You would like to be able to give your employees a generous holiday bonus to show your appreciation but, it has been a lean year and there is just not enough money in the budget to give a respectable bonus.

What are your options?

1. Tuck your head down and pretend you forgot?
2. Tell your employees your sorry there will be no bonuses (again this year) and perhaps next year will be better?
3. Get creative and show your appreciation without breaking the bank?
   
   

We would like to recommend choice C to you. “Get creative and show your appreciation without breaking the bank.”

Below you will find a bunch of ideas for things you can “give” that range from virtually free to less than $25 per employee. I am not selling products, just ideas. If you do need some direction on where to get certain items just email us and we will be glad to point you in the direction of some sources.

 

Employee Holiday Gifts ~ Free or nearly so ….

Charity Initiative: Gather a committee of a few employees together and ask them to select a holiday charity that collects gifts or supplies to help those less fortunate. Set a goal and ask employees to participate. Have the committee send out lots of reminders and really publicize your progress as you strive toward your goal. Before you bring your contributions to the charity arrange for some publicity through a local news outlet. Also publicize on your company website.

Holiday Pot Luck – host a Holiday Pot Luck brunch or dinner. Have the employees bring in their favorite food to share. – You could contribute the paper products and/or some beverages.

Tradition Sharing Bulletin Board. Set up a large bulletin board in a central area and invite employees to post a photo, story, recipe, or explanation of a tradition on the board to share with everyone. Make sure you do so as well! You could also do a virtual board on line.

Cookie Swap: Set a side a time when employees can do a cookie swap. The way this works is people need to sign up ahead of time and each bring in home backed cookies or bars enough for everyone to get 1 to 3 of each kind. Everyone sets out their cookies and then has an empty box and chooses a sampling of cookies to bring home.

 

Employee Holiday Gifts  $5- or Less per person

Mini Stocking stuffed with a lottery ticket. Write each person’s name on stocking and either pin to a bulletin board or hang from a tree

Candy: Lots of ways to give. Get large boxes of chocolates and put one in each department. Give each employee their own small box of chocolates or bag of candy.

Egg Nog or Cider: Buy several half gallons over the holiday season along with festive paper cups and invite your employees to partake.

Free Soda: Open up the soft drink vending machine and give out free drinks at lunch for a few days.

Employee Holiday Gifts $10 or less per person

Pizza Party: Have Pizza delivered for a Holiday Lunch. Pair with festive paper goods and decorations.

Coffee Shop Gift Card: Everyone uses these!

Chinese Take out lunch: Have employees pick their choice from lunch specials at nearby Chinese Restaurant. Works best if you have employees pick lunch the day before or first thing in the morning. If you are ordering more than a dozen lunches, call a day or two ahead to let them know about how many lunches you will be ordering.

 

Employee Holiday Gifts $15- to less than $25 per person

Gift card to popular lunch place

Pair of tickets to the movies

Holiday Ham, Turkey, or Roast

Discount store gift card

Scarf, hat, and glove set

Time off: An extra hour or two off at lunch to go shopping

 

Hope this helped spark some ideas and relieve some stress! Email us your ideas and we will add them to this post. Denise@TheHREngineers.com

 Happy Holidays!