When the festive period rolls into town, an office environment can quickly and easily become awash with the spirit of Christmas. Be it the decorations, the famed office party or the smell of shop-bought mince pies, the yuletide celebrations are difficult to avoid, even when you’re at work. But one area that can be a bit of a festive taboo topic is Christmas cards. How much is too much to spend on a card for your co-workers? Should you go for a light-hearted comical card, or one that screams out the more traditional Christmas themes?
Here we explore what sort of card would be appropriate for the different co-workers and characters you are bound to come across in your workplace.
The company owner
This is the big one – getting the right card for the person who owns your company could either make or break your reputation. Forget about choosing something tacky or immature, you’ll need to aim for the crème de la crème of classical Christmas cards to truly make a statement. Go for a more traditional, festive image – robins, snowman, a scenic backdrop – and a heart-warming, but not too over-the-top message inside. For bonus points, add a personal touch by name dropping family members, both yours and theirs (if you know them)
Your work BFF
Spending near to 40 hours a week with your employees or co-workers means you are bound to create friendships and camaraderie with others in the office, so you can be a bit more relaxed about choosing a card for these characters. Going for something with a Christmas-related comical pun will always go down a treat, but if you’re really close to them, get together some card, coloured pens and glitter to create a festive card they’ll never forget – depending on how good, or how bad it is! You could even print out pictures relating to an in-joke that only the pair of you will get to add a more personal touch.
The co-worker you’ve never spoken to
Arguably the most awkward of them all – how do you choose a Christmas card for someone you don’t know? The only time you might interact with them is with a “hello” at the water cooler, but you can’t exactly send a card to everyone else in the office and completely miss them out; that’s just poor etiquette. Getting the best of both worlds is a must, so picking a design that says “Hey, I am approachable, come talk to me”, whilst in keeping with a yuletide theme would be most advisable. Choosing something either too traditional or too comical could leave you getting off on the wrong foot with this unchartered territory of a colleague.
Those working under your management
Although you may be in charge, you need come across as an approachable manager to your employees – so getting the personal/professional mix spot on is the key to this. You need something that will both thank your workers for their efforts over the year and wish them Merry Christmas. You’ll also want something which will motivate them to keep up their hard work for the following year. Choosing a card that is quite light-hearted would be the best option, but you’ll need to ensure that you pen a motivational message inside that Mr Motivator himself would be proud of.
Your office nemesis
The classic catch-22 situation – to send the one person in the office you don’t like a Christmas card just so you can take the moral high ground, or strike them off your list purely out of spite? The former is usually the better option, but make sure it is nothing too fancy or over the top as they will see straight through your attempts. The card just needs to have a bog standard, generic “Merry Christmas” message plastered on the front of it – the minimum of yuletide joy.
Ensuring you choose the right Christmas card for your co-workers is vitally important, as it will enable you to send a warm message on both a professional and personal level, whilst wishing your colleagues a happy holidays.
