Given that Christmas is fast approaching.. most businesses have organized what they are giving their people now, but sometimes I shake my head in disbelief as people share with me how thoughtless or simply dumb some employers are about giving a gift. People have worked harder this year than they have in years – and for most there will be no Christmas bonus. So a well thought out gift will make the difference.
Recently we surveyed 3000 employees about the “best” and “worst” gifts they had ever received and why.
Here’s what NOT to do:
Effort versus reward imbalance and offensive to employees
- “A sparkly nail file for working hard, my manager’s heart was in the right place but it was a strange ‘reward’ to receive for working my butt off”
- “A mars bar for the anniversary of working with the organisation. It made me feel unappreciated”
- “Microwave popcorn and one bottle of sparkling to share amongst 10 people to celebrate major account resigning”
- “For my five years of service – a choice of a wallet, a $5 bottle of wine, a plastic picture frame, playing cards and 2 other pieces of garbage – what an insult”
Tacky
- “A taco bell watch for 5 years of service and a letter misspelling my name”
- “Being told at Christmas time that I should be giving my employer a Christmas present to demonstrate my gratitude for working for him”
- “A pen that didn’t work”
- “$5 Itunes Gift Card for Christmas”
- “Herb sachets from a channel promotion”
- “20c pay rise”
Not so much the reward but the way it is delivered
- Certificates with misspelled names
- Sarcasm
- Little thought
- Obvious mistakes and generalist one size fits all approach
Standardised clutter
- “Gold spoon – who needs that?”
- “A magnetic trophy with paper clips – it can destroy a hard drive in seconds”
- “A kettle – the qualification criteria was too strict just to win a kettle”
- “A video history of the company – not personalised, again focusing on the company and not focused on you"
- “Bath salts, don’t have a bath and they smell awful”
- “A daggy cap, it was pretty ugly and not really my thing. I couldn’t even give it away”
No recognition/ reward at all feel like another number or disregarded
- “Christmas Ham – I am a known vegetarian”
- “Box of chocolates – I am a diabetic”
- “Tickets to footy - don’t use them”
- “Dinner at boss’ house”
Please take a moment to think about what employees (and family and friends) really want... And authentic gift that shows true appreciation will make the new years employee engagement so much easier.
What is the worst gift you ever received from your boss (or best if you want to tell someone how great they are)
I was just chatting to our Pleasure Relations Team…. Some organizations might refer to them as a contact centre or customer team. We named the team after what they do in supporting the brand experience. It is there job to 'give people a good time.' That is there role in the 
Looking for inspiration
Facing a blank page and a lack of creativity and on deadline for a blog… I always ask myself the question what is going on for me now? Is it interesting for anyone else? What am I learning, discovering, being inspired by that could assist others?
The reality is that at the moment the number one thing on my agenda is that I need to develop brand new content, never heard before, that will leave the audience inspired at the TEDx conference Sydney . And I seem to have a creativity block elsewhere until I get it done… hence I now have to blog about it.
I’ve been briefed to deliver an original thought, concept or idea that will leave the audience touched, moved and inspired. The bar is set very high, and as a result I am challenged (there is no winging it – I only have 18 minutes). I speak all the time, it is what I love to do. I share what I have learned on my entrepreneurial journey, what I’ve learned about both customer and employee engagement, but this needs to be new.
So I began to explore some ideas. I’ve been told that the reason I resonate with audiences is because of my passion and belief in what I am speaking about. You can never fake it as a speaker: authenticity, vulnerability and being able to ‘tell one on yourself’ delivers the value to those listening.
I presented some of my TEDx content ideas to the team. They responded “yes – women on boards is a very topical subject which you are passionate about – sounds fine” (Part of the brief is that you cannot speak about your business).
I caught up with Verne Harnish last week when he was in town for the growth summit. So I shared my dilemma with him. He listened politely and said ‘yes that is an interesting issue – but it wont be viral, it’s not what is driving your existence, it’s not what makes you get up every morning. Think about why you are so passionate about what you do every day… that is the key… and please don’t be boring.’ (Everyone needs a mentor who will tell you how it is)
I know what drives me, I know why I do what I do…. I know that I will keep going at the pace I go until finally I know that gifting in Australia is changed forever.
Seth Goden spoke about his book at TED, as did Malcom Gladwell. So whilst I will not be speaking on RedBalloon – (can’t be seen to be promoting) I will be talking about why I have this urgent, unfulfilled need to finish the job I started nearly ten years ago… simply by making someone’s day.