Team Holiday Bonuses and Gifts

This time of year can be incredibly hard for dentists and practice owners because there are so many decisions to make when it comes to showing appreciation for team members. Should I do cash, a gift card, or a bonus through payroll? How much should I pay my team members? Should I do an equal amount or vary the amounts based on longevity? If we do a Holiday party, should I pay the team for the hours? All of the questions and more are covered by Dr. Kuba and Bethany in this episode. The end of the year is an important time to show appreciation, but there is much to consider and weigh out. So, listen in! 

Previous Episodes Worth Revisiting:
Creative Team Building Ideas
The Basics of Team Building 

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Transcript

0:01

are you looking for a podcast where you can hear from real people regarding their real Dental drama if so then

0:09

you've come to the right place join hosts Bethany Penny and Dr Reena Kuba as

0:15

we dive into the solutions we've created and the mistakes we've made while

0:20

managing Dental drama let's get started happy December friend and friends um so I'm going to

0:28

just jump right in Bethany and and um this is something that I'm I'm thinking and hoping you get a lot of questions on

0:35

um because I know it's something that I struggle with every year and um you know with it being December and holidays and

0:42

I think as an owner very stressful to think about all the year-end things we

0:47

need to do and taxes and blah blah blah and then at least in my mind I'm like

0:54

okay well September had three pay periods doesn't November have three something there there's something where

1:00

there's more pay periods yeah I think it's O maybe October something like that

1:05

and then um there's people want to be out and use their

1:11

PTO and what days are we going to be open and now are we the bad guy for

1:16

wanting to open on Christmas Eve and um what do we gift our staff and are we

1:22

doing a holiday party and then in my mind at least you know we do the holiday pay for Black Friday for the 24th and

1:30

for the first so it's just a very expensive time of the year to have you

1:37

know and of course coming off of like September October where things are typically slower in an office and you

1:42

hope youve ramped up enough to cover all of these costs it's just super stressful

1:47

like as if the holidays aren't stressful enough on a personal side and then the office is stressful enough because people are trying to use their benefits

1:54

and then you've got patients that are mad because they can't get in and then it's just a

2:00

s show let's say a Gong Show that's always one of my favorite phrases so my my question to you

2:07

is as far as I mean obviously we can't dive into all of the above of what I

2:12

just said but where I want to kind of focus and get your feedback and thoughts on are the team and gifting and because

2:20

I know this is something that I always struggle with every year going what am I what am I gifting we've got several new

2:25

people on the team the the veterans are they going to be upset so I just how to

2:31

navigate all of this huh yes yes so I I'm I'm not sure that I'm phrasing the question right but I think you know what

2:37

I'm talking about here so take it away well I I do know what you're talking about because it is a very common

2:44

question this time of year I feel like every client is reaching out to me

2:50

thinking okay how much how much should I gift what should I do a should I do cash

2:56

should I do a gift card you know should I do anything thing because it's been a tough September October so I think

3:03

you're asking a question that a lot of my clients are asking right now um so I would say let's start with you as an

3:10

example um because I think there's kind of two different ways I look at this end of year kind of gifting type thing or or

3:18

a bonus which is is a doctor doing something throughout the year or are we

3:24

kind of just status quo we're kind of just pay paychecks all throughout the year and then we haven't done anything

3:31

we haven't done a team building or we haven't done any type of bonus throughout the year to me those are two

3:37

different scenarios because if we've done some stuff all throughout the year like you

3:44

do you're very consistent with uh Team appreciation events and you go pretty

3:49

big on those throughout the year that to me the way that I would encourage you in

3:54

the month of December is different than the way that I would encourage somebody that hasn't done anything throughout the

4:01

year does that make sense if it's so I don't maybe necessarily have to go as

4:06

big correct now the the only I wouldn't say the argument to that or whatever but I guess in my mind the only thing that

4:13

that still is people tend to think of the holidays as a time of giving and as a

4:19

time of I should be appreciated and all of that so even though I do stuff throughout the year I think I've still

4:25

kind of learned that I still need to do something a little different or because that they are expecting that um and then

4:33

like you take it outside the dental office and most people think of a Christmas party a work Christmas party

4:39

or a work Christmas bonus or something like that and so years where I've been tempted not to do something because I

4:45

did do something big say after the end of summer the team forgets all of that and so it's like did you leave a bad

4:52

taste in somebody's mouth not doing what they were expecting so to me then where

4:57

I've kind of come around with that is going okay maybe I'm not maybe the dollar amount is not that much but I

