This blog can otherwise be known as its original working title: "Come to the Dark Side, We have Cookies." Get the t-shirt now.
Having spent time working closely with my HR department over these last few years has helped me appreciate the often overlook art of balancing the humanity of people and the resource needs of the business. Rolling out an enterprise-wide HRMS over the course of a year seemed easier to me than my latest collaboration with HR. We are trying to fill a highly technical role for our SMB with the added challenge of seeking a skill set that is in high demand in both the public and private sectors. Competing with the salary and benefits package of the government is not an easy task.
Furthermore, I am also on our Great Place to Work committee and our training committee. Combined with my role as IT Manager, which is as much admin as it is change agent, and I spend a decent amount of time pondering how to improve employee morale while also increasing productivity without raising headcount.
Any number of books can point you to a methodology to increase engagement, manage change better, and overall be a kinder, gentler place to work. Practice is much harder than theory. We aren't always in the mood to be kind or gentle. A frantic pace prefers succinct communication. The declaration to do more with less is ever present.
A small step in enriching the lives of your employees is treating them as you'd want to be treated. Whether you are
Finding the Space to Lead, like
Janice Marturano, or screaming "
Everyone is fungible," finding a way to take a bite out of the whirlwind and be sweeter, is as easy as calling up Mrs Fields.
I've assembled treats into several section below to highly some of the inexpensively tasty ways we chip away at the stress of the day (click images for more product details).
Thanks/Good/Job
It is important to celebrate milestones and to recognize when employees (and/or teams) go beyond their required efforts. This section highlights some of the cookie-rific ideas on how to celebrate those achievements. The great job section is the first 7 items and as you can see would fit many situation for employee recognition with the proper card or thank you note.
The Thank You specific section starts with the giant thank you cookie and ends at the smile bag. This are pre-printed with the thank you statement. Since you never know when someone is going to need a thank you, it could be a good idea to order a few small boxes just in case you need them quickly.
The rest of this section on is a few more unique suggestions from little lunch/beach bags to hot chocolate to cooler bags and reusable toolboxes. These items have that additional wow factor really impresses people when they receive it as a gift.
General Congrats
Maybe you have multiple things to celebrate and only have the budget for a small gesture of appreciation. This giant cookie is for you.
Reoccurring Orders
Lastly, you can sign up for the treat of the month club and have a goodie delivered to your desk every month. This is a good for those that know they will probably need a thank you gift, but are forgetful in procuring said gift. If you are the boss, this is a good item to add to your order. You can get yourself a little reoccurring excellence while also ordering sweet treats for your employees. You really are a good boss. You deserve it.
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