What Your Employees Really Want For Christmas

With the festive season rapidly approaching, now is the perfect time to start thinking about the gifts you’re going to get for the most important people in your life. If you are an employer, you shouldn’t leave your employees off this list. The festive season provides you with a fantastic opportunity to ensure that your team members feel valued and appreciated as a core element of your company. 

However, to reward employees working hard all year round, you shouldn’t focus on the typical types of gifts. Instead, you need to consider what employees really want from you this year. So, let’s look at some of the top things employees want most from their employer this Christmas.

What Your Employees Really Want For Christmas This Year

Charitable Options

Many of us are becoming increasingly more conscious of the environmental impact of gifts and are shying away from the idea of traditional gifts from their employer. Instead, if you want to show your employees that you care, consider highlighting your philanthropic side. You could donate to a charity in their name or provide a gift to someone in need on their behalf. There are many ways that businesses can help those in need at Christmas.

It is becoming increasingly more desirable to work for companies that are doing their part to give back, and be a force for good in the world. This is something you should embrace as part of your full work model, instead of just around the festive season. It could provide benefits for your brand reputation on the market. 

Gift Vouchers And Gift Cards

You could also consider providing gift vouchers and gift cards to employees. This is often a far more practical choice compared with purchasing separate items. A key benefit here is that you don’t have to worry about issues with employees not liking the gift you buy. Instead, you can empower them to buy whatever they want and whatever they are interested in. A broad gift card such as one available from stores like Amazon will be perfect as it will give them a wide range of choices when deciding what they want to purchase. You’re still showing you care while avoiding the common pitfalls for purchasing a gift for someone that you may not know that well. 

Gift cards will also save you from issues related to discrimination. If you buy gifts, and they’re not all the same, there’s always the fear that people end up feeling like they value one person over another. It doesn’t matter whether this is the case. The perception will be there. Gift cards can also be sent out digitally in a seamless process that avoids paper wastage and keeps your company green. 

Christmas Party

Office culture is important to keep the right feeling in your business environment. It’s a key element that new employees consider when they are thinking about joining your company. You should work to guarantee that your team members feel happy. A Christmas party is a great way to ensure that you celebrate your workplace culture and help your team members feel more connected through the festive season. You can even use a Christmas party as an opportunity to bring together remote workers and ensure that they feel like a real part of the team. Holiday party gifts can be included here and may be given out to every team member as part of the celebrations. 

Flexibility 

Rather than the more traditional gift, you should also consider providing your employees with the gift of time. People are always in a mad rush around the festive season. If working hours are too restrictive then they might struggle to get everything ready for the festive season. That’s why instead of a traditional corporate gift, you need to think about being more flexible. A higher level of flexibility could even lead to increased productivity throughout your team. They will feel invigorated because they’ll have enough time to focus on both their personal and their professional commitments that crop up around this time. It’s about hitting the right balance here. 

Ask Them

Arguably the best way to ensure that you make your employees happy this Christmas is by asking them what they want. You could hold a team meeting to discuss this. It is worth exploring a step like this because it will show your team that their thoughts and feelings do matter. They might decide that they want to arrange a ‘secret Santa’ for every member of the team. Or, they could suggest some of the more abstract possibilities that we have mentioned above such as more flexible working hours. You won’t know until you ask the question. 

Cold Cash

There are conflicting studies about whether cash and more basic monetary rewards are effective as an option for employees. Some research suggests that cash can be perceived by employees as thoughtless and cold. It’s possible that employees will feel as though you are simply not putting the effort in. You can avoid this with a holiday gift card and the right personal message, but even this can backfire.

If you are giving cash, make sure you can fit it into your business budget. You also need to highlight that it is to reward team members for their hard work throughout the year. You could even point to specific examples of fantastic contributions to the overall business from key team members. 

A Few Final Thoughts on What Your Employees Want For Christmas

We hope this helps you understand some of the key ways to show your employees that they matter this holiday season. Remember, even if you are giving a gift voucher, it needs to feel meaningful. You can do this with a personal message attached to the voucher mentioning how much you appreciate the work they have completed and the time that they have given to your business over the past year. This can be a great Christmas gift. 

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