5:03

better do something that feels good to the team and so again that depends on your team's culture and what you know

5:10

how all of that goes but for me it better be pretty emotion feeling I made

5:15

you feel important I made you feel good I agree completely to me to kind of skip

5:22

over this or to not give it enough of a feeling or enough attention to it I do

5:28

think we miss an opportunity because our emotions are high at this time of year and I think staff members anticipate

5:35

some type of Celebration or some type of notice in that month of um usually in

5:41

the month of December so I would say we would miss an opportunity if we didn't do something that made them feel seen

5:48

and noticed and appreciated uh and especially we're coming right off of the heels of Thanksgiving as well so this

5:54

whole November December to me is a very is an opportunity for practice owners so

6:00

where like if you're an office who've never you don't really do much of anything like something that I think

6:05

would be relatively cost effective yet kind of bang for your buck if you're not one who usually do does something and

6:10

you're one who's like pedal to the metal you know we we don't take time off of our um patient care time well at least

6:20

to me and I guess this is maybe an aedo practice but General I suppose is different I I suppose it's different

6:25

based on maybe General y'all are busier in December because people are to use benefits for us we are busy but not till

6:32

the last two weeks and then it's it's another Gong Show right but like the beginning two weeks of December it's

6:38

like we are picking our noses there is nothing going on in our offices so to me that's the time where I'm like okay

6:43

let's take advantage of that so if you're an office who doesn't do anything ever then maybe that's where you're

6:49

taking the afternoon or you're taking a lunch from like 1030 to

6:54

1:30 and maybe even bringing in lunch catering in Chick-fil-A and you've got

7:00

the salad and the mac and cheese and the nuggets and lemonade and tea like if your team's not used to getting anything

7:06

they're going to feel very seen yes and knowing that um you know that that the

7:12

doctor's taking time to slow things down and do that maybe throwing in a secret Santa or a white elephant gift exchange

7:20

or you know something that is feely I think is important there I think that's

7:26

really important and again I love that you're pointing out that something you can pay attention to your team in this

7:33

month in a way that's not super costly to you I mean a Chick-fil-A lunch if you

7:39

go all out and order you know all the stuff the mac and cheese and the lemonade and the sweet te brownies yeah

7:45

I mean even that is not going to be a huge substantial investment but I think the team is going to appreciate it and

7:52

if you block off an extended lunch yes that may cost you an hour of production

7:58

but at the end of the day it's a relatively lowcost event that can still be made to feel very festive especially

8:04

if we add in something like a secret Santa where the team picks their person

8:10

and they you've got a little gift exchange that happens that cost you nothing that was just you organizing an

8:16

event where the team gets to be involved um I've got one client that does the uh

8:23

12 Days of Christmas and so each for 12 business days she has a little gift for

8:29

each employee so every day it's something small love and that's so cute

8:34

and it's not you know these are not huge expensive things but they have that to look it's a tradition in her office

8:41

every year it's the 12 Days of Christmas like you she starts that at the beginning of December and then for

8:47

essentially 2 and a half weeks she's got a little gift for every staff member so

8:52

again not super expensive it's just something that the team gets to look

8:58

forward to it takes some planning it takes some preparation I feel like that's the hardest part of all of this

9:03

is putting your mind together on how can I make this something that's special or memorable or fun for the team to me

9:10

that's the hardest part and cost nothing it's then the execution of it that you know can be a little bit cumbersome at

9:16

times um so I would say when we're heading into this month that we're I

9:22

can't believe we're here already but December we're heading into December you got to think fast at this

9:27

point you've been thinking on your Christmas um celebration your holiday celebration for months 12 months after

9:34

after the one for the year before I'm like what am I doing next year so but again I mean you're saying that's the most cumbersome part I love that part

9:41

like my personality I'm like ooh what can we do that's unique and fun and odd and um so I love stuff like that I love

9:49

going and so to to find these like little gifts or unique little things um

9:55

you know I love going to as janky as it sounds Sam's in Costco they have such

10:00

cute like seasonal things that are affordable or tooling around HomeGoods

10:06

and you'll find some like random stuff that it's like I mean HomeGoods is I've got my kid loving HomeGoods she keeps

10:12

asking me when we get to go cuz I took her with me last year and she found just kind of cute unique things for her

10:18

teachers and um that's actually how I'm motivating her to get some stuff done now like yeah we can go as soon as you

