On Friday I closed my office early for our annual employee appreciation dinner. This event started in 2006 when I was the only worker in the business. Each month following the quarter end I’d work even more hours than usual due to all of the required reporting on top of the regular work I’d do. There were some bookkeeping clients that only brought in the work every three months to be completed because the sales tax returns were due. I did the payroll processing, bookkeeping, sales tax reporting, and generated the payroll reports due by the end of the month. I’d go to work early in the morning when it was still dark, work about 15 hours, go home when it was dark, and not really see my family. It was a tough work schedule and I knew my husband and kids missed seeing me.
To celebrate that I had survived the quarterly reporting, my family and I would go out to dinner. once the deadline had passed. Nothing fancy, but a little nicer than the local fast food place. I’d let one of my kids pick each time. We’d enjoy the time we had together again, and I’d catch up with things going on that I hardly had time to hear while I was working so much. We looked forward to these outings, and it helped me make it through those long hours knowing I’d have a reward for all of my hard work.
In the fall of 2006 I hired my first part-time employee. At that time, I turned it into an employee appreciation event and set the date for May of each year. April 30th is the final day of quarterly reporting, and the end of the craziest time of the year for us. January is actually the worst month for us in terms of workload due to all of the reporting that has to be done by January 31 (1099s, sales and payroll tax returns). We get quite busy in February and March as well due to lots of work coming in for tax preparation (we don’t do the taxes but get all the work done so the CPAs have information easy to enter into the tax returns). We try to have clients send work on at least a monthly basis, but we ususally have new clients begin working with us with a year (or more) of bookkeeping to be done.
So once we have made it through the first four months of the year, I take my employees to dinner to thank them for all of their efforts. I couldn’t have the successful business I have today without them. I want my employees to know I truly appreciate all they do. This isn’t the only time I show how thankful I am, but it is the “official” appreciation day. We all enjoy being recognized for our hard work, and I’m glad I have this day set aside for them.
Candy
