The spirit of giving is approaching, and employers are walking the line between benevolence and their budget constraints.
There are considerations as to what you give your employees, clients or suppliers, and you also have to make the gift-giving fit into your bottom line.Gerlinde Herrmann, a human resources consultant who runs the Herrmann Group in Toronto, said while there are different strategies employers can take, the one you can never do is give nothing.Herrmann said even if it's been a bad year and your employees know, you still have to give them something, she said. Hosting a potluck, a donation to a charity of your staff's choosing or organizing a secret Santa don't cost a lot of money."It acknowledges you are a team and you celebrate that you were together this year, and it's going to be better next year...and they may already be depressed that business was bad, so if you do nothing it can make it worse," she said.Paul Dodd, president of Head2Head, a recruitment solutions company in Toronto, said he believes in gifting to his staff and clients as a show of appreciation, and he also hosts a special event each year.And even though his staff members receive a gift, Dodd said they also get an event or a night away up north because they prefer to celebrate the season together."You give them the memory, an activity to participate in, as opposed to just getting something," he said.Herrmann said this type of event is great because everyone treated equally; co-workers will compare and be upset if they don't get something of similar value, and may think they are less valuable than another employee, depending on the individual gifts.In a small business where there are a lot of staff members, Herrmann said you can be more personal in your gift giving and not give everyone the same thing, but rather something you know they'll like and appreciate."Just keep in mind to keep the same price point because they will know," she said.However, when it comes to gifting externally to clients or suppliers, Herrmann said you have to be more careful, and know each companies' policies of accepting gifts.While bottles of wine and gift baskets have been staples in gifting, Herrmann said companies are increasingly not accepting anything in order to keep transparency and neutrality. An alternative, she said, is making a donation to a non-profit organization on their behalf, which is a thoughtful - and neutral - gesture."Around Christmas, it sends a double message of, instead of buying you wine or taking you to an expensive lunch, you've been part of the giving cycle," she said.Dodd said in recent years, the most successful gifting he has done has been through charitable giving, on behalf of both clients and staff members. And while he has sent wine in the past, one thing he said he'll avoid is sending a gift plastered with the company logo.His clients, he said, tend to respond better to time spent together at Christmas time, like going to lunch, not getting another impersonal gift. "I think a lot more is being said by you doing something, you being there, than is with your logo being there," Dodd said. "If you're present and they know that you are around and accessible, that says a lot more than your logo."Herrmann said while this idea is an option, it's unrealistic for many people because they are increasingly becoming more time-strapped. "Unless you know them very personally, you may just be giving them another pressure point," she said.Herrmann said while gifts with company logos on them might be considered tacky, company policies that frown on personal gifts might make exception to a small business related gift with a small company logo as a way of gifting that won't be offensive.