In all of the holiday stories I have ever read, only the bad kids don’t receive presents. So why do 65% of employees not expect to get a bonus this year? In Edenred’s new Saying thank you at Christmas 2013 survey only 30% of employees received a reward at Christmas last year and 35% had never received a Christmas reward.
This is unfortunate, not just because this is a fairly common practice across all industries and positions but also because the holidays are an awesome time to thank your stand out employees for going above and beyond. Employee appreciation is key to employee loyalty, as well as driving employee motivation, productivity and team camaraderie. To not reward employees at a crucial time of year like the holidays makes your organization look like an employer who doesn’t care who/which employees are doing a good job. If there isn’t room in the budget this year for standard bonuses at the appropriate scale, giving smaller gifts like gift cards to popular retailers like The Cheesecake Factory, to allow employees to take their families out to dinner, or The Children’s Place to help young parents cover the cost of a holiday outfit for their kids, or Whole Foods Market to help curb the cost of hosting a holiday dinner, are great ways to show appreciation. So even if you can cut the bonus checks this year, make sure you show employees that you appreciate their hard work all year round.