10:24

finish this assignment so once you finish that hopefully if you can get it done this weekend then maybe we you and

10:29

I can go have our HomeGoods time HomeGoods y'all you've roped one in to

10:34

the the HomeGoods love Club yes yes that's that's my therapy I just go and

10:40

Tool around HomeGoods and Sams you know or cold or something it's

10:46

like they have different random holiday things that's not going to break the bank yes yes so I would say for somebody

10:52

that's struggling to come up with something to do again keep it simple I mean it can be

10:58

something super super simple like the 12 Days of Christmas and your job is to go to HomeGoods and to go to Sam's and find

11:06

12 little gifts for your employees for to spread out over that time great or plan a lunch that you bring in lunch

11:14

something that you know your team will love block off an additional hour and just have lunch or include the secret

11:21

santa as a part of it another one that my team loves that we've started trying to be more intentional about

11:27

incorporating cuz a lot of times we we think of it as the last minute but a potluck so for Thanksgiving um I always like to bring

11:35

in food during breaks like when we like for example spring break in a pedo

11:40

office is cuckoo bananas so we I make sure to have lunch there every day I've got my reasoning behind that but

11:46

Thanksgiving here now we worked Monday Tuesday half day Wednesday well Monday we always do a potluck and the one team

11:53

member of mine she loves organizing the potlock she's super creative with what she brings so now she's kind of become

11:59

my go to person I'm like hey Nat can you plan the potluck for the Monday Tuesday

12:04

we'll bring in Pizza Wednesday we eat leftovers and so that way nobody has to worry about lunch that week now

12:09

Christmas for us is longer because there's two weeks two plus weeks if you count beginning of January before school

12:16

goes back but usually that's not as crazy um but that's where we now so like if you've never done anything and now

12:21

you're going wait I can't I can't block the schedule this right way or I can't get a reservation everything's booked up

12:28

plan a potluck mhm and maybe do a themee like it's a Christmas theme or all the food has to be green or it's a Grinch

12:34

theme or it's whatever it is and maybe everybody brings their recipe and then you're exchanging recipes like super

12:40

cost effective but uh from a culture standpoint it's really fun for the team

12:45

yes I would agree completely with that and again a potlock is essentially free it's just an opportunity to celebrate

12:52

and to again have something that causes the team to work together on a good

12:58

lunch and I would say docs please you be the one who brings the the pricey item

13:04

like there you know the team I'm not a big meat eater but the team loves their meat well that can get expensive to cook

13:11

a a couple of pounds of ground beef or whatever don't don't give that to your team make sure for the team if you're

13:16

doing a taco themed potluck that you know one person is bringing the sour cream one person's bringing the lettuce

13:22

somebody else is bringing the onions or if your team's smaller then divvy it up that way but please don't make your team

13:28

be the one where you're bring the bag of ice yeah thank you for making that point yes

13:34

don't get out the cheapest on this you be the one that invests or Heck if you're not going to bring in like a

13:41

Chick-fil-A lunch or something like that give everybody 10 15 bucks to buy their

13:46

supplies you're like hey I want to do the potluck I want y'all making the stuff but I'm happy to give everybody 20

13:52

bucks to get their supplies for the dish you know and then again you're you're literally funding the potluck which I

13:58

think yeah I've never done that yeah I guess to me because I am spending so much on the other lunches where I'm like

14:04

this is a good way for me to get a lunch taken care of that I haven't had to pay for well and you've got a big enough

14:09

team that it really does divy up where they're only having to bring something very small um I think it's harder for

14:15

the smaller teams if they if you've got you know three or four people on your team to put together a good meal it's going to be more costly per individual

14:22

so I would say especially the budget here's you 20 bucks for your on a smaller team cuz they're going to have

14:28

to bring more love um okay so let's talk about how we pick I want to do bonus amounts and you know

14:36

gifting amounts and then I want to um transition back to um other ideas

14:41

because we've talked about potlucks and lunches but you do some additional things at Christmas that I want to talk about but how what is your strategy for

14:50

first of all do you do a quote unquote Christmas bonus or money that you give

14:56

in the month of December and if so how do you decide how much so that's been an

15:01

evolution getting there for sure um and I guess to me I want to be careful

15:08

because I think initially I wanted to try to do like from a longevity standpoint like how long that team

15:14

member has been there gets more but then I'm like but how much more and where do you cap out and I think that goes back

15:20

to do you have other perks in the office and so for me one you're getting compensated more because you've been

