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Tis this season to be merry, and what could be merrier than recognizing your team’s hard work throughout the year? Christmas parties and employee achievements should go hand in glove. The dilemma is how to recognize them with freshness and panache.

With the right printable gift certificates and awards plus a handful of fun ideas, you can put together a holiday event that’s both memorable and inclusive. Let us show you some offbeat ideas for getting everyone into that holiday cheer!  

Celebrate the Rookies

Not so fun fact: the highest turnover time in most companies is within the first week. Being the new guy or gal can be a lonely and overwhelming prospect.

Show the cubs they’re appreciated from the outset and watch them blossom into great team members. Simple printable gift certificates from higher management instantly create a feeling of welcome and solidarity.

Democratic Recognition

When it comes to awards like “Employee of the Year”, the norm is to let management decide. Why not put a little power back into the hands of your employees? A coveted award granted by an office vote makes the gratitude that much sweeter and the recognition more palpable.  

Good Attendance That Matters

Time is more valuable than money. You can’t replenish it, you can’t get it back- but as an employer, you can create more a little more of it!

Look over your attendance sheets and give the gift of time for Christmas. Consider printable gift certificates that award perfect or near-perfect attendance with additional vacation time in the new year. Your employees give you so much of their lives as it is- be magnanimous and give them some of it back!

Recognize Spouses and Family Members

Have you ever considered how much employee success is made possible by a nurturing home life? From helping your employees recover from an illness to pitching in at special company events, families are the invisible glue that holds your company together.

So embrace the unorthodox and create rewards for them too! There’s nothing like expressing gratitude to these unsung heroes to warm hearts and garner goodwill.  

Secret Saviors

Too often we take employees in auxiliary roles for granted. Janitors, delivery staff, facilities technicians, IT help… these are the people who are scrambling in the background while others receive the glory. You and your employees might not even remember their names sometimes…

But the holidays are the time to get reacquainted and let them have the limelight. Christmas parties are a wonderful time for singling out their contributions and giving them the applause they readily deserve. Have a heart this Christmas- root for these secret saviors!

Reach Out

Need more choices than printable gift certificates for showing holiday gratitude? Paper Direct runs the gamut of good ideas- frameable awards, promotional screen printing, engraved gifts, even lapel pins. Get in touch with our friendly staff and see what a collaboration can do for your company’s mirth and morale!

“The single most important thing is to make people happy,” founder of CD Baby, Derek Sivers, once said. “If you are making people happy, as a side effect, they will be happy to open up their wallets and pay you.” If the customer is the most important aspect of your business, the second-most important is your company’s customer service staff. Therefore, there’s no time like Customer Service Week to recognize your company’s customer service reps.

Customer Service Week has been a nationally-recognized event since 1992. With five business days dedicated to recognizing customer service reps, you’ll probably need some inspiration for how to celebrate these employees’ hard work. These five ideas will not only make your staff feel appreciated, but improve business relations with your customers.

Decorate the Office

Decide on a festive theme for Customer Service Week and decorate the office to the max in that theme. For example, themes such as “Hawaiian Paradise” to “A Night at the Oscars” will get people excited and engaged in celebrating Customer Service Week. Really let your imagination run wild as you think of interesting ways to keep your office professional while still having fun recognizing the hard work of your customer service reps.

MVPs

While your business might not engage in any sporting events, your customer service team is full of Most Valuable Players (or Professionals). Depending on the size of your customer service department, either select your top-performing employees or choose to recognize the whole team as MVPs with speciality certificates and awards. Allow MVPs to take an extra-long lunch during Customer Service Week or surprise them with a special pancake breakfast in the office, but whatever you do, make sure you let your MVPs shine.

Chair Parade

Let your customer service team take a break from work by asking them decorate their desk chairs as miniature parade floats. Then, host an office-wide chair parade where your customer service reps get to show off their creative skills. Give other departments fun prizes to share with their favorite floats, such as candy, funny desk knickknacks, gift certificates for coffee, company swag, and whatever else you can think of to celebrate your customer service employees.

Best Of

In the days leading up to Customer Service Week, have your employees vote on the best customer service moments from the past year. Some of the Best Of categories can include:

• Best Handling of an Irate Customer
• Best Funny Response to a Silly Question
• Best Customer Service Rep for the Quarter

Have everyone vote and then host a small award ceremony where you award certificates and prizes to your Best Of winners.

