June 13, 2012
by Dwight Peters, Terryberry Partner
With Father’s Day on our minds, most fathers do not receive big, expensive presents from their kids; they get finger paintings, Hallmark cards or quality phone calls. We never hear a dad say “I wish my kid spent more money on my gift”, but what we will see is his pride in hanging that painting on his office wall. When we think about how to recognize employees we should think about how we recognize our fathers….Simple, thoughtful, yet unrushed.
We never hear a dad say “I wish my kid spent more money on my gift”, but what we will see is his pride in hanging that painting on his office wall.
This strikes a special cord with me as I recently celebrated my father’s 90th birthday and reflected on the special times that my brothers and I spent with him over the years. During this 90th celebration it became more clear than ever that it was not about the material gifts that we gave him that night, but much more about sharing with him the memories and achievements we’ve pooled over the years.
In today’s work force, we can easily get swept away with salaries, benefits and bonuses. Let’s not make the mistake of tying in recognition gifts with those. We need to create simple, thoughtful, unrushed gestures and remind our team members what they mean to us. Not unlike our fathers, our employees do not find the value in expensive gifts without a meaningful presentation.
After 30+ years as partner of Terryberry, it is the desire to connect managers with their employees, the way a son might recognize his father, that differentiates us in the market place. While Terryberry values and cherishes our manufacturing process and the quality products they create, it is the emphasis on people that makes us continue to thrive after 95 years.
So, for Human Resource professionals out there, when considering budget constraints when recognizing your team members, let’s think about the ways a child might show his or her appreciation of a father and remember that 8 year olds have tight budgets too.
-Dwight Peters
