While this name actually comes from the Dog Star (Cirus) which is in close proximity to Earth during the summer months, it’s also not hard to imagine a lazy dog sunning himself on a porch when it’s just too hot to move. For most of us (much like that lazy dog), summer means a renewed focus on leisure time, the outdoors and relaxation. This is a very important time of year for us as individuals to unwind and reconnect.

For businesses however, the summer months are often plagued by empty offices, mass vacations, lower productivity, reduced motivation and lack of general focus. In short, it’s often difficult for many of us to focus on our desks, when right outside our windows there’s a beautiful summer day beaconing to us.

Here are a few ideas to help bring the motivation and the focus back to your team during those dog days, when even you would rather be on a patio than tie up those loose ends on your desk.

FIRST AND FOREMOST, HAVE A PLAN

In many organizations, it’s tempting, when summer sets in to simply try and ‘ride it out’. We often try to manage around vacation time and lower productivity that often accompanies the summer months, instead of developing a plan to really get things done.

By developing a specific plan to deal with the summer months, you’ll increase your chances of achieving your goals instead of simply just making it through. Some of the elements your summer plan should include are:

• Specific goals you want to achieve during the summer months, along with timelines and resources required for each. It’s important to keep these goals simple and relatively small (see special projects).
• A resource plan that includes key team members and their availability throughout the summer months. It’s especially important to make note of any projects that require team members who have vacation time and plan accordingly.
• Set completion goals for staff who have vacation time and ensure that their portion of the required work is completed before they leave the office, so work can continue in their absence.
• Build in small incentives for staff who remain in the office, to help keep their motivation and focus while others are away. Make sure any incentives you build-in coincide with your most critical goals. It pays to keep the focus where you want it.
• Measure, measure, measure. The expression “what gets measured, gets done” is true. If you want to be sure it gets done, you need to let your team know you’re still watching.
• Whenever possible, make it fun. If you can’t make it fun, make it interesting. It’s hard enough to get people to focus with the distractions of summer on their minds – it pays to find work that’s inherently interesting if you can.

PROVIDE FOCUS WITH ‘SPECIAL PROJECTS’

With much of the office out on vacation during the summer months, larger long term projects are often stalled or put on hold until the team is back together in September. This can leave the remaining staff with a void of meaningful work – a situation which seems to make the time pass even more slowly for those still in the office.

You can bring back some of the focus and urgency by introducing some smaller, tightly defined special projects to your remaining team. These special projects should have short deadlines (typically 1 day to 1 week) and should not require any resources outside of the team who remain in the office.

A special project such as document filing is one that (when things are busy) is often neglected because its level of importance is low when workloads are maxed and other priorities continue to come up. Yet, it’s a job that needs to be done in order to stay organized for the future. Summer is often a perfect time to really push through a project like this, without other priorities getting in the way.

LOOK TO THE FUTURE

Sometimes, despite your best efforts at planning, there’s just no way to move forward with the current projects you’ve got on the go. Unexpected absences or last-minute fires, on top of planned holidays and other summer slow-downs, often mean that some projects have to be stalled until things return to normal in September.

When this does occur, all isn’t lost. It might be a great time to work with your remaining team on some planning and initiatives for the future. Use the extra downtime to look at issues that don’t always get the attention they deserve. Or have your team ‘get creative’ and solicit ideas to improve processes and productivity in the future.

Why not hold a contest to solicit new ideas or solutions to persistent problems? Take advantage of the fact that a slower pace and more idle time means your remaining team members will be looking for a challenge – something to keep their minds occupied and make the time pass more quickly.

SUMMARY

As Canadians, we know there’s only so much summer to go around. By the time summer kicks into high gear, it’s nearly over. So it’s no wonder our collective focus wanders a bit when the sun comes out.

That being said, there’s no reason that we can’t still accomplish our organizational goals during the summer months. With a little planning, some creativity and some strategically placed incentives, this could be your summer of great results.

Read the full article here.

Thanksgiving is here and as the harvest season comes to an end, the season of gratitude is just beginning. While we gather with friends and family to gorge on turkey, watch endless football games and oooh and ahh over pumpkin pie, we can’t help but reflect on those two little words that define this time of year – thank you.

While we celebrate Thanksgiving just one day a year, most of us do more than our share of thanking the other 364 days of the year too. So what is it about these two little words in our culture? From a young age, we’re told that the minute somebody does something nice for us, we have to follow it up with a “thank you.” We send “thank you” cards when we receive wedding or baby gifts. We thank people when they serve us coffee. We even send a “thank you” note to an employer – even when we don’t get the job.

