How to Show Appreciation for Employees With a Gift
Getting the Balance Right May Take a Little Strategy
Everybody is different in your office, and you want to be careful to remember that as you go about finding gifts to recognize their contributions to your business. It’s like a “love language”. In relationships, there are multiple “love languages” that tend to describe certain people. Employees have a similar set of diverse personality traits.
The gifts you give need to match the sort of traits that define your personnel. Following we’ll briefly look at three gift ideas that explore varying aspects of giving between management and personnel. Hopefully what is explored here helps reveal things you hadn’t considered and makes the gifts you give resonate more successfully with those you manage.
1. Match the Gift to the Employee and the Situation
How far advanced is the employee to whom you’re giving a gift, and what’s the occasion? A worker that hits his daily goal five minutes early might deserve a piece of candy from the incentive bucket. An employee who doubles their quota for four weeks in a row ought to get a bonus, maybe some time off, or some big incentive gift like a new TV.
It’s going to depend on the sort of business you run, where the employee works, what kind of advance they were able to make, and their history of service in the past. You need to give gifts that reflect the situation in a way that’s proportionate.
It doesn’t make sense to over-praise mild improvement, and under-praising legitimate gains may dis-incentivize the employee. There’s a balance here, and it’s going to be different for each business.
2. Do a Little Research to Inspire Your Purchases
Next, you want to inform whatever sort of gifts for employees you get with a little research. Maybe an employee doubled their quota or something, and you’re thinking about buying them a gift like a new TV. But what if they don’t watch TV?
That same employee might appreciate a book you pick up “used” for $10 even more; not because of the cost, but because such a book in alignment with their preferences would show them you not only care, you care enough to notice the little things. Granted, this could also be a mistake if they expect more. What you spend isn’t quite as important as what you buy.
3. Get Them Something They’ll Legitimately Like
Dovetailing from point two: know what employees tend to prefer. That’s going to mean having a personal understanding of your staff on an individual basis. You still need to be the leader, which requires a level of aloofness. However, being aloof doesn’t mean ignoring coworkers. You can figure out what motivates them, and give to that motivation.
Communicating Your Appreciation Successfully
Give them things they like, do your homework to see what employees may prefer, and assure what you finally decide to give workers matches their personality, as well as the situation predicting the gift in the first place. Such tactics should help you successfully communicate your real appreciation for those employed at your business.