15:27

there the argument could be I get compensated more because I work more and I bring all this experience what so

15:33

anyway you could go back and forth on all of that so for me finally what I've decided is my cap has been for the last

15:38

several years $300 so that way they know not to expect more than that the people that have been there the longest have

15:45

only gotten $300 um which may not be that much from another office perspective going oh

15:51

that's all you give your team members but yeah but it's CU I'm doing so much more the rest of the year that's that's

15:58

the important takeaway that I want to kind of put an aster on that is $300 for

16:04

you is a lot because throughout the year

16:09

you spend that if not more I would say on almost every event and again you've

16:16

got one in February you've got one in April you've got one in um end of school

16:22

year September the only time I give money like that though is um at the end of summer I'll usually do a gift and

16:29

that cap is 300 but in Christmas like I guess because that I just wanted to make sure that the expectations are set very

16:37

clearly because I don't want to go crazy one year and then not be able to do it the next year and then people be

16:43

disappointed at the time where I'm trying to enhance this fely right thing going on so um for example can I just

16:49

tell what I'm doing this year yeah I would love that um and we're doing it tomorrow so this will drop tomorrow so

16:54

hopefully um no team members are listening yeah nobody's listening I don't I think they listen I hope

17:01

not um but I got so we're I'm in Dallas area and um if you ask me where I came

17:08

up with this God only knows like my brain thinks of a lot of crazy things and so I I couldn't begin to tell you

17:14

this but um we are I got a bus that we are I told everybody to meet the office

17:20

they don't know where we're going still I finally just told them on Friday that you will be boarding a bus and um so

17:28

we're supposed to meet at the office at 7:00 a.m. board the bus and take off and we're driving down to Waco Texas which

17:34

is about an hour and a halfish it'll depend on traffic I suppose um and so in the car then like today I'm going to run

17:40

to Sam's and get bagels and whatever else that we can eat a breakfast in the car I've told them and said if you're a

17:46

we're not getting brunch until 10:30 so if you're a big breakfast eater you need to bring your own um and so um anyway

17:54

we're going to get to Waco Waco is where Joanna and Chip gains and the whole Magnolia thing has really kind of become

18:01

to be like Waco synonymous with Waco I've never been down there but I hear

18:06

it's really great for apparently there's a clothing section and a house good

18:12

section and a Decor section and apparently like a a stationary store and

18:18

then apparently the restaurant's really good um so anyway I I did some Open

18:23

Table bookings I couldn't get a hold of anybody maybe there was a way and I just couldn't find it but anyway back in like

18:29

July I book these tables cuz apparently it's really hard to eat there and breakfast is really good and lunch is

18:35

really good so I was like well if the bus gets us there around 10:30 there we go there's brunch I don't have to pay for both um and we just get some you

18:42

know Sam's Bagels in the car and then on the way there we're going to do Secret Santa to the bus ride there should be

18:48

just enough time and get everybody in the spirit and do all of that and then I've got these I got I ordered from

18:53

Oriental Trading these kind of stocking bags that cost me you know a buck but

19:00

they're kind of cute and odd and unique and then I used a marker to write everybody's name on their stocking and

19:06

the stocking has um it ended up being I didn't mean for it to be this but it's ending up being a peanuts like a Snoopy

19:13

theme yes and where that came from you know about a month ago I was in Sam's and I found these like Snoopy uh light

19:19

up sweatshirts oh and so I got one for me and my sisters we like to have matching Christmas themed things at Christmas time and then I got home and I

19:26

was like this is so darn cute like how cute would this be like I could see people in the office liking this and I

19:31

was like wait a minute what if we all had one and we're all tooling around Waco and our light up peanut sweatshirt

19:37

like it generates a buzz people know we're part of a group we want to take pictures so I went back to Sam's and I

19:43

bought everybody a sweatshirt so then I ended up getting a Christmas card that's also peanuts themed funny enough a

19:50

design that kind of matches the sweatshirt just happened to find that online got cash so the people that have

19:57

been there longer are getting the $300 I think what did we decide if you've been there three plus years you're getting

20:02

300 two to 3 years you're getting 200 90 days on to the two years you're getting

20:09

100 and if you just started you're getting 50 bucks which I think is frankly quite generous if you've only been there for a month MH you're getting

20:16

to go you're getting your sweatshirt you're getting a breakfast you're getting an experience yes um but whether

20:25

they see it that way or not I don't know so but again I I think the same way on

20:32

new employees I just feel like there's there's got to be a benefit

20:39

to being on the team longer and so when the new PE new person on the team gets just as much or close to as much as

