input needed

[ArkaiHalon]

ok, totally unsaber related but...

Now is the time of year I have to start planning for my employee's holiday gifts. I have 11 people that call me boss, so I need 11 gifts.

I'd love to have the excuse to build 11 lightsabers, but I don't like them that much. :lol: any suggestions of something that says great job, keep it up, and don't make me mad or I will bean you with a lightsaber?

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

How much do you want to spend?

Maybe you could do an all inclusive Christmas dinner gift package. Frozen turkey, jar of cranberry sauce, box of stuffing, bottle of wine, some kind of dessert, etc. Just put a bunch of stuff together so that their meal is all taken care of. "Hey gang, Christmas dinner is on me!"

I don't know if that's what you had in mind, but it was the first thing I thought of.

[Ashron]

Starbucks gift cards always seem to go over well. The extra caffeine should increase production and let them work longer.

[ArkaiHalon]

ashron, I like the way you think, but none of them drink coffee. freaks.

last year, I kept it ot 10 bucks per person (yes, I know I can get almost get a CF for that much, but gotta have happy employees)

[Ghostbat]

Gift cards often feel a bit impersonal and the easily seen value can sometimes ding morale more than it can lift it. "What, all this work and I get $10?"

My wifes boss hand made truffles and gave each employee a small box, that took an evening and a bit of investment in ingredients but left the employees feeling more appreciated than a gift card or certificate would.

Alternately, a gift of time off was always appreciated when i was working in larger companies :)

[ArkaiHalon]

I'd love to offer time off, but I work in a call center, and our master scheduler says no can do.

Last year I had pens and ben boxes engraved with their names, and hand wrote a note to each person thanking them for their hard work, and to look forward to the coming year.

ON the other hand, they didnt' get me anything. :evil:

[acerocket]

10 bucks an employee is not much to work with. Do you give any other perks or bonuses (pay raises, etc) for the holidays?

I used to give my employees either 25, 50 or 75 dollar gift cards to a local grocery store. The amount an employee received was dependent upon how long he had been with the company. 25 dollars was for two years or less of employment. 50 dollars was for an employee with 2 to 10 years of employment. 75 dollars was for an employee who had been with us longer than 10 years. I had three employees who were getting the 75 dollar card (two of the three had been there at least 20 years each). On top of the bonus, we also threw the employees a Christmas (Winter Holiday for the PC crowd) bar-b-que where we picked up the tab. This usally cost us another 10-20 dollars per employee.

My wife has an online business that sells a lot of personalized baby shower, wedding, all occasion favors/gifts. She can do personalized gifts also if you are looking for that. If you want, shoot me a PM and I can get you her website address and email and you can ask her if there is something she could recommend.

[ArkaiHalon]

I might add that this is coming out of my own pocket, on top of what the company is getting for them. The comany always does NICE stuff, but I like to do a little something personal.

My Father in Law owns an engraving business, but I'll gladly check out other options.

[desertscorpion]

A personal message to each one carries a lot of weight, but you might paint yourself in a corner if you find yourself short of good honest things to say for a couple of people. I think gift cards are great, except ladies may be offended.

[Ghostbat]

A personal message to each one carries a lot of weight, but you might paint yourself in a corner if you find yourself short of good honest things to say for a couple of people. I think gift cards are great, except ladies may be offended.

I completely read that as personal massage and was going to be very worried about the HR issues that could arise out of that :)

[Syphon]

In my previous position I had about thirty people under me. Every year arround the holidays I would go arround the shop and take orders for breakfast. The guys would usually only get a fifteen minute break at nine thirty but I would extend their break to a half hour so they had time to relax and eat. It went over very well each year, but then I moved on and I have been told that somone else has picked up what I started :D

[Daj Nallig]

A pizza party over lunch break might be a cost-effective way to let your crew know you appreciate their hard work

[Do-Clo]

What ever you do don't give them a turkey, I worked for a large company and that was the big thing at christmas. Nothing says heres the bird better than giving them a turkey. :evil:

Stick with gift cards, try and get something different for the ladies such as bath and body works gift cards and then maybe a Lowes or Home Depot gift card for the guys.

[ArkaiHalon]

just to let ya know, cause I'm sure you all have waited in anticipation...

I gave them each a candy jar with their name engraved on it, a nice pen with the company logo, and a Superman pen. Granted not the most expensive of gifts, but again this came out of my pocket, and I spent many a late night getting this done as I had to do the engraving myself after hours.

I have 11 employees. only 1 said thank you, 7 said "is this all, where's the rest?" 3 didn't even acknowledge it.

Next year they get coal.

[Angelus Lupus]

Next year they get coal.

Except the one that said thank you, they have to get candy for the candy jar.

[ArkaiHalon]

I may give her a promotion.

[Novastar]

LOL @ the promotion hehehe!! At least you're keeping your sense of humor.
.
.
.
but...

That is very terrible and disheartening to hear about most of the others. :( Seriously, I'm really disappointed in those individuals and I've never met them! You can tell them "Novastar thinks you're all a bunch o' bloody GRINCHES." And good if they look puzzled afterward. GOOD! hahahah (who's ... n... nova... what??!) lol :)

Sorry to hear that. *I* appreciate you!!!!!

[Lord Maul]

Give the person who said thank you a nice bonus for Christmas, and tell all the other employees that you gave her one. That'll show em :twisted:

At least you tried to please them...

[ArkaiHalon]

Well, things brightened up a bit.

One of the "didnt' acknowedge" came to me last night and said thank you. He had apparantly pushed it out of the way with a bunch of other gifts and dindn't see it until yesterday. He honestly felt bad.

And another realized she'd been rude and apologized.

so 3 out of 11.

Next year, I'll send their gifts to random folks here on the TCSS forums.

[Novastar]

8 Grinches.

There is still NO FLUKPIN EXCUSE!!!!!! :)

[ArkaiHalon]

Behold the power of guilt

I walked in this morning to find a 50 dollar visa gift card from my staff.
I sent them all a VERY sweet email about how thankful and touched I was.


muhahahahahaha. Guilt is a powerful ally.


Now i just need to figure out how to get all the saber parts i want for under 50.00 with shipping.