While we may express gratitude because it’s polite, we also engage in this exchange because it provides something we all need – recognition. If we did wonderful things for each other all day long and no one ever said anything, would we continue doing all these wonderful things? Probably not.

When it comes to recognizing each other, either in the home or the office, it’s really all about rewarding people in a way that is meaningful to them. When a child gives his mom a homemade drawing and the mother immediately recognizes the gesture with a “thank you” and a hug, you better believe that child is going back to the drawing board immediately.

The same theory applies in business. If an employee exceeds their goals and their boss recognizes the employee with a reward like a gift card customized with a message about their achievement, it dramatically increases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.

But when it comes to thanking each other, we don’t always rely on just the words. With personal relationships, we often say, “thank you” with a card, flowers, gift even a hug or kiss. But when it comes to thanking people in the office, the rules are quite different.

Looking to strike when the iron is hot, HR professionals are always looking for new and effective ways to thank employees who are doing a good job. When it comes to keeping motivation up, it’s the more memorable “thank you’s” that are the most effective. Cash and gifts are nice gestures, but often lack any kind of connection with the recipient. Gift Cards, on the other hand give the recipient the chance to actually reward themselves with something they really want. Who wouldn’t like that?

So as we give thanks for turkey, stuffing and our health this year, it’s also a great time to reflect on other people in our lives that deserve recognition. Whether it’s the overworked assistant, underappreciated accountant or loyal customer who just seems to be there no matter what, a perfectly timed “thank you” could go a long way. In fact, it just might be the best way to keep these people around for another Thanksgiving.

Personalization is all about strengthening relationships by creating unique product offerings or experiences for each and every customer. Nowadays, when you buy a book or movie online, not only does the website address you by name, but often they recommend other books or movies you may like based on previous purchases. It’s this type of exchange that shows a consumer that as a company, you know them, understand them and want them to ultimately find exactly what they want and need.

So how can you apply this same approach to the world of corporate rewards and incentives? While it’s impossible for you to get out there and hand pick a personal gift for every member of a team of 500, you can still reward them in a way that is just as meaningful. Cash bonuses are always appreciated, but a gift card that is well timed with the right message attached to it can certainly get the team motivated too. In fact recognizing the actual work that was done can often be more valuable to the employee than the actual value of the gift.

Hbc Gift Cards has really taken the concept of personalization to new levels. With each gift card, you can add your own imagery and personal message, which really allows the recipient to feel like the card is meant just for him or her. And the best part is that recipients can then redeem the card for something they really want – something they will have an emotional connection to for years to come.

So what about things like electronics, travel vouchers and cold hard cash? Are these traditional favourites still good incentives options too? Well they can be. But what Hbc Gift Cards really allow you to do is offer more than a reward, it lets you offer an experience. And it’s an experience that you get to be part of too. From choosing different graphics for different departments to tailoring the message in just the right way, you have total control and flexibility over your own rewards and incentives program.

While rewards and incentives options are changing everyday, so too are the perceptions regarding gift cards. Gone are the days when they were considered impersonal gestures.  Today, these tiny tools pack a huge punch when it comes to personalization and results. You can give them to customers, employees and anyone else who helps you build your business. And when recipients get to redeem their gift card for that sweater, camera or CD they’ve had their eye on, it’s as if you went out and personally picked it for them.

Read the full article here.

The Hudson’s Bay Company’s story is a rich tapestry spanning 339 years.  What started as a trading post has evolved into a 21st century retailer with a loyal following from coast-to-coast. Its major retail channels – the Bay, Zellers and Home Outfitters – together provide more than two-thirds of the retail needs of Canadians. With 1,000,000 products and over 400 stores across Canada, the Hudson’s Bay Company continues to dress, decorate, reward and incent Canadians during the spring, summer, fall, and yes Winter too.

When it comes to buying something for the home, most Canadians head to an Hbc family store location. But Hbc has a lot to offer Canadian businesses too: Same convenience, great service, and same great feeling of satisfaction knowing you’re promoting a true Canadian experience.  Hbc Gift Cards are really one of the simplest, most effective tools when it comes to building an effective rewards and incentives program, regardless of the size of your business.

