be falling from the ceiling.
But there is nothing stopping firms adding a few decorations and going the extra mile to encourage a bit of seasonal cheer in their workforce.
Give out Christmas presents
Perhaps one of the most heartwarming aspects of Christmas is giving and receiving presents, as it’s a great way to show loved ones and friends how much we care about them.
People’s relationships with their employer will obviously be quite different, yet even in the workplace, they still like to know they are valued.
With this in mind, businesses might find it worthwhile investing in some gifts for their workforce. It’s a way of recognising their efforts over the last year and thanking them for it in a meaningful and tangible way.
Business gifts – shown here – are often handed out to incentivise prospective customers or reward long-standing clients and partners. However, it is the workforce that makes a company run effectively and it therefore deserves to be thanked and acknowledged just as much as anyone else.
Of course, picking Christmas presents can be notoriously difficult. Fortunately, there are plenty of appropriate options for an employer that wants to express the season’s greetings, such as pens, clocks, photo frames and other useful trinkets that will be handy both at work and in home.
Alternatively, companies might go for something that is a little bit more tailored to this particular time of year. A food hamper, for instance, or a selection of sweets and biscuits, is likely to be extremely well received by hard-working members of staff.
Everyone likes to indulge in fatty, sugary treats at this time of year, so satisfying this desire will certainly help bosses score a few brownie points with their team.
It’s worth remembering though that gifts shouldn’t be given out arbitrarily and it’s sensible to put a bit of thought into who receives what.
Employers might even find it a good idea getting their staff involved in deciding who should be given certain items, perhaps by setting up an award scheme and asking people to vote for winners in different categories.
This can be wise partly because some employees might otherwise get a bit jealous that one of their colleagues has got a more expensive or desirable gift than them. So if the selection process is completely open and transparent, nobody can dare to throw around accusations of favouritism.
Employers could really show that they value and appreciate their workforce by handing out the gifts at a special occasion, like a Christmas party. This will have far more impact than simply giving them out unceremoniously during the working day, as they don’t want to run the risk of making it look as if the sentiments behind them aren’t completely sincere.