Bringing up morale

Hi Pros, I hope everyone is well. I wanted to ask what you are thinking about doing this summer to bring up staff morale for their efforts this tax season and last. Any ideas would be welcome. Thank you.

Money, catered/ordered in lunch one day, money.
Post tax season bonus should probably be routine, makes people feel like they got something for all the effort and dedication.

Every employee's desires are different and you have to be really careful in what you do.

The firm I used to work for would do a weekend trip for the entire firm. While they thought it was a nice thing to do, it was problematic for a number of reasons. First, they would do it right after tax season, sometimes the weekend immediately following 4/15, which was ridiculously inconsiderate for the employees and their families. Second, the firm would schedule a lot of activities over that weekend and opting out of parts or all of it to do your own thing was heavily frowned upon. So, too bad if you were tired of dealing with your co-workers and would rather have a weekend to yourself or your family.

An example of where they were a bit more mindful of the staff: they would close the office on a Friday afternoon to do something else as a firm. If they went bowling they played The Price Is Right rules to determine the winner -- closest to 100 without going over was the winner. That way, those who were not skilled bowlers still had an opportunity to win, and it still made an interesting competition for those who were 120+ average bowlers.

The beatings will be less severe.

One firm I worked at in the past had wonderful partners. In the week or two following the deadline, if the day was slow and you had a good relationship with "your" partner, sometimes they would come by in the morning, ask how busy you were, and if you didn't have a lot of work they'd tell you to not come back after lunch and to bill the remainder of the day to admin time.

When that's unexpected, it's a great feeling.

The last place I worked the owner would invite staff and family to a summer picnic that was catered and had activities for adults and children. He wanted to invite and thank the family because without their support and consideration no accountant would be sane during tax season! My children were young at that time and they really enjoyed the event.

Here's what we do. We like to think it builds morale, but I have given up on trying to get into people's heads.

We will do an office happy hour intermittently on Friday afternoons (4pm-5pm) during tax season. We serve appetizers and have beverages available. It's a good time to unwind and talk crap about clients. Share some war stories.

We do give out bonuses at the end of tax season. We also pay 1.5x for OT during tax time. Not just the non-exempt employees. Everybody gets it.

We have added an unofficial holiday to the calendar. Usually the Friday after the deadline so everybody gets a 3-day weekend.

We used to do the post tax season go out to dinner thing. We dropped that years ago. As missingdonut said, above, we found that people didn't want to spend any more time with their work family.

Wiles, I'd work for you anytime!

We will do an office happy hour intermittently on Friday afternoons (4pm-5pm) during tax season. We serve appetizers and have beverages available. It's a good time to unwind and talk crap about clients. Share some war stories.

The building management company where my office was would not allow any alcoholic beverages to be served on their property. We used to go to a bar across the street for happy hours on Fridays.

Wiles, I'd work for you anytime!

You're hired. You do understand, though, you actually have to work to get paid. Right? It's part of this whole being an employee thing. I know it sucks and it seems awfully one-sided. But that's how these things works.

We used to do the post tax season go out to dinner thing. We dropped that years ago. As missingdonut said, above, we found that people didn't want to spend any more time with their work family.

I think it's completely fine to offer these sorts of activities, but the wrong way to offer them is where a person who opts out is negatively affected. The dinner would have been better received in my case if it was done well after tax season. If your staff is different now, that might be well-appreciated.

Another thought. At one time, a private company I worked for had a company picnic every year, but they changed it to happen only once every five years. It wasn't a money-saving move, as they just put five years of budget into one year to make it a great event. Once they moved it to every fifth year, the employees generally looked forward to it more and viewed it as much less of a chore.

You can't please every employee all the time. Some people will always have excuses why it does not suit them. When I was a low level employee I appreciated a $10 gift card to a local diner or Dunkin's and the fact that my boss recognized my work and showed his appreciation. I still have a $10 gift card to a now closed restaurant that I kept to show my kids that a good work ethic will generally get a good response from the employer. I am happy to say that my boys learned from that and now they get recognized by their employers for putting in a honest days work to the best of their ability.

Sometimes a pat in the back may be all that is required!

Sometimes a pat in the back may be all that is required!

Agreed!
I think some employers have the belief they need to make great overtures to recognize their employee's efforts. Relatively small, but regular and consistent recognition is far more effective. However, whatever you do has to be genuine. Big or small, disingenuous praise is counterproductive.

We give some Fridays off, coffee cards, summer BBQ(s), lunches in, more robust snack offerings (with staff direction). There's no single "silver bullet". You have to get to know your employee(s) and give them what is valuable to them.