Thanks for the Gift Card (but not really…)

When you grow up in the Boston area, there are certain responsibilities and expectations that come with the territory. You support the local sports teams unconditionally, you never take a parking spot that someone else has shoveled out, and you always buy your coffee at Dunkin’. As a proud Bostonian, I have taken great pride in fulfilling these expectations including when I lived in Korea and could only find one Dunkin’ which inexplicably microwaved its bagels.

In an office setting, discussions around coffee are as commonplace as conversations about the weather. At my previous office, this held true. The office joke revolved around my devotion to Dunkin’ as I walked in each morning with my DD mug filled with regular coffee (which means something very specific in Boston by the way.) Everyone else would sip on their Starbucks unable to resist the urge to denigrate my choice of coffee almost every morning for nearly two years. Then when it came time for the annual office gift exchange, my boss gave me a gift card to Starbucks.

My boss certainly did not need to get me anything at all, and it’s likely the cost came out of a personal budget rather than an organizational one. I do not mean to sound whiny or ungrateful though I imagine I do. I share this because it is a stark example of the compulsion leaders feel to buy something, anything for staff at this time of the year regardless of what it is and regardless of how much the staff wants it. This attempt to show gratitude often only serves to satisfy the giver and generally does not accomplish what it sets out to do. Instead it seems to check the box of having attempted to show gratitude. 

For me, it was a telling moment in my tenure at that organization, because it was such a clear example of how my boss never really got to know me, even in the most basic sense, and it was a reminder that showing appreciation in a generic way for the sake of saying you did, does not really accomplish the goal at hand. It had nothing at all to do with the amount of money involved. It had everything to do with the impersonal nature of it. 

When you work in a small non-profit, days are often frantic, pay is often low and benefits are often hard to come by (if they exist at all.) Staff tend to look past these because they are driven by the mission and they care about what they do. In a generally thankless line of work, it is important that management is sincere and intentional about recognizing and rewarding its staff. They are the lifeblood of any nonprofit and despite their dedication, everyone wants to feel appreciated and important and known as a person, not just as an employee. Doing this through competitive compensation is always paramount of course. In addition, tokens of appreciation do not need to be expensive to be meaningful and effective.

Knowing that money is hard to come by, nonprofit management needs to be creative about how it recognizes its staff, but recognize them they must. What speaks to people- especially people who dedicate their lives to helping others- is knowing that their work matters and that someone recognizes it and also that they are seen as a person beyond being just an employee. When people feel like just another number, when their recognition feels generic and impersonal, this can decrease engagement, motivation, and satisfaction. On the other hand, when staff feel appreciated and known, they are much more likely to stay and remain dedicated to not only the mission but to the organization.

So, get to know your staff. Reward them in ways that are personal and salient.

And for crying out loud, don’t buy Starbucks for someone from Boston.