The relationship between an employer and its employees is an important one. As a founder, CEO, or manager, you need to invest in building relationships in respectful, professional ways. Providing perks is one way to show that, but what do you give to an employee to communicate genuine care or appreciation?
Health care and retirement benefits are expected and don’t count in the appreciation game. Things like flowers can become cliché. If you want to show genuine appreciation, there’s one gift that always stands out above the rest: time.
Leveraging the Gift of Time as an Employer
Time is a non-renewable resource in business. Unlike money, time is a finite component of your work that requires careful allocation and distribution. We don’t decide how many hours a dollar is worth. We think in terms of how many dollars an hour is worth. Time, not money, is the important component in that equation.
Time is the great equalizer. British author and technology entrepreneur Kevin Ashton put it best when
he said: “Time is the great equalizer, the same for all: twenty-four hours every day, seven days every week, every life a length unknown, for richest and poorest and all between.”
Time levels the playing field. Everyone has the same amount, no matter their age, position, experience, or training. To paraphrase the famous maxim, we all have the same 24 hours in a day. The difference comes from how we choose to use them.
The universal and finite nature of time is what makes it our most precious resource. From fresh college hires to veteran CEOs, time can be a gift like no other. When a leader understands the value of time, it makes everything, from flowers to coffee subscriptions to parking spots, feel insignificant.
The key takeaway here? Employees know that, too. That’s why you have to go beyond that bouquet if you want to show your team that you care. You need to give them time.
Strategies to Gift Time to Successful Employees
There are few gifts as valuable as paid time off. Whether someone needs to rest and recuperate, they have a passion to invest in a specific event or initiative, or they just need some time to feel like there’s life outside of their cubicle or home office, time can be an empowering gift that revitalizes your employees.
The struggle is getting your workforce to accept time off. If you’re an ambitious young leader reading this, you’re probably thinking, “It sounds great, but I can’t be away from work.” It’s hard to stop when you’re successful. The problem comes when achievement spills over into overachievement. When we live to work and not the other way around, it becomes difficult to take time, even though that’s when we need it the most.
This is true for all successful employees, not just the leaders. If someone is deserving of employer appreciation and care, they probably got there because they’re genuinely invested in your company succeeding. When that happens, their own mindset becomes a barrier to convincing them to take time off.
The good news is that there are strategies you can use to invite employees to engage in time off the clock. If you find you can’t get your employees to accept time off as a gift of appreciation, here are three strategies you can implement to help.
1. Give a Home-Based Gift
Time doesn’t have to exist as a gift on its own. You can couple paid time off with a gift that accentuates that time and makes it more obvious they’re encouraged to take it. This is particularly effective if you’re talking about recuperation.
If an employee loses a loved one or has surgery, or even if they’re out for a happy reason like the birth of a child or bringing home a new puppy, they need time. You can show that you are on their side when it comes to taking that time by sending a gift that requires the use of that time.
That means you have to resist the go-to option to pick up the phone and order flowers. There are better, time-based options out there. For instance, companies like Spoonful of Comfort offer
corporate employee gift options. These care packages get delivered right to their front door in the form of bowls of nourishing soup, rolls, and even a warm blanket — giving recipients a break from cooking or doing dishes.
Lizush has a similar setup, but with
a general well-being focus, things like spa gift boxes and celebration gift boxes. Whether it’s a warm bowl of soup to aid recovery or a bath bomb to encourage relaxation, gifts like these go beyond a material show of appreciation. They send the message that you expect the person to slow down and take some time for self-care.
2. Give an Experiential Gift
Think of this as the “bucket list” option. Most bucket lists contain items that require two things: time and money. Paid time off hits both of those needs.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean you need to give your employees paid vacations for that month-long trip they’ve always wanted to take to the furthest reaches of the world. But there are often smaller items on a list like that where the dual gift of time and money can be empowering.
Maybe it looks like giving a tired new parent a night out to that local, five-star restaurant that’s a bit out of the normal “date night” budget range. Perhaps a hard-working, impactful, fun-loving new member of the team wants to try skydiving at the nearest tandem site. Maybe a tired, burnt-out individual just wants enough time to invest in a gardening class. Providing a gift certificate for a bucket list item and then some time to do it is a sure-fire way to show that you see their effort and you’re on their team.
3. Invest in Things Your Employees Care About
Finally, consider giving time as a way to help other people have an impact where they care. Your company has values, ethics, and vision statements. What about your employees? Each person on your team is a unique combination of passion and empathy.
What do they care about? Where do they want to have an impact? Find those areas and then empower your people to make a difference.
Culture Amp points out that
volunteer time off (i.e., paid time off to volunteer) is a way to give hours back beyond rest and recuperation. You can enable employees to have the time and resources to invest in areas where they are passionate and want to help. Whether it’s logging hours at a local food bank or traveling to a war-torn area to provide aid, VTO is a great way to use time as an impactful benefit for your team.
Invite Employees in on the Process
As a final note, don’t be afraid to ask your employees what they think about a time-based gift. Discovering
employee appreciation gifts they actually want can help you show your team that you truly care.
If you’re a smaller organization, ask each person individually what would speak to them. Set a budget to keep things relatively in control, and then be ready to tailor things to individual preferences.
If you’re larger, invite employees in at the beginning to create the standards. Ask questions, gauge interests, then look for common time-based themes, such as VTO or experiences.
Launching
a successful employee recognition program takes focus and strategy. It also takes time (there it is again). Don’t short-change the process. Invest in understanding what works. Then create time-focused gifts that help your employees rest, invest, and thrive.
Photo by Arjun Lama; Unsplash
