When You Can't Give Your Employees a Holiday Bonus

Many entrepreneurs and small business owners are running on fumes, and giving year-end bonuses just might not be an option. The good news is that you can keep employees even in tight years. Here's how:  

Give them your time. Many entrepreneurs are surprised to hear that their employees feel neglected. The entrepreneurial personality is naturally high-energy, and running a business requires having so many balls in the air at a time that frequently personal relationships fall to the side as other crises emerge.

When considering what to give your employees this holiday season, I recommend you meet 1:1 with as many employees as possible and provide heartfelt thanks and recognition for hard work through the year. Be honest - if you can't provide a bonus this year, let them know that you are working to increase profitability so that you can do so next year.

Then, and this is the critical point, tell them how they can help improve profitability. Give them a specific task that they can do on a regular basis that will contribute to bottom line growth.

Finally, commit to a monthly 15-minute meeting to check in on the task and keep the employee in the loop on business health.

This isn't as simple as giving your employee a bonus, but it will have a much bigger impact on the health of your business and the happiness of your employees.

Virginia Ginsburg is founder and chief consultant at Swell Strategies. She is passionate about supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and running successful enterprises. An avid reader, in this blog she reviews books and articles and relates specific learning points back to entrepreneurial businesses.