Team Building Activities

Your customer service department is a crucial team to your business. Let them have fun while building relationships with their teammates using creative activities such as cake decorating, a scavenger hunt, a relay race, or whatever else you can think up. The stronger your customer service team is, the more satisfied your customers will be with your brand.

There’s a fog of inattention seeping into your workplace. Morale seems lower, intrigue and insubordination higher. Your team is less cohesive than it should be. How did things become this way, and more importantly how can you fix it?

Don’t blow your top or despair just yet. It’s never too late to reinvigorate your team and reclaim their focus. It’s all about integrity, availability, and recognition of their talents. Here are a few tested strategies for getting back on the good foot with your employees.

Lead From the Front

Zhou Qunfei once made watch lenses for less than $1 a day. Now she’s the richest self-made woman in the world. Her company supplies the cover glass for billions of computing devices, and her success came from an encyclopedic knowledge of her workers and their tasks.

“She’ll dip her hands into a tray of water, to determine whether the temperature is just right. She can explain the intricacies of heating glass in a potassium ion bath. When she passes a grinding machine, she is apt to ask technicians to step aside so she can take their place for a while.”

The lesson here: get your hands dirty. Literally putting yourself in the place of your employees gives you appreciation for their hard work, refines your process knowledge, and garners respect and loyalty from those you lead.

Revise Your Communication

You’re probably tired of George Bernard Shaw. He had the temerity to observe “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”. One quip, and ever since talk is cheap.

Make sure yours isn’t. Your employees aren’t just listening (or not listening, perhaps) to the words coming out of your mouth. Real communication lies in tone, empathy, responsiveness, and revision.

Read up on body language and active listening. Be concise, specific, and factual with all your directions. Most of all, learn about your employees and invite their observations. After all, why should they listen to you can’t return the favor?

Respect the Chain of Command

Some wise words from Saving Private Ryan: “Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don’t gripe to you. I don’t gripe in front of you.”

Think for a second. Do you ever find yourself visibly exasperated with your own superiors? Ever make a biting comment or incensed gesture towards them in front of your team? You’re sending the wrong message- “Since I disrespect my boss, you can disrespect yours.”

Set an example. Gripe up. Always up.

Praise and Encourage

Your employees are people, and people are easily discouraged. A typical existential monologue goes something like this: “Why am I spending my life doing this? Does anything I do make a difference? Why do I get up in the morning? What’s the point of everything?”

While no one expects you to be a philosopher or cleric, a boss does have to furnish some context and meaning. So take every opportunity to show your employees that they and their work are meaningful.

Start right now. Delegate an important job, something that will empower that person and showcase your trust in them. Lavish awards on your team. Talk less about project setbacks and more about singular contributions. Believe in them, and they may surprise you by reciprocating.

You don’t have much of a business without a dedicated staff by your side. So, celebrate them.

Each year when an employee’s hire date comes up, move beyond the customary reviews and annual evaluations. Use one of these ways to celebrate employee anniversaries to make each person feel truly appreciated for their talents and dedication to the company.

Host a Lunch

Everyone loves a casual workday — and free meal! When an employee’s anniversary pops up, make the day extra special with an in-office lunch that allows people from various departments to mingle and visit with the honored employee. For a small staff, consider catering the meal from a favorite lunch spot. For a larger group, do it up potluck-style with everyone bringing a dish to share.

Do a Presentation

Do you have weekly or monthly staff meetings? Whether you’re gathered in the same room or via video conference call, take a few minutes to give a shout out to the employees having anniversaries. Say a few words about each person including how they contribute to the company and something they’ve done recently that should be commended. Then present each employee with a personalized certificate highlighting their number of years of service.

Give a Gift

All anniversaries are special, but some deserve a little extra fanfare. When an employee reaches a milestone — such as 10, 15, 20 or 30 years with the company — present them with a small gift to show your appreciation for their long-term dedication to the company. A piece of jewelry, trophy or certificate for a getaway weekend would be truly appreciated.

Make it Public

Let your customers and staff know about employee anniversaries by making them public. Create posts for your social media channels highlighting each employee’s anniversary and what they do to push the company forward. Don’t forget to include a picture of the person and a few words of gratitude for the work they do day in and day out.

Are you looking for more ways to celebrate employee anniversaries? Paper Direct can help you create personalized plaques, certificates and gifts to recognize everyone in the office on their anniversary days. Shop online today!