42:2 Giving gifts to your team

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Welcome to episode two of the Holiday Season. And in this episode, we look at the age old conundrum, should I be purchasing gifts for my team? How about arranging an office party or would folks just appreciate the money instead? In this episode, I spoke with our agency owners to discover how they handle the art of gift giving. Do they give gifts to their team? If so, why? What are the benefits? What sort of gifts do they give and how do they go about it?

Tom Amos:
So what we’ve been doing the last couple of years is Secret Santa at work. So what we do is we all put a name in a hat. I think we use a website to do it as well, which randomly will email you the person that you got to get gifts for. We’ll put a limit on there. I think it’s 20 pound this year. And yeah, it’s just a case of finding something that… It’s more for entertainment purposes. They never come out as anything useful. But yeah, we got one of the guys here, Mark is one of the designers. I was winding him up with a football team’s calendar that he hates. So yeah. So yeah, just a bit of fun, but generally we will give out a few things here and there up until Christmas, just something small. Maybe like a bottle of wine each or something just to end the year with a bang.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
I love what they do at Design Box. They’re making the act of gift giving fun. They’re sharing it out between the team. They’re enabling a little bit of banter and comradery and of course they are controlling how much is being spent. So a real great idea for making the act of gift giving fun and for team building. Although, I guess there is also the scope for potentially upsetting people, especially poor old Mark with that football team.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Of course giving gifts is not just for the Christmas season. Here’s Abby Wood.

Abby Wood:
I absolutely love giving gifts to my team. So we give gifts for a few different occasions. So we do birthdays of course, and that involves a nice big birthday cake, some presents and a card and usually a lunch out. And then for Christmas, I like to give really personal gifts to each team member. They’re very kind of specific to their unique tastes and that kind of thing. So I don’t really do generic, here’s a box of chocolates. Although sometimes I do do that if they’re chocolate lovers. Then I also give a Christmas bonus as well.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
This is quite common. One of the most common answers with a lot of our agency owners has been that they like to give very personalised gifts to their team rather than just a blanket box of chocolates. Like you said, unless you’re a chocolate lover, it will be something that is relative to what they’re interested in or what they’re going through at that sort of time.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Gift giving is a huge part of the culture over at GoWP. Here’s Morayo sharing what they do.

Morayo Orija:
One of the aspects of our agency that we take pretty seriously is support. Not only to our clients, but also to our team members, especially since we are so remote and dispersed around the world. So we like to show appreciation to our team at different moments, different celebrations and different times of recognition. Definitely when we have new team members, we basically swag them out in GoWP apparel, just as a welcome gift, making them establishing from the very beginning, you have a home, we don’t have an office that you’ll join each day, but every day you have a team that’s there to support you. And if this t-shirt or these stickers or other charge keys are a reminder of that, so be it. It helps to create that level of connection that we can’t replicate in an office space.

Morayo Orija:
In addition to onboarding gifts, we try to recognise milestones in our team members’ personal lives. We have a few team members who have welcomed or will be welcoming children into the world this year. So taking a moment to stop and surprise them with a onesie for their newborn. It just goes to treating your team members like human beings and making them feel recognised. And also I think their families, their partners and children really appreciate that too. And In addition to something that grandiose as having a child, other moments, anniversaries, we’re really big on highlighting every individual team member’s commitment and contribution to the everyday services that we deliver to our fabulous partners. And it’s just wonderful to take the time to say, thank you. And here’s a little token of our appreciation.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
I can certainly remember as well when GoWP sent us a little onesie for our newborn baby, and we had to wait a whole year for him to grow into it, but my word, does he look adorable in.

Morayo Orija:
Aww.

Emily Hunkler:
The GoWP Presston, our little bot mascot. He does look cute on little babies. I got to say.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
He does.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Gifts aren’t always physical items or items of monetary value. They can also be shared experiences. Here’s what Chantel had to share.

Chantal Edouard-Betsy:
So although I work with people all over the world, I’m fortunate that my virtual assistants are mainly local to me with the exception of just one or two. So I’m quite spoiled in being able to spend some time with my team. And generally it’s about spending time for me. Rather than buying something it’s more about a shared experience. We all have common interests and common loves, things like sushi-

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Ew.

Chantal Edouard-Betsy:
Or spa pampering days or-

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Oh, I [crosstalk 00:06:26].

Chantal Edouard-Betsy:
That kind of thing. We’re all women. We all love that kind of stuff. So yeah. Generally speaking, we go and do something together as a team, either a spa day or a sushi evening or yeah, something like that.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
That’s lovely. Gift the gift of time this Christmas.

Chantal Edouard-Betsy:
Exactly.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Sounded like a Hallmark advert.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
The way you give can be a wonderful reflection of the values that your agency has. Listen now to Michael MacGinty, as they share their unique way of blessing both their team members and the local community.

Michael MacGinty:
Mainly most of us are based in a town called Letterkenny in Donegal, which is the coolest place on the planet. I know I’ve told you that before, certified as well.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
It’s certified as well.

Michael MacGinty:
Yeah. Certified by National Geographic.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
That’s right.

Michael MacGinty:
So Game Of Thrones, all that sort of stuff. But anyway, what we do, we used to give gifts and then somewhere along the line, we decided that no matter what gift you give, it’s not necessarily something that somebody wants. So we started doing… Our local town started doing what they call ShopLK Vouchers. So it’s a voucher that can only be spent in the town. Probably there’s 120 different places you can spend it. So it’s a digital card. We put some money on the card. We give it to everybody on the team and they do whatever they want. So somebody may want to buy booze. And if they do, fine, away you go. Somebody else may want to buy a Turkey or they may want to buy clothes for the kids. So we don’t guess what people may want. We just get them to spend the money in their locality. And it’s been a big hit. We’ve done this for I think 13 years, I think there was a time when we did a hamper and wine and whatever but you don’t know what people want in a hamper. They may not even drink wine. So we started doing this a long time ago and we’re still doing it.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Have you ever been stuck on what to give your team? Ali Green from GreenMellen Agency shares all the different ideas that they’ve experimented with over the years.

Ali Green:
We give gifts every year in some way, shape or form. And it does differ year to year. My favourite times have when we’ve done something that’s more branded to our team. So our company is GreenMellen. And so there’s a brand out there of beanies, little hats, little toboggans, whatever you call them in your… Wherever you are in the world. It’s called, Love Your Melon. And they’re the cutest little beanies and I loved. That was one of our favourite gifts that we gave, gave everybody a Love Your Melon beanie.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Can I just explain the joke for anybody who doesn’t get it?

Ali Green:
Please. Yes.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Beanie is a hat and a Mellon is another word for your head. At least it is here in the UK. I think that was the joke. Am I right?

Ali Green:
Bingo. Got it. And then the name of our company is GreenMellen, so it takes… It just… Full circle. Love your melon, love your GreenMellen. Love your head. Love your… love your mind, whatever, whatever you want to take that. So that was a fun one.

Ali Green:
But this year we’re sending personalised gift boxes. Who did we use? Marigold & Grey I think was the name of the company. I went through and picked a gift box for each team member that was going to be fitting for them. So we have one team member moving into a new home. So they kind of got a welcome gift and we have lots of little creative welcome gifts or creative gift boxes that are going out. The guys on our team get something, a leather bound notebook and-

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Oh, lovely.

Ali Green:
Some nice package of things. And then honestly, we’ve had some years where I kind of ran out of time and my gifts the list of people I have to gift is way too long. So we just gave everybody a nicer bonus instead. So every year, luckily our team is smaller. So we can kind of explain this year everybody gets cash, this year everybody gets a gift. So there’s really no expectations every year that they’re getting either cash or a gift box. It’s going to be something.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
I kind of like that.

Ali Green:
Yeah. It’s the [crosstalk 00:10:18]

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Every year is different. You do something… As in episode one. Folks, if you go listen to episode one, Ali shares how they do something different every year. And again, here in episode two, you do something slightly different every year.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
In our previous episode, Travis shared how they create a wonderful Christmas experience of togetherness of food and play. Today, he shares how they have evolved their giving at a time of lockdown.

Travis Buck:
So my staff likes to travel. So what we do is we give extra PTO as gifts during the holiday to use for the upcoming year. We also give employees birthday presents. So usually we buy them and a significant other dinner. But during the pandemic, when all the restaurants were closed down, we actually resorted to hand delivering beer to people’s doorsteps. Half on zoom. Half of us were in person hanging out, they would drive up with the car and we could do it from a six feet distance. It was a good way just to see each other again during this weird lonely time.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
That’s wonderful. And it is a really, it has been a really lonely time for so many people and strange to not be able to physically hang out with people that we’ve worked with for so long. It’s an odd feeling. I love what you are doing there buddy.

Travis Buck:
Yeah. And we’ve always been an in person. Like most companies are remote from the beginning. We’ve always been in one building. We really haven’t been remote. So this was kind of a bit of a shock for us.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Also, just because I’m stupid, what does PTO stand for?

Travis Buck:
Paid time off.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Oh, paid time off. Oh, okay. I get that.

Travis Buck:
Yeah, definitely everyone needs to travel. So yeah. If I can give you paid time off and make you travel, employees are happier. Everybody’s happier.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
And then gift wise, you said birthday presents. Is it just beer you’re currently giving or do you kind of personalise those gifts?

Travis Buck:
No, it’s actually, it’s just been money. Straight up 50, 60 bucks, whatever like a decent meal for them and a significant other. Let them go out to dinner. They can pick the restaurant. It’s just been simple. But so far people have really loved it.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
And do you get given presents in the end in return by your team?

Travis Buck:
Yeah. The gift of delivering awesome projects.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Right. Well, if they’re listening, they should be buying you at least a birthday present.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Our last agency owner shares how she likes to give gifts that reflect her and her heritage, but also ensure that each gift is personalised to the person that she’s giving it to. Here’s Nicole.

Nicole Osborne:
Ooh, I love giving gifts. It really depends every year. Now, last year, some Amazon vouchers involved. When I was able to see people in person, I would give chocolate filled Christmas baubles because I love Christmas baubles because in Germany it’s [foreign language 00:13:18] and it’s really long and boring, but the English version is so cool. Small presents, someone said they’d really like to get a book. I give them Amazon voucher. Just something thoughtful, nothing too big, but just something to show that I appreciate them. So yeah, gifts are brilliant.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
That wraps up this episode. I’d like to give a big thank you to Cloudways for sponsoring this Christmas season. Cloudways are a cloud platform we trust with all of our essential and important client projects. We can’t afford for things to go down. We need good support. We need good backup and we are so pleased that Cloudways have sponsored us yet again. So thank you Cloudways. You can find out more information about them over on trailblazer.fm/cloudways. Be prepared for the next episode as our agency owners share how to give awesome gifts to your wonderful clients.