NCEO members have been telling us that they want a creative way to reinforce a sense of team work and community during the pandemic, and courtesy of two of our member companies, we have a suggestion. Hire an employee-owned company to send packages to all employee-owners at your company -- these packages can connect people, celebrate milestones, generate engagement, and create meaningful shared experiences in a new virtual world. Two NCEO member companies, Crêpes à Latte and American Solutions for Business, are standing by to help.
Crêpes à Latte is an ESOP-owned experiential hospitality company that, in normal times, helps build booth traffic at over 200 tradeshows a year. Needless to say, this is a tough time for them. But like all good ESOP companies, they are resilient and employee focused, and during COVID launched their new #BetterTogether Box Program, designed to be sent directly to people’s homes and containing treats, positive messages, and your logo. They can also include cards with their own background as an employee-owned company and a message from you, and they've already put together a box for an ESOP company. Their offerings include items from other ESOP companies (nothing is better for ice cream than a waffle cone from employee-owned Joy Cone!), and we are working with them to identify more great products from employee-owned companies.
For details, contact Hailey Rosenstein (marketing@crepes-a-latte.com).
American Solutions for Business, a 100% employee-owned company, notes that even though in-person meetings are on pause, one fact remains: “people love mail -- especially lumpy mail and fun packaging.” In addition to food and personalized greetings, they are also seeing companies send care packages to employee-owners with technology (from mouse pads to noise-cancelling headphones), safety items (like logo’d face coverings), and socks, beanies, and blankets – what they call “Comfy Work From Home” items.
For more information, contact American Solutions for Business (verticalmarkets@americanbus.com).
If your company offers gift packages or if you have an idea to share for employee appreciation and celebration, drop me a line (LRodgers@nceo.org). We’ll add more companies to this blog post if we get them.