A short YouTube advice video by Donna Bordeaux (pyopaccounting.com) about making holiday bonuses more effective. Donna argues bonuses should be timed to maximize impact (preferably given before Thanksgiving so staff can use them and feel appreciated during the busy season) and recommends using surprise, frequent, small recognitions year-round (e.g., $5 gift cards, handwritten thank-you notes, personalized gifts) to motivate employees and reinforce desired customer service. The video closes with a call for viewer comments and contact via pyopaccounting.com.
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Foreign hi, I'm Donna Bordeaux with pyopaccounting.com it's almost the end of the year and I see a lot of studios look at holiday bonuses. Now holiday bonuses can be a nice morale booster, but I'm going to give you some tips to make them even better and more functional and make sure that they're actually serving the purpose that you are intending. So first off, holiday bonuses, when should they occur? I see many business owners run all the way up against Christmas and at Christmas Eve they're giving out bonuses. Let's think about the purpose of this. First off, when we give out holiday bonuses, we we're trying to encourage our staff to do a great job and give extra great customer service during that holiday when our studios are going to be very busy. So does it really motivate them when they have to wait until Christmas Eve to get the bonus or maybe in some cases even after it almost feels like an afterthought. Here's a suggestion for you. Make your holiday bonuses happen. If you're going to do them at Thanksgiving, the day before Thanksgiving, breather in your studios, do your holiday bonuses. Then give your employees the chance to spend their funds or use the money on purchasing gifts and the Black Friday specials that may be happening around them. Let them take advantage of the use of that those funds. Also, you're in effect buying their loyalty for those few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas by making sure they know that they're well appreciated even in those times when you may not have the time to stop and thank them. And they are probably dealing with a higher stress level than most other times of the year when providing good customer service. So make sure that you're getting your bang for the buck. Also, for holiday bonuses, a lot of people fret over the amount. I am not a giant fan of the holiday bonus, but what I'd prefer is surprise bonuses. I want to keep everybody on their toes. I want them to be providing that same great service all year long. So in a perfect world, I'd suggest that when you look at doing bonuses, I would do them all throughout the year. When you see somebody making a great effort, when you see somebody take good care of a customer and go above and beyond the duty, that's the time you want to reward them. So maybe you do smaller gift cards, bonuses, whether it be it doesn't have to be big, it doesn't have to be $100 a pop or anything like that. You could have $5 Starbucks gift cards or some other provider of a favorite drink or dunk it. You could have $5 gift cards and get the same motivation that you'll get from a hundred dollar gift card. In a lot of cases, what your employees are really looking for is the recognition that they are doing a great job. That doesn't have to be a monetary consideration. Another great thing to try, a thank you note, a handwritten from the heart thank you note. You will find that you will get 10 times the volume of what you would have got with just handing out $50 gift cards to Olive Garden. All right, so make it count. The other thing I'd suggest is if you do want to do little gifts for holiday or birthday, make them from the heart. Make sure that it's something somebody wants. You know, we don't have to give everybody a tie or a pair of socks. You know, if you know an employee has a special passion or a special thing they like. If you have an employee who loves to play games online, maybe buy them a gift card that can allow them to do gaming online. Or they love to go to the movies. How about a movie night with the family? You know, a favorite food, a favorite activity. Look for some types like that to make it a unique experience and make sure that you're actually getting your bang for the buck on bonuses. I'm Donna Bordeaux. I hope these tips help you. If you have any other questions or suggestions, please list them in the comments below. And feel free to let us know what has worked for you. I am pyopaccounting.com I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
