Cool "tech toy" as a reward - What?

[Craino]

Hello all,

Recently a portion of my staff spent a good amount of their weekend working on a couple of our servers. They did a great job under pressure and I'd like to show them that their work is appreciated.

I was thinking of giving them some sort of tech toy. My budget is probably around 150/person. They are both system/network admins. Any ideas as to what they might enjoy?

Thanks.

 

[KornGeek]

Fry's Gift Certificate is always good. Not as cool to give, but it allows them to choose what they want.

 

[Craino]

Sorry KornGeek, not familiar with Fry's. What is it?

 

[KornGeek]

I'm sorry, maybe it's a local place. Fry's Electronics is the geek's store of choice in the SF Bay Area. They carry all variety of things from electronics, computers, video games, books, TVs, dishwashers, doodads, widgets, watzits, hoohahs, and gizmos. They even have movies, music, magazines, snacks, etc. All this at reasonable prices. It's a tech guy's paradise. The only problem is that the customer service rivals that of a Turkish prison.

 

[Craino]

We're in Cleveland, Ohio. Do they have a website and/or electronic certificates?

Which opens up another question. I know there are lots of online certificate schemes. Any that appeal to the tech/geek crowd???

;-)

 

[chiph]

- Radio-controlled cars they can run around the office?
- Mini-fridges for under the desk?
- Universal remote control for the home theater system?
- Gift certificate from Dominos Pizza?
- Cold hard cash?
- On the same theme: American Eagle $5 gold coin (~$99, everyone likes gold!)

You might also take a look at

http://www.thinkgeek.com,

they have all kinds of cool toys.

Chip H.

 

[Speaker]

I think Frys is the equivalent of Best Buy, or Maybe Circuit City. Considering that I almost never get even a "thank you" for working long weeks and weekends, I'm sure your guys will appreciate a gift certificate.

 

[KornGeek]

Speaker,
Fry's is kind of a larger, more extensive (and techie-oriented) version of those stores, but you're on the right track. I also agree that a simple "Thank you" is rare these days, so they'll probably be happy with any show of appreciation.

Craino,
I applaud you for appreciating your employees. I hope they appreciate having a considerate manager as well.

 

[KingofSketch]

We had the same type of situation here, after a bit of think the bosses decided on getting a logitech pocket digital camera

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm?p...ID=4&CONTENTID=5038&countryid=19&languageid=1

They are the same size as a credit card, and have that James Bond gadget attraction to them Sketch
"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines"

 

[Craino]

Thanks for the great feedback everyone. I especially appreciate the welcome comments on how gestures like this are received. Having worked for the 2 worst managers in the world previously, now that I am a manager I vowed I would not be the same.

It's been a bigger struggle than I anticipated, and I would ask all of you to take some time to look beyond your manager's faults, that are so easy to identify, and give them some positive feedback once in a while. It wasn't so long ago that they were sitting in your chair...

 

[SamBones]

Several years ago I was lead techie on a real big project and it went quite well. I was working on loan to another group in another city that I had never worked with before. The manager that I was temporarily reporting to sent me a brand spankin' new Palm III as a token of appreciation! This is back when PDAs weren't very common and the Palm III had just come out (cutting edge at the time). I was blown away. I was stylin' big time! The only other person at my location with a PDA was a director! I was the envy of every other technogeek there. Needless to say, even after I was off that project, I would drop just about anything to help that other group when they needed something!

The things that made it great were that it was a totally cool gift, and it was totally unexpected and unneccessary. This kind of thing just wasn't done in my part of the company, so it had a lot of "splash value".

 

[cyclegeek]

Cash, cash, cash, cash.

As Homer Simpson once said, "As long as the money's money, everything's money, Money."

As long as noone could complain about their salary, a gift is a great idea. But the folk who aren't the happiest with their take-home tend to make an immediate mental equation of the gift with the money it took to buy it.

Cheers,
cyclegeek

 

[dwmatteson]

Sorry to join in late, but if you're looking for tech toys,

http://www.thinkgeek.com

is worth a look. They have gift certificates and I can't think of a geek who wouldn't be able to find something they liked there....

Regards,

Don

 

[Craino]

Don,

Thanks. Thinkgeek was mentioned earlier in the thread and it IS great. Lot's of fun stuff.

To close this thread out, I feel compelled to follow up on everyone's comments:

* I let my employees take three days off each for the time they put in over the weekend.
* While I haven't yet bought them anything, I am getting ready to purchase a couple little things from thinkgeek for them (lighted keyboard, and the password keychain thing).
* Was never able to find Fry's online.
* Pocket digital cameras were a great idea. Thinkgeek had some good ones.
* To SamBones - I had thought about buying them a PDA, in particular a new Dell Axim, just couldn't afford it this late in the budget.
* To cyclegeek - I hope you're wrong. My folks weren't clock-watching when they were working the entire weekend. They did it because they care about what they do and they're professionals. Likewise, I don't think they will compare price tags if I get them a small token of appreciation. Most technical professionals I talk to get so much out of just being appreciated, the dollars are really seconday if thought of at all.
* Our company has an appreciation award program that is handed out at our monthly company meetings (You get a sticker for your wall and a $25 egiftcertificate). My two employees were recently recognized for some other good work they did and based on the smiles on their faces after the meeting, I can guarantee that the amount of the certificate had nothing to do with the kick they got out of being recognized.

All in all, thanks for all the great feedback.

 

[Speaker]

Craino,

Can I come work for you?

If you don't have any positions available, will you adopt me?

It sounds like you (and your company) really see the importance of letting your staff know how much they are appreciated. Judging by what my friends tell me (and my own experiences) that is exceedingly rare these days, when IT is seen as nothing but a loss leader.

 

[dwmatteson]

>Blush<

Sorry folks. Guess the earlier thinkgeek posting slipped below my (admittedly weak) radar. As far as Frys being on line, I believe that they've merged with outpost.com.

For that, you can take a look at

http://www.outpost.com.

Hopefully that serves as penance for the thinkgeek post.

Don

 

[cyclegeek]

Craino,

I also hope I am wrong - but a point I made recently returns to mind, which is there is a difference between job satisfaction and workplace satisfaction.

It is possible for one to like their work but dislike their job. Personally, I love what I do, but I do not love who I do it for (nor do I feel much love). But anyone in this kind of situation would do well to disassociate the work from the job - that is, to try to focus on the good parts, to work in good faith, to work to one's full potential. If the workplace is untenable, then one should enter the job market, which is a good thing to do on a periodic basis anyways, if only for gauging market worth. In any case, no matter what I think of my employer or my superiors, I will continue to work conscientiously because of my personal work ethic let alone because that is what I agreed to do when I accepted the job. On my own time I will pursue other options for getting my workplace satisfaction to match my work/job satisfaction.

Acting like a professional doesn't mean liking your work environment, whether that's low pay or working on weekends. If you personally have a happy team (and no offense, but if it's your team then you're probably not qualified to determine their job satisfaction) but if you truly have a satisfied team then either their compensation is appropriate (meaning well above the industry average) or they are unusual opportunities to work on some really neat stuff.

Cheers,
cyclegeek

 

[Craino]

Cyclegeek,

Good comments, and right on the money. I absolutely agree with you that there is a dichotomy at play between satisfaction and professionalism, participation and committment.

I also agree that folks that are not satisfied, owe it to themselves and their employer, to at least start the process of shopping around. Too many folks (myself included) stick around in an environment they don't like and end up getting frustrated and angry, taking it out on others.

I think ultimately, it is a decision that all of us have to make for ourselves every day: Is this still working for me? Am I happy?

There will always be a divide between managers and their subordinates. But I think it is the responsibility of managers to at least try to keep in touch with their employees as to where their head is at. You make the point that I'm probably not qualified to determine their job satisfaction. I think that's fair. But that shouldn't be taken as an excuse for not addressing the issue, even directly with them. I also worked in an environment where I liked my job but hated my boss. However, if he had just sat down with me, honestly asked me where my head was at, and worked with me to resolve issues - I would have been a lot happier with him.

It's a two-way street and we both have responsibilities. I'm reminded of an old saying I adopted as a life credo:

&quot;Accept it, change it, or leave it.&quot;

 

[JAFrank]

As a side note, since Fry's is a West coast chain, a close equivalent in your area might be MicroCenter.

Having lived on both coasts, I can attest to the fact that they have both done an extraordinary job of separating me from my money while supplying me with cool gadgets....My wife doesn't like to see either name on a credit card receipt!

Allen

 

[KornGeek]

JAFrank,
My wife doesn't let me go to Fry's unsupervised. On one of my most recent trips, they took the bulk of my tax return. And that was with her there to keep me in check.