20:46

everybody else to me it doesn't feel fair to our long-term people and if I've been there you know 90 days I would not

20:53

expect a gift at all um no again that I wouldn't who who's to say that somebody

21:00

else wouldn't but I feel like 50 bucks and this whole experience it could have just been the whole experience and

21:06

nothing else no cash right um because that still would have been a good enough celebration of your team because all of

21:12

that together is going to be quite costly to you so the fact that they also get cash on top of that I feel like is

21:20

pretty generous um now that's normal for you your team that's what they expect you do something kind of big every year

21:28

at Christmas time and so I think they've come to expect that but I like that for you you've set a very clear ceiling like

21:35

you never go past that ceiling of $300 now the event changes every year it's

21:40

something different that you plan which I think makes it exciting which of course has only been happening for the

21:46

last three or four years because before that our go-to was lunch at Benihana we left Friday we went and had lunch at

21:52

benana we did our gift exchange and I gave a gift so um what and how it's I

21:58

think it was pandemic is kind of stuff where it's like we couldn't go to Benny

22:03

and so what would that be 2019 and on 2020 last couple years yeah yeah cuz

22:09

2020 was the year we couldn't get into Ben Hana so 2019 was your last year at

22:15

benih yeah probably yeah so yeah these last three years it's been something different um but I do think that's one

22:23

of the things I would recommend is the cash should change based on long longevity the only Aster I'll show throw

22:30

in there is that can sometimes be hard on a very small team where you've got

22:37

you know three employees and the two people that have been with you forever get you know $300 or if you don't do

22:44

anything throughout the year or minimal things they're getting $5 and $600 and the new person gets

22:49

$50 that can be a little bit like oh there's such a big discrepancy there um

22:55

but on your team it's a big team first of all and I think you've got because you do so much throughout the year it's

23:00

$300 or less and so there's not as much of a big discrepancy there um you do

23:07

cash for yours it depends every year this year we decided cash um I you get

23:14

into all the the whole tax implication side of it and I pretend like all that

23:20

doesn't exist I just do what I want to do and somebody will tell me if that is wrong so maybe we may need to delete

23:26

this part of this podcast no I will say it's a question I get all the time like can I do gift cards can I do cash um

23:35

because that that is so much cleaner and easier to give and it's a fixed amount

23:40

like I intend to give this person $300 I don't want to have to figure out

23:45

through payroll what that what does it need to be $372 to make it $300 even it gets weird

23:54

through payroll however it is what you're supposed to do is

24:01

through payroll but I will say that very few people choose to do that they often

24:07

do a gift card or cash and they just are kind of like let's look the other way I

24:12

know there strategies to that like I see like cane Waters puts out a email you

24:17

know MOS wble puts out an email of hey tax season's coming like have you thought about this or whatever and I hit

24:24

delete on all of those don't even open them don't want to know i' rather keep

24:31

my head in the sand and ignore I I again for any Seinfeld person out there I

24:36

think about Kramer where he says something like oh it's a write off and Jerry goes do you even know what a

24:42

write- off is no but they do and they're the ones writing it off so I plead the

24:48

Kramer at this time of year I'm just going to do what I want to do and somebody will have to tell me and guide

24:53

me like ignorance is bliss as far as I'm concerned in this realm

24:59

I might need you to delete this part of the episode by you're incriminating

25:04

yourself uh no some people will try to make it right so for example I've got a

25:10

client that does bigger so she they have production bonuses throughout the year

25:16

but she doesn't necessarily do any additional team building or things like that but she tries to do a really good

25:21

Christmas bonus and so you know she does like $500 bonuses at Christmas time and

25:27

she knows that if she were to pay that in cash or if she were to handr write them a check like hey here's just you

25:33

know here's a handwritten check she knows they'll get H the employee could get hit with the tax implication of that

25:40

so she runs hers through payroll but she has her CPA tell her like what amount do

25:46

I need to make it so that they get the $500 or $550 and then he he makes it all

25:53

right which um so I've done that before too and I don't think that's a bad strategy well

25:58

I've not done that I think for me either I give the 500 in a different way through not through payroll or sometimes

26:06

I let the bonus get hit with taxes like the business gets hit with taxes and that's life and y'all seem to think that

26:13

we make all this money and that there's no expenses and that is not true so if you think that I'm taking home all this

