Name Tag Wizard Blog - Ideas and Tips for Using Name Tags

March 24, 2020December 23, 2020

Maintaining Professionalism in the Age of Social Distancing

The COVID-19 outbreak has altered our lives dramatically in a short period of time. Although quarantine and initial fears over social distancing will end, the coronavirus has likely changed the way we interact with one another for a long time to come.
As businesses continue to operate remotely, or with limited hours, it’s important to maintain friendly, professional interactions. Businesses, especially restaurants that are focusing on to-go orders and curbside service, are maintaining professional and courteous social distance by:

- Allowing customers to remain in their vehicle for service or take-out products
- Actively enforcing social distancing between employees
- Actively maintaining friendly social distance between staff and customers or clients
- Requiring immunocompromised workers to wear special ID cards

Requiring visitors to wear visitor ID badges and keep a healthy distance from others

When schools and businesses are back to normal operation, new social distancing practices will likely be the new norm. Businesses can help prepare their buildings by:

Placing wash hands signs where customers and staff can see them
Making hand sanitizer readily available to staff and customers
Placing social distance courtesy signs and desk plates at reception counters, check-in desks and registers
Requiring all visitors to wear a temporary badge while on the premises
Requiring all staff to wear an ID badge with an enlarged font that can be read from 6 feet away

Although the coronavirus pandemic has altered our professional and social lives, it has positively impacted our lives at home, with our pets, and with our coworkers. Businesses are bringing their employees together and boosting morale in difficult times by:

Having staff share fun selfies
Hosting remote video chats and happy hours
Introducing family members and pets online

Name tags are a tradition in the workplace, and are effective in creating connections between people. These connections can still be made, despite social distancing. Here are a few tips for creating name tags that are effective in the age of social distancing:

- Keep name tags simple! Include name and job title in a larger font that can be read from a few feet away

Replace traditional name tags with ID cards, which are larger and have space for logos, names, and photos. Design your own IDs now!
Order bold color name tags or IDs. Use your company brand colors to make them stand out
Make sure the badges are worn closer to eye level
Order them with clips that can be attached to shirt pockets or collars
Pocket badges can also come in handy for this purpose

As we all work to flatten the curve of the spread of COVID-19, we can also do our part in creating healthy, happy relationships with our coworkers, family, neighbors and the public. Keep a 6-foot distance from others, but don’t be afraid to smile, make eye contact and say hello.

March 19, 2020June 22, 2020

When Telecommuting is a Must: Work From Home Tips for Success

As the novel coronavirