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Concesssion Tip February 2018 

Staff Appreciation

By: Chris Lauber, University of North Dakota at R.E. Arena

Do you have a program in place for staff appreciation? If you do, that is fantastic and keep it up! If you don’t, put it on your to do list to figure out some way to show appreciation to your staff, it goes a long way. For 10 the years I spent at an account in Denver, CO;  I never had the chance to do a staff appreciation program, end of year party, or even just a holiday party.  When I got to Oregon in 2013, we did both holiday parties and end of season parties. Now I’m at Ralph Engelstad Arena at North Dakota University and we have a whole program for staff appreciation.

Here are some of the items we do for our staff:

  • Christmas Party for each department (required by management)
  • Twice a season, we feed all staff a catered dinner before the game. Usually simple like chili or pasta bake. (Staff does not get free meals or drinks during events, only half off pricing)
  • End of season Staff Appreciation Dinner and Awards night
  • Above and Beyond Program
  • If you get nominated, your name goes in a monthly drawing for gift cards.
  • At the end of the season, all names are put back in the drawing and we draw one name and they get tickets, hotel, and food for the NCHC Playoffs in Minneapolis, MN

This year for the Concessions Christmas Party I wanted to do something different from bowling or putt-putt golf, or dinner and a gift exchange. I teamed up with the Ticket Office and Custodian Department to put on a professional comedian show. I found a comedian nearby that has appeared on Comedy Central’s Last Comic Standing and has performed for hundreds of corporations and even a few prisons. The comments from staff were great. They never thought a Christmas Party would be so FUN!

Tip of QTR Feb 2018 2

 Tip of QTR Feb 2018 1

Now you may be thinking wow, you have an amazing budget for all this. The company here does value our employees and does set aside more than I’ve seen elsewhere to take care of our employees. However, we have also leaned on our sponsors and venders to help us out. The playoff tickets, hotel and food are supported by Coke. Our beer vender and Coke help out with end of year prizes. We sometimes get donated food from some venders for the meals. So think outside the box when figuring out how to do some things for your employees. You may only get do a simple backyard style grill out for your staff, but that is better than nothing at all.

Don’t forget, please share your ideas and events with the NACC and its members. You can post to the Facebook page or Twitter or write an article for the newsletter.