26:19

money from this surgery case no I get taxed just like you do so this is your

26:25

bonus well that sucks but that's life so I don't think it's a bad thing sometimes

26:30

now I get it like from our side where we're going ah but I really wanted her to have $200 but I have at times just done it

26:36

through payroll just because I want them to see like that's life MH yeah exactly and

26:43

again you do so much throughout the year that I feel like that's a small a small

26:49

takeaway from that is that it's the taxes are not going to be much if you were to run the $300 through payroll for

26:55

example that's not going to be a ton on that employee and they're still going to come out with

27:01

$270 extra dollars I mean that's awesome and I again I think you've got the

27:06

luxury of doing that because you invest a lot throughout the year um I have one person that got a big handwritten bonus

27:15

and a handwritten check bonus and ended up the office realized afterwards oh

27:21

shoot we should have we should have taken out taxes on that this was months later they're

27:27

trying to shore up all year in stuff and so then the employee got hit months later with oh you owe $300 on that th

27:36

you know $1,000 or whatever it was so anyway be mindful of stuff like that you don't want to put your employee in a

27:41

position where oh they're getting hit on something that was supposed to be a good thing yeah yeah um as so you do cash

27:49

again that's just a nugget a takeaway I think a lot of people I did cash this year okay yeah cash gift cards you can

27:56

do those as well just make sure to let your CPA know that hey just so you know

28:02

I've got five employees and I'm giving each of them $300 they'll get it all like you said let them Shore it up with

28:09

what needs to be done from a tax standpoint to to make sure you're good to go on that but um you can do gift

28:15

cards to your CPA will likely tell you don't do gift cards I'd rather you do it through payroll but gift cards are very

28:22

normal this time of year again just run it past your CPA and they'll tell you how to to make it all right um some

28:28

Chris if you're listening MOS swamp just delete just tune out for a

28:33

minute if you start getting a lot of phone calls and emails you'll know why cuz my strategy is I do what I want to

28:40

do and I'm like well he watches the bank statements like he'll figure out he'll figure it out we love you

28:47

Chris CH thank you for

28:53

watching um so okay so that's your amount you do a Max you kind of cap it at 300 and then you go down from there

29:00

based on longevity um you do cash sometimes you do um gift cards it just

29:07

kind of depends on the event I know I've got some clients that will take their team to a mall and give them like a you

29:14

know $200 Mall gift card and you've got to go spend it on yourself you know you got an hour to spend it on yourself and

29:21

then they end that's what we did last year so yeah so I think anything like that again it's I think it's great now

29:29

this is where I would say if an office doesn't have a good bonus program or

29:35

there's not team building throughout the year I to your point I think a team comes to this time of

29:42

year as harsh as it sounds expecting something so I think if we were to come

29:48

to you know a nice lunch oh great we've ordered in a really good lunch and here's you

29:53

$100 I again 100 I know $100 is a lot of money right now but I think you run the

30:00

risk of employees potentially being disappointed if we've done nothing throughout the whole year and now we've

30:05

got a Chick-fil-A lunch and $100 that's going to feel maybe a little a little

30:10

cheap so see and I almost disagree because if you've done nothing all year and now you're finally showing some

30:17

recognition um maybe that's Norm to the culture in your office so I don't want

30:22

you to go too over the top because then you got to ma match that in subsequent year like you're setting you're setting

30:28

an expectation yeah um and so I don't know I I see your point completely like

30:35

if you've done nothing but on the other hand then like depending on how long the employees been there and what they've

30:40

seen thus far that may be Norm to go oh wow we

30:45

actually got a lunch and a $25 gift card man yeah cool yeah I can expect that at

30:51

Christmas I don't know I don't know well and I would say if you if this is if this podcast is what like motivates you

30:58

to do something then if you're going to go with you know a $50 or $100 gift card

31:04

or something like that then go ahead and start next year doing some additional things like if we're going to kind of

31:10

keep it on that low end then I would say do something in Spring do something in

31:15

summer and again you can kind of keep that same budget if you want to stick with a lunch and a $50 gift card great

31:23

let that be your theme but I would say it's a low enough wow factor that we're

31:29

going to need a few more of those throughout the year I would say either go a little bit like hey I only do one

31:36

thing a year but I make it good you know and then you're off the hook for the rest of the year now I don't love that I

31:42

tend to prefer we've got multiple points throughout the year to show appreciation and even if that's only two in Spring

31:50

and in Fall we go out to lunch together and I buy you lunch great that's fantastic I would still say do something

