You work hard all year long from January to December, it’s Christmas in a few days but you doubt your boss will ever remember that all you really want for Christmas is a little gift of appreciation. Unfortunately, the reality means that your boss is much more likely to be Scrooge than Santa during the festive period.
Half of UK employees (50 per cent) do not receive a reward or gift from their manager or employer at Christmas, shows new research. 39 per cent of employees said they do get a gift and 11 per cent said they ‘sometimes’ receive festive rewards.
The research, commissioned by Motivates Inc. Ltd, surveyed 2,000 UK employees in full-time employment and shows there is a slight sway towards men getting Christmas gifts in the workplace in comparison to women.
Do you normally receive a reward or gift from your manager or employer at Christmas?
Employees were asked what they would like to receive as a reward from their employer this Christmas and the top answer was ‘an individual cash bonus’ (64 per sent) followed closely behind with a ‘voucher to spend on yourself’ (52 per cent). The least popular choice was a ‘week/weekend away with your team’ (12 per cent).
All I want for Christmas is… Top 10
1. Individual cash bonus 64%
2. Voucher to spend on yourself 52%
3. Team cash bonus 42%
4. Team meal/night out on the company 34%
5. Verbal thank you from your manager 25%
6. Thank you letter/email/card from your manager 19%
7. Public recognition for your work 13%
8. Training and development that will help you outside work 13%
9. Training and development that will help you in work 13%
10. Week/weekend away with your team 12%
Female employees expressed they were more interested in individual Christmas rewards, whereas a higher percentage of men chose team based gifts as their top choices:
Bill Alexander, chairman at Motivates, said: “I am shocked so many employers do not feel the need to say thank you to their employees at the end of the year. It’s understandable if companies don’t have the budget or resource to send recognition to everyone, however, 25 per cent of employees said they would like a verbal thank you from their manager this Christmas. What’s sad is this should be common practice in any workplace.
“While many employees said they would like a cash bonus as a reward it’s important to remember that cash is not always king. Cash rewards are often squandered or pointed at a boring bill that needs settlement. Added to this employees very rarely talk about cash bonuses but they do about incentives that feel more personal.”
Finally, employees were asked whether they would prefer to choose their reward this Christmas or have the recognition chosen for them. 73 per cent said they would like to choose.
Alexander continued: “If employers can afford tangible gifts this year be careful with what you give. No matter how well we know our employees, try not to fall down the stereotyping trap. It would be easy to assume 18-24 year old employees would feel rewarded by a night out on the company. Yet when we asked this age group what they wanted this Christmas 30 per cent said a verbal thank you from their manager compared to just 24 per cent who said a night out.
“Choice is key. Give employees all the power with where and when they spend their recognition with a multi-retailer gift voucher. Not only can you feel confident the reward will be relevant to everyone, but you can be confident knowing your employees will feel motivated and engaged when receiving the voucher, and again when they spend the voucher.”
