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Professional News Articles : : ON PRACTICE MANAGEMENT by Janyce Hamilton : Holiday cheer traditions: Little things count

Holiday cheer traditions: Little things count

December 01, 2006

According to Crain's Chicago Business, half of small businesses in Chicagoland report hosting a holiday party for their employees each year.

Where do you fall—on the full of holiday cheer side or the cheer half empty side?

Dentists from all over Chicagoland share their holiday traditions below. Reading them will make you realize that it's not necessary to fly your staff and their families to Bermuda for a weekend in December. Every year for the holidays few dental offices give each staff member a double paycheck. This doesn't mean dentists are stingy either. While dental benefit plan reimbursement rates stay the same year after year, dental school debt and employee health insurance goes up. Meanwhile, in 2005, 300 million Americans—including dentists like you—gave $260 billion to charity, which is $867 a person.

Read on and learn how often the little things are all that are needed to make life sweet.

Holiday traditions

“It has been our office tradition to have holiday decorations in the office at this time of year. As a team we have a holiday party/night out to enjoy each others company as well as significant others.”

—Dr. Donald Bennett, Chicago

“At Landman Dental, Dr. Paul and his daughter Dr. Carole traditionally take the staff for a holiday dining celebration, close the office between Christmas and New Year and present the staff with bonus money and small gifts of appreciation. If the holiday is during the week the staff usually is off the day before.”

—Staff of Dr. Paul Landman and Dr. Carole Landman, Chicago

“We normally go out to lunch and than come back to the office for an exchange of gifts. We do a grab bag. I usually give them a card with some cash with a personal message different to each one of them that is positive. We play holiday music and sing off key. We than share a hug and go home early.”

—Dr. Bob Deaver, Chicago

“We do several things at the office over the holidays besides a “holiday bonus.” Yes, we do that, too, according to individual performance, character and work ethic.

The employees pick decorations and we fund them. We like a festive atmosphere in the office during the holidays, also holiday music for patients that request it.

We sponsor a holiday dinner at a different restaurant every year for the employees and their significant others—this year at Morton's Steakhouse. Everyone comes formally dressed. We take an office family picture, which then turns into our holiday card that we send to our patients. Everyone loves it when patients come in and talk about it, except when they keep the cards from previous years to remind us we are getting older. 

Last but not least, every year, the employees pick a family in our community who needs help and we give them a special gift, usually monetary. Sometimes the family might be one of our own employees who has gone through great hardship during the year due to illness or personal problems. As for paying for food/lunch, pizza etc. . . we do it throughout the year. Every day is a holiday! Treat people as you would like to be treated and every day can be a good day, well almost every day. Have a great holiday.

—Dr. Milt Geivelis, Bartlett

Our office tradition is to try and do something different every year. There always is a lunch or dinner squeezed in there on the day of our Christmas event, but the outing usually varies. In the past we have seen performances such as Blue Man Group, The Rockettes, Mama Mia and The Lion King.

Last year we spent four hours in traffic during an early December snowstorm attempting to get to the Oriental Theater to see Wicked only to find out that the theater was one of three locations in all of downtown Chicago without power. Fortunately the restaurant we were supposed to have dinner at was still open, so we went there until the streets were plowed. (We eventually saw the show in February).

One year we took a limo from our office in Bloomingdale to Navy Pier for dinner. We then rode down Michigan Avenue to see all of the lights and decorations. Another time we went downtown during the day and everyone was given an envelope with cash in it which needed to be spent that day on either themselves or a family member.

This year we are celebrating the holidays in January with a dinner and a visit to a downtown comedy club. We're doing that because we took a mid-November trip to Las Vegas for some fun (and a seminar).

Many of our outings have been a surprise. The staff is just told the date, what time to meet at the office, the attire and the approximate return time. They really seem to enjoy the guessing game.

We also decorate our own Christmas stockings and display them around the front desk. Every other year or so a new batch of stockings show up at the office to the unified groan of the staff. They know the rules. The stocking has to be decorated in the office, using glitter glue paste and done freehand. It really lends itself to a lot of laughs as the creative juices get flowing.

One year, Dr. Matustik and I purchased five new paintings for the office. We secretly wrapped them in Christmas wrapping paper and hung them on the wall. The staff had to wait until our last day of work before Christmas before unwrapping the gifts. It was funny listening to their reply to a patient's question of what was under the wrapping paper because they had no idea.

A monetary gift is given as well as our Christmastime outing. I firmly believe that as much as the money is appreciated the staff really appreciates and enjoys doing the other events more. They are a time to celebrate friendships, develop further mutual respect for one another and to experience things they might not have the opportunity to do individually.

—Dr. Dominic Colletti, Bloomingdale

Conclusion

Next time some one starts bending your ear about the supposed “war on Christmas,” tell them to “fuhgeddaboutit!”

• Light the lights and sing the “Dreidel Song.”
• Decorate a bush with wildlife treats for the critters.
• Gather your friends for a Winter Solstice bonfire.
• Hail, all of it.
• Have yourself a merry little Winter Festival.
• May today be a “snow day,” and all your patients cancel and the staff stay home. Don't even think about doing paperwork at home.
• Build a snowperson with your dog.

Janyce Hamilton is a Chicagoland freelance dental writer and editor. Send suggestions for topics to be covered, or any comments on this column, to review@cds.org.

Copyright 2006, Chicago Dental Society