31:57

from from a financial gift standpoint because like you were saying this time of year is expensive it's expensive for

32:03

business owners it's expensive for everyday workers as well there's a lot of additional cost um and I've heard so

32:11

many employees especially this year kind of lamenting how hard this

32:16

time of year is anyway and it's extra hard this year because Christmas presents cost that much more this year

32:22

there's less money in the bank because of how this year has gone and so I would say I would encourage all ice owners

32:28

that if you've got some to gift and again I know funds are tight for everybody I would say use this time of

32:33

year to be generous I don't think that token of appreciation for your team will go unnoticed or unappreciated I think it

32:41

will be especially this year I think it will be very much appreciated so I think that's where I so two two things here

32:47

from what you just said one um I think for me I start going yeah then maybe instead of spending money on a bus and

32:53

on breakfast should I have just given it as cash and just been like here you go especially this year you know cuz I'm

32:59

still just as tough as the Year's been and how inflation and blah blah blah I mean yeah that the 300's not going to

33:05

take you as far as but I think my fear in doing that one because I could do a

33:10

cheaper feeling like so I weigh all of this going you know how do I maximize the feely making them feel special and

33:17

then how do I and every person wants something different like somebody else is going to go dude I don't want to hang out with all you people all day like

33:23

just give me the cash and run and You' got others that do want to be pampered and do want to be appre so it's always a

33:29

juggling act for sure but I think for me again I don't want to set a precedent of hey this year I didn't spend all this

33:35

rest on the experience I'm just going to give it to you as cash because then that opens a whole another I agree completely

33:41

um question for you so say the people take a three-hour lunch to bring in

33:46

Chick-fil-A and do all of that what about on the clock or off the clock does

33:52

that you get that question asked all the time okay all the time so for me team building should always be off the clock

34:00

the problem becomes when we take a production day a day that people would normally be clocked in and say sorry you

34:09

can't get those hours um so hey we're going to go you know spend the day at the mall um and it's on a Friday where

34:15

we normally all always work but now I'm saying you've got to go spend the day at the mall and yeah I'm going to give you

34:21

$150 to spend technically you would have made $150 if you were on the clock so

34:27

they've come out net either net equal or net negative even um so that's where I

34:34

say you've got to weigh that very carefully if you're going to have them be off the clock for a an event either

34:39

try to plan it where maybe they're only missing an hour of work like oh you would we yes we normally work Friday

34:46

we're going to close the office an hour early and we're going to go to the mall

34:51

and then they're coming out positive right cuz they're getting $150 at the mall and they're only missing an hour or

34:56

an hour and a half of work so I think I'm fine with that but to close a good

35:02

bit of the day to go out and team do team building and you don't get paid for that and this was a regular work day I

35:09

get a little bit uncomfortable with that because we don't want the gift to become a negative we don't want them to

35:15

ultimately think well I would have much rather I need the money I need to work I would have much rather stayed at work

35:20

than to go play and that is a sour situation for everybody then because then the doctor as you as the doctor

35:26

going are you kidding me I took all this time effort energy I gave you money you

35:32

guys piss and moan about everything like can't can't win but from the staff it's

35:38

very stressful to especially this time of year to not get that hourly pay so um I think for me it took me a minute to

35:45

realize it from their Viewpoint early on and um so I just want to make sure that

35:50

we're making sure to pay attention to that as well so for me my team buildings are off the clock but but then because

35:58

we're not a 5-day work week office I look for the times that we wouldn't have

36:04

been producing or we wouldn't have been you know whatever so like say you know tomorrow being Monday we're typically

36:09

closed on Mondays the people that want to work you can so I just say it's optional team building is optional I.E

36:16

and I tell them very clearly I optional I.E not on the clock that way for new people that may not recognize that now I

36:24

guess in a culture standpoint because the team knows that these are fun days that I do spoil them that you know they

36:29

don't want to miss it um most of them come I don't think anybody's not coming

36:35

tomorrow so um but so it it it does end up being a now if somebody does work on

36:43

Mondays you know that that was their day that they come in and they stock and do whatever well then you have the choice of not coming to team building or then

36:50

maybe you have time to plan ahead to say well then I'm going to stay a couple of hours on Friday to stock and they get

36:56

permission to do that or whatever so um that's how I've learned to I guess the

37:02

the takeaway is make sure to think about that too because we can get our feelings hurt if we don't get fully appreciated

37:09

but then we want to make sure that we're taking in why are they not fully appreciating it is because we've stress them out yeah and it it really is being

