I will never forget the year my company decided to go with what they felt was a special holiday gift for their employees. This was the year a new CEO took over the small specialty retail store chain I was working for. He came from a mega corporate America background, and I guess his choice of gifts is what people that work for huge companies get.
What he sent to all 20 of the chain’s managers was a box of Omaha steaks. I will never forget the day we all received them at our homes. My phone was ringing off the hook as we were all calling and asking each other, what the heck is this?
We were used to having fruit Gift Baskets delivered December 23 or 24th. We shared them with our staffs as a special treat on the busiest retail day of the year. There was no way we could share a box of steaks with our staff members, and they weren’t going to make much of a centerpiece at family get-togethers, either.
Some of the managers thought the meat might have gone bad during shipping and were afraid to eat it (doubtful, but if you’ve never received a shipment of steaks before – understandable). Then there was myself and the other three vegetarian managers.
I cooked the steaks up and fed them to my dogs. A lot of other managers did the same thing.
If you want to give your employees a simple, tasteful holiday gift, there’s nothing better than sticking with a fruit basket.