Entries from March 2010
That old adage that says when it comes to gifting, it’s the thought that counts holds up in research. And as it turns out, it holds particularly true in the workplace. It’s been proven that positive recognition of employees is a strong morale booster that can strengthen the bottom line.
But, gift giving experience shows that there’s more to it than that. Following Part I of our guide to the Best Workplace Gifts, exploring when to give, it’s important to now consider how you decide what to give, To wrap your head around that question, consider that the psychology of gift giving suggests that “the nature of the gift, not its monetary value, determines the prevalence of reciprocal reactions,” according to researchers at the University of Zurich’s Institute for Empirical Research in Economics who in 2008 published a paper on “The Currency of Reciprocity – Gift-Exchange in the Workplace.”
In field studies, researchers found out that employees offered a gift performed better than if offered higher wages.
“…An increase in fixed wages only has a negligible impact on workers’ productivity. However, a gift in-kind of equivalent monetary value has an economically and statistically significant effect on productivity. Workers provide 30 percent more output on average. Moreover, this effect remains large and significant over the course of the entire working period…. Our main result remains largely unchanged if the price of the gift is communicated to the workers.”
Gifts are personal expressions and should be treated that way. But this suggests that small tokens can be more meaningful than big bonuses. Follow these simple guidelines to best determine what to give:
- Consider any company policy or rewards program details first when looking at specific employee gifts. (If you don’t have a reward policy, it could be a good time to develop one.)
- Your mission and culture can give strong clues to good gift fits. Family-friendly firms, for example, will reap great benefits form gifts that will be meaningful to entire families, rather than an individual tchotchke.
- There’s nothing wrong with promoting your company with gifts, such as corporate logo goods, but stay away from anything that says “gag” gift. That sends the wrong message.
- Fun is good. Enjoy the process and make the gift choosing and giving fun for managers and employees to create a positive, strengthening atmosphere.
There’s no need to wrack your brain about what to give. It is important to have a rewards program that emphasizes the mission and culture of your organization. Revisit it, evaluate it and tweak it when necessary.
Categories: Employee Gifts · Gratitude · Thank You Power
Tagged: Employee Gifts, great ways to say Thank You, Psychology of giving, Reward programs
In a previous post, I touched on the (sometimes controversial) subject of glazing Ham. While it’s a matter of personal preference, family tradition and regional rituals also come into play when deciding to glaze or not to glaze. There’s no right way to attain the perfect Ham, but as with most all things culinary, each individual dish (and cook) has its own correctness.
I remember, for instance, my aunt doing a grape jelly and ketchup glaze that, as kids, we thought was great. Today, I wouldn’t put that concoction on anything – edible or otherwise (sorry Auntie Barb!).
For some years, I’ve been in the no-glaze camp when cooking our Holiday Ham, choosing to serve au natural. But some of the following glaze recipes — this week’s Recipe of the Week – could convince me to try glazing this year. gThankYou for each and every glaze recipe!
Try a variety with Ham Steak to see how they taste to you. Like me, you may be a glaze convert.
Categories: Ham Recipes
Tagged: Ham Glazes, Ham Recipes
My Grandfather worked for a railroad company in Northern Minnesota for much of my young life. It was considered a very good job. The stories of Poppy’s railroad work remain a legendary part of our family’s oral history.
He retired after 25+ years on the job. Along the way, he was given traditional service awards. Treasured were his gold pocket watch, and bronzed locomotive plaque.
Times, of course, have changed. Gone are the service awards of my Poppy’s day. Often by choice, employees don’t stay with one company long enough to earn a reward based on years and years of service. The next generation of workers in a recent survey from I Love Rewards says they really don’t plan on sticking with one job that long:
“The average job seeker according to the survey wants to stay with their first employer for 8.9 years, but the reality is that students only stay an average of 1.5 years according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers have a real opportunity to save money in the long term by investing in robust retention strategies in order to keep this group engaged,” says I Love Rewards CEO and founder Razor Suleman.
This survey indicates that employees today need rewards early and often:
“…they don’t care about years-of-service awards, which 91 per cent of companies offer.”