37:16

mindful of most of our employees are in different Financial situations than than

37:23

we are and so from a practice owner standpoint I think it can be really easy

37:28

to lose sight of that but when we say paycheck to paycheck most of our employees fall into that category and so

37:36

paycheck to paycheck means I depend on every single penny from every paycheck

37:41

that gets me by until the next paycheck so you take out a tenth of that or an

37:47

eighth of that that's a huge hit to somebody and so we we really do have to be mindful and you can get creative with

37:54

that let's say that you normally work 8 to 5 day on Fridays and you have a full

37:59

lunch break work straight through 700 to 2 you know we came in earlier that day

38:05

we're working straight through till 2:00 we're going to do our team building in the afternoon from 2:30 to 5:30 Well

38:11

everybody's only missed an hour of work if you do that and your practice the production for that day should be very

38:17

similar to a normal 8 to 5 day people are still getting home to their families in the evenings and you've really

38:23

allowed your team the opportunity to get there almost full hours they're missing one hour of work and you're still

38:29

getting a team building in so you can get creative with the schedule and still give your team the opportunity to work

38:36

and you still get the team building done so if you've done none of that for this year it's it's kind of late for that now

38:41

to plan to change the hours and stuff but this is for next year so for this year I guess that's kind of where we are

38:47

if you've really done nothing and now you know it's beginning of December maybe you're going the gift card route

38:53

and a happy hour after work I don't know yeah yeah which which I think is bringing in a you know breakfast a

39:00

catered breakfast something like that yeah yeah or even you could do absolutely do an evening thing somewhere

39:07

but allow family members to come I think that's the other thing so the challenge now is trying to get a reservation

39:13

somewhere at least at least maybe it depends on town to town but that's going to be hard one other completely random

39:18

thing that I thought of earlier um that that I'm going to throw in here so I don't forget to say it but um and I told

39:24

you about this we were laughing but um for anybody who has a assciates and things like that um you know our

39:30

associate he's just he's such a sweet sweet guy but he's a dude and um you

39:37

know no sisters and not married yet and all of that so it occurred to me where I went wait a minute cuz when he first

39:43

started last year at this point he was only with us like for a half day a year but the way this year has progressed

39:49

with the old Associates starting his own practice and you know uh phasing out and we're phasing him in now since the end

39:56

of the summer to now this newer associate has been there now 3 days a week which I'm like you're

40:02

there more than I am so um this is your team and like you know this point last

40:07

year he was in three offices splitting his time amongst those but I'm like but now you're in a situation where you're

40:13

in my office you know what is it two-thirds of the time and then the other third is between the other two

40:18

offices that he goes to so anyway point is I was like I can bet you anything he's not thought about gifting the staff

40:25

anything MH and maybe this staff doesn't expect it maybe they don't but the other

40:30

associates have given stuff and so I just I kind of planted the bug in his

40:36

ear and I kind of went hey um a card a card just something to make sure they're

40:43

seen because you're really their doctor now and so I think that for him was like

40:48

oh yeah um and so just kind of if you've got other people in the office that

40:54

you you know just making sure that again this is the feely time of year and you don't want him to inadvertently look

41:01

like the a-hole MH and and maybe he would maybe he wouldn't I don't know but

41:07

yeah help your associate out by encouraging them to do something small

41:12

and I would say even talk to the associate because I know in years past like when I was an associate and my

41:18

colleagues my you know co-residents and some of them had joined an office where that office had never done anything and

41:24

my co-resident you know the associate is the one who's like oh let's plan this let's give this and Senior doctor was

41:30

like what are you doing cuz now senior doctor looks like an a-hole cuz for years they've done nothing and now

41:36

associate has bonded with the staff and wants to do all this so there could be all of that Dynamic going on in either

41:41

direction so if if you're not a single person yes yeah and again yeah you got

41:48

to Tre tread lightly I know when you're in a situation like that but at the same time what's best for the team is again a

41:56

card does nothing wrong you know I mean even if there's been nothing done for the staff and you're in that situation

42:02

you're like I want to do something do a card with a $5 Starbucks gift card I mean that it you're not

42:08

going to ruffle anybody's feathers by doing that and that team is going to be very appreciative of but do run it by

42:14

senior doc because if senior doc has never done even a $5 gift card you may have stirred up the drama drama drama

42:21

and then call and tell us about it thanks for with me about it today

42:29

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42:35

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42:41

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