Staffing & Recruitment: Gifting Employees at Christmas -Part 2 of 2

Staffing and Recruitment: Gifting Employees at Christmas Part 1

Are bonuses better than gifts or should they be given on top?

Again in my view, it is important to distinguish between gift giving, reward and compensation (see comments above). As for monetary vs. non-monetary, I think monetary rewards should be given as part of the compensation package and employment contract while gifts can be used to reward and recognize within a program or practice. Outside of that, there are the tax considerations from the employee’s perspective in that financial for example, bonuses are subject to tax and a gift certificate is not.

Again, it’s not so much which is better but more which your employee will value more. For example, I met the owner of staffing and recruitment company who gives Rolex watches to staff on their 5 year anniversary! In this case, the reward fits the company culture and the message that upper management wanted to communicate. This company has gained recognition as Best Employer, fastest growing company and so forth so it looks like what they are doing works for them.

Is there an alternative way of gifting? Exchanges?

There are a million ways of gifting to build a culture of recognition in your staffing company. It really just depends on your company culture, management style and so forth. Many staffing managers make the mistake of just considering financial recognition but there are many effective non-financial ways to recognize and show appreciation to staff. For example, it could be as simple holding a barbeque where Upper Management cooks and serves staff. I have known of recruitment companies who hold sales contest where the winner(s) get to their car washed by a manager of their choice.

It also does not have to be formal, in fact informal recognition can be argued as more effective. In one study I conducted on recognition, I compared the regional offices of the same department and looked at formal compensation and reward against the employee’s perception of appreciate and recognition. I found significant regional differences in how employees perceived they were recognized. This finding existed despite holding constant the recognition, reward and compensation budget and so on. For the HR and Psych majors out there, this meant that both groups gave and received the same number “food pellets” to reward and recognize but one group felt they were appreciated and recognized while the other did not. While the implications are beyond the scope of this article, the simple translation is, “don’t underestimate the impact of informal recognition and reward”.

Some informal ways to recognize include be as simple as sending a voice mail thanking someone for their contribution, taking time to remember birthdays and service anniversaries, welcoming new members to the team” with flowers or a card on the first day of work.

In summary, there a number of ways to gift and recognize, the key I believe is to choose a way that is as unique and special as the team that serves you.

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