Companies have a real opportunity to create a new paradigm in their employee reward (and retention) programs. Here’s a blueprint to get you started:
- Implement and keep a program that reflects your company’s values. In her Work with Me column, Detroit Free Press workplace reporter Patricia Montemurri recently wrote on the decline of company recognition programs. Victims of tough economic times, these programs hold real value. Don’t cut, experts say.
- Establish rewards that are given regular intervals. Earlier is better, according to Montemurri’s column:
“Instead of waiting decades to recognize employees, it’s becoming more popular to acknowledge an employee’s one-year anniversary — perhaps with a token gift such as a titanium flashlight or a pen and pencil set. If you keep somebody and train them well, and recognize them during the first year, you’ve got a better chance of keeping them on the second year,” according to Anthony Luciano of TharpeRobbin
- In addition to these regularly scheduled rewards, it’s a real motivational boost to recognize special effort of teams of employees or individuals with tokens that are meaningful.
Employers may not get much chance to hand out gold pocket watches any more, but there is ample opportunity and reason to recognize achievement and service in the workplace. Your company’s success may depend on it.
Categories: Employee Gifts · Management & Leadership · Thank You · Trends
Tagged: Employee Gifts, employee rewards, workplace gifts
Don’t prefer standard Irish dishes like Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guinness Pie, or Bangers and Mash? There’s another option for St. Patrick’s Day dining you may have overlooked
This week’s recipe: Green Eggs and Ham. It’s become our favorite way to celebrate St. Patty’s since we started marking the birthday of children’s literary limerick genius, Dr. Seuss. While Theodor Geisel’s birthday is actually earlier in March, schools, libraries and literacy groups across the country mark the occasion throughout the month with reading activities. It’s a natural tie-in to cook up some Seuss’ most famous food.
Green Eggs and Ham can be dressed down or made into a special concoction served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. gThankYou for all these variations on the theme:
Enjoy a bit o’ these types of green with your ham this year. And if you need a Seuss fix, check out this Green Eggs and Ham video and fun Dr. Seuss site.
Categories: Ham Recipes
Tagged: Dr. Seuss, Ham Recipes, St. Patrick's Day
The top-rated recipe each time I visited Epicurious a while back was — seriously — How to Boil Water. Certainly this was a spoof at Conde Nast’s mega food site populated with recipes from its Bon Appetit and now-defunct Gourmet magazines. Just the same, it reminds me of this week’s Recipe of the Week topic: Baking a Ham.
Many Hams come pre-cooked and, really, need no cooking at all. But most Hams will benefit from baking. And if you don’t make big roasts that much (like me), you may need some reminders and tips. Why bake? It brings out the natural juices and allows you to customize with a glaze, if you choose, to fit your dinner.
For a primer on Ham (the USDA recognizes four distinct classifications of Ham based on water to protein ratio), view this video from Alton Brown’s Food Network show, Good Eats.
After you’ve decided on which type you want to serve — city or country, fresh, bone-in, spiral sliced, etc. – follow these simple steps for the Best Baked Ham Dinner.
- Buy a quality Ham: Choose well by knowing what you’re buying. Alton Brown does a good job explaining it, but there’s good information on Ham at Wikipedia, too.
- Read the package: Most Hams you buy in your grocer’s case will come with some basic guidelines and instructions for cooking right on the label.
- Decide on a glaze: To glaze or not to glaze is a matter of personal taste (and some intense debate). Options range from fruity peach and pineapple, to adventurous honey mustard and hoisin sauce. Experiment with recipes from CDKitchen and Recipetips.com or go with a family favorite.
- Bake and check for doneness: One of my favorite kitchen tools is a digital probe thermometer. It is readable from outside the oven and alerts me when food is done. Consumer Reports rates them here.
- Enjoy! Slice and serve with your favorite sides. That’s another post, but please share your top picks with us.
While not exactly a no-brainer, it is easy to make a memorable Ham Dinner, whether it be holiday-related or for Sunday supper.