So why not just reward recipients with a wad of cash this winter, you ask? Well you can, but there’s a certain emotional experience that recipients just can’t get from cash. It’s important to offer people tangible rewards that they can imagine themselves enjoying. With Hbc Gift Cards, they actually have an experience they then connect to. An emotional toast during the holidays is now associated with your company simply because the wine glasses were a redemption item. Or a child’s first bike ride without training wheels was a byproduct of an Hbc Gift Card. This psychological aspect of rewards and incentives programs can be just as important as the actual rewards themselves. And with its history and popularity among Canadians, Hbc has the potential to create more meaningful stories for hundreds of thousands of Canadians.

So this winter, lace up the skates, watch a little CBC, and don’t forget to warm up the office with Hbc gift cards. It’s really “aboot” being a good Canadian.

When it comes to productivity, one of the biggest challenges facing businesses during this time of the year is how to maintain a healthy workforce. While you can’t avoid every bug out there, you can certainly promote prevention. Here are a few wellness tips to keep the office full of healthy, happy, and yes, productive people.

Talk about it

It sounds simple, but just talking about health and wellness will encourage people to make it a priority. Maybe it’s a quick morning meeting to discuss tips or an email for people to read during their break.

Walk it off
Work related stress can quickly lead to other health problems. Encourage employees to take a brisk walk at lunch or mid afternoon. This simple activity burns calories, provides fresh air and reduces stress.

Roll with it
Bad posture can lead to chronic pain and reduced productivity. A good alternative to traditional office chairs is exercise balls, which force your body to use and correct postural muscles, abdominals, gluteals and leg muscles.

Home Sweet Home
With a tough cold and flu season ahead of us, it’s more important than ever to encourage people who are feeling slightly under the weather to work from home. With email, conference calling, and instant messaging capabilities, it will feel like they never left the office.

Make it official
It’s nice to talk about wellness, but the only way to see a difference is to implement a health program. Create a tiered plan, where basic participation will earn employees a $25 Hbc Gift Card, moderate involvement will earn them a $75 gift card and a wellness champion will earn a $100 gift card.

When it comes to making eco friendly decisions at home, we all know exactly what to do. But are we doing everything we can for the planet from 9 to 5?

Here are some tips on how to make the office a little greener.  Incorporate a few of them and you just might see an increase in productivity too – and that’s always a good thing.

There are many ways to reduce your corporate footprint. And while you don’t have to be an eco super hero, changing a few things can really make a difference. One way to save energy is to simply make sure all computers and lights are shut off at the end of the day. It’s an easy way to save energy and yes, money too.

Another way to do your part is to encourage people to drive less. With instant messaging, video conferencing and email, a lot of work can be done from home. And fewer people in the office will mean fewer cars on the road. Try offering perks or incentives to staff who use city transit, carpool or drive hybrids to work every day. Free lunches or a bonus at the end of the year just might do the trick.

If you’re serious about going green, then it’s time to go digital. Get used to reviewing documents online more often and archive files electronically instead of in filing cabinets. And when you do need to print something, print double sided and look for paper that is recycled with a high percentage of post-consumer content and the minimum of chlorine bleaching. Consumers, clients and suppliers like to work with people who are making sustainability a priority so you can feel good about going green without compromising relationships.

Try giving the office a bit of a green makeover too. Buy pencils made from recycled material and refillable pens. There are great biodegradable soaps and recycled paper towels for the bathroom and kitchen too. And when it comes to office furniture, companies like Herman-Miller and Steelcase design incredible chairs from recycled materials. And why not leave the lights off and let the natural daylight light the office. It’s free and all the Vitamin D will keep people smiling. If you do require artificial light, buy LED bulbs that use very little energy.

And while there’s a lot that can be done during office hours, lunchtime is a great opportunity to reduce our footprint. The most eco-friendly lunch option is to bring lunch in a reusable container. If you are ordering in, place a group order and use your own reusable utensils and plates to cut down on packaging.

As a company committed to sustainability, Hbc continues to do its part for the planet. Each year we review our environmental programs to see where we can make changes. We’ve accomplished some impressive tasks like increasing recycling to 90%, reducing water consumption, introducing one of the most ecologically friendly retail stores in Canada, putting more biodiesel fuel trucks on the road and being the first office tower in Canada to be certified by Zero Waste. Our Eco Gift Cards are another great example of changes we’re making that will help protect the planet.

Whether you’re starting a green business, reducing your paper trail or walking to work every day, we can all work towards a greener office. And if you’re working somewhere that could use an eco overhaul, you can always start by forwarding everyone this newsletter.