You may or may not be aware but Customer Service Week is fast approaching (October 5th-October 9th). Unfortunately, with things being what they are and so many people still working from home in response to the ongoing pandemic, this year’s celebration of your hard-working customer service professionals stands to be a bit different than it has been in previous years.
Different, however, doesn’t mean impossible, though you will have to get creative to deal with the current circumstances. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, this article was written with you in mind. Read on and we’ll give you some tips to help get your mind turning on the subject:
Virtual Meetings, Ahoy!
The last thing you want to do is put the health of the people you’re celebrating at risk, which means that an in-person celebration is almost certainly out of the question.
By this point though, most of your remote employees have probably gotten quite comfortable with Skype, Zoom, or whatever solution you’re using to host virtual meetings, and this would be an excellent alternative.
The good thing is that it provides the same general feel as an in-person meeting in that all the participants can see each other and interact in real time, while preserving health and safety.
Cater Lunch
Catering lunch when everyone is in one place is easy. It’s a little more difficult when your meeting participants are scattered all over the place and working from home, but it’s still certainly doable.
In this case, the solution is restaurant or fast-food gift cards. Just ask each meeting participant what their preferences are and buy some gift cards to the appropriate eatery, and send those out such that they arrive a few days before the big event.
Then, everyone is responsible for procuring the food they want, but you’re helping with the acquisition and the effect is pretty much the same. Better, in some ways, because everybody is guaranteed to get what they want and it comes out to about the same price.
Show Your Appreciation
Naturally, since this is a celebration of your customer service professionals, it wouldn’t be complete without some gifts designed to express employee appreciation.
If you want to keep some level of surprise, send your gifts to all the participants involved in the celebration in advance, so they arrive a few days before the celebration begins, and wrap them with a card on top that says something like “Do not open until the virtual meeting!”
Then, at some point during the celebration, have everyone grab their gifts and take turns unwrapping their presents and showing them off to the assembled participants.
There are all sorts of routes you can go here. If you want to do something practical, consider giving masks, hand sanitizer or other items that have become essential during the pandemic.
We actually carry a broad range of such items and you can order them branded with your company’s logo. Or, if you’d prefer to keep things more lighthearted and fun, you can send snacks, ear buds for the music lovers among your employees, or just about anything else.
We also offer multi-ship options so you can send gifts to multiple employees at the same time.
Whatever the tastes and preferences of your employees and whatever sort of celebration you have in mind, we’ve got you covered.
For a variety of great gift ideas, check out what we have to offer.