Categories: Ham Recipes
Tagged: Baking a Ham, Ham Recipes, Recipe of the Week
This spring, it’s easier than ever to celebrate your company’s success with a fresh-picked gift from Corporate America’s favorite employee gift seller, gThankYou. A number of new spring card designs, each conveying appreciation for a job well done, are now available for easy distribution with Ham, Grocery or Turkey Gift Certificates from gThankYou.
“Workplace gifts have been shown to boost company success,” according to Rick Kiley, President of gThankYou. “To keep ROI high, it’s essential to engage employees. There’s no better way to do that than with a thoughtful, and useful gift.”
HR Managers and executives can add a personal touch to Employee Gift Certificates that recipients can redeem at any grocery store for a Ham, Groceries or Turkey of their choice. Choose cards that feature a cheerful Singing Bird, a Field of Flowers, Tulips, and a Lamb with Ewe. Each design was created by artist Amy Pierquet of Waterfront Graphic Design, makes these employee gifts memorable and creates a reward program that gets results.
Convenience tops the list of reasons employers choose gThankYou Gift Certificates. Personalization – an added service used by most employers at no additional charge – includes a card design of your choice plus your company name and the recipient’s name printed on the Gift Card.
Order Ham Gift Certificates, Grocery or Turkey Gift Certificates easily online at www.gthankyou.com in $5 denominations from $10 to $30. Certificates are also simple to give, and are often distributed with payroll. Redeeming Certificates is easy, too. Employees can redeem Certificates at any grocery store for the Ham, Groceries or Turkey of their choice.
gThankYou Gift Certificates are the ideal workplace gift. They’re meaningful, affordable and appreciated by the entire family. They also offer the perfect opportunity for leaders to recognize workplace success. Most gThankYou customers give Company Gift Certificates to all employees in the company, division or workgroup at holiday times or the conclusion of a successful project, month or quarter. Learn more at www.gThankYou.com or by calling 888-484-1658.
About gThankYou.com
gThankYou, LLC (www.gthankyou.com) is based in Madison, Wisconsin. Find out more about gThankYou on the company’s website. And read more about how Thanks can boost your company at the gThankYou.com blog (http://blog.gthankyou.com/). Contact: Rick Kiley, President, gThankYou, LLC, info@gthankyou.com, 888-484-1658. gThankYou is a registered trademark of gThankYou, LLC.
Categories: * News Releases - gThankYou!
Tagged: * News Releases - gThankYou!, Employee Gifts, ham gift certificates
One recent chilly Sunday, we baked a ham for dinner – a rare occasion. I’ve always reasoned that big roasts should be saved for special occasions, holidays mostly. This got me thinking about Sunday Dinners my mom and Grandmother cooked, each always an occasion of its own.
These days, traditional Sunday Dinner has mostly gone by the wayside. Busy schedules of smaller families living across the country have made meals of “cheater’s chicken” or carved ham from the grocery hot counter more the norm. But preparing and serving a baked ham from home is really no more expensive or difficult than picking up a pre-cooked meal at the store. It’s all in the mindset.
We had a lot of fun reliving the Sunday Dinner tradition with our baked ham. But the best part was the leftovers, which is really why I baked the ham in the first place.
It’s show and tell time in this installment of Recipe of the Week where I’ll share the entrees my family of four devoured (plus sandwiches) from our 10-pound, bone-in ham. (gThankYou to all noted for these recipes.)
- Ham & Bean Soup: This fantastic version published recently in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that I made is from the Bogus Creek Cafe & Bakery in Stockholm, Wisconsin. This eatery was also written up by Jane and Michael Stern of Road Food, Gourmet Magazine and Splendid Table fame. Seriously good.
- Ham & Cheese Crêpes: Julia Child’s influence lives on in my kitchen as I continue to find new ways to serve her crêpes. This time, it was Ham & Cheese Crêpes I found at Cookography.
- Ham & Cheese Quiche: I score extra points anytime I can sneak spinch into a dish. This Ham, Swiss & Spinache Quiche went down just fine.
Rediscover Sunday Dinner, and all the rewards that follow. It’s worth every minute.
Categories: All Recipes · Ham Recipes · Ham Soups · Uncategorized
Tagged: ham leftovers, Ham Recipes, ham soups, Sunday Dinner
