Employers may wonder whether it is a good idea to send employee birthday cards to their workers. I’d like to relate the tale of the first time I received one of these birthday greeting cards and how much it was appreciated.
To begin with, let me state that my previous employment history consisted of less-than-stellar circumstances. It started in high school when I was employed as an indoor helper in a large garden center. The store micro-manager would stand with his hands on his hips analyzing my floor sweeping technique, occasionally snatching the broom himself to show me the “right” way to sweep the floor – from the perimeter to the center of the store in a symmetrical pattern. You can trust that he never cared enough to give me an employee birthday card!
Then there was the summer job I held in college at the office headquarters of a large grocery store chain. The executive that I worked under spoke to me three times all summer and called me “Byron” instead of “Brandon” each time. And finally, there was the rather sadistic pharmacist I worked for whose only interaction was to thrust a feather-duster into your hands if he saw that you didn’t have any work to do for all of five seconds, or to run outside screaming and shaking his fist at you if you returned from deliveries after 32 minutes when he thought that you should have been back after 28.
After these experiences, you can imagine my surprise and delight when I received a personalized birthday card on the occasion of my first birthday with my current employer. The employee birthday card was signed by my manager as well as all of the members of the executive committee. And best of all, everyone got my name right! What I learned is that my company gives birthday cards as a classy way to show appreciation to their employees. So I would say to any employer that it is well worth the time, money and effort to send employee birthday cards. Your thoughtfulness is likely to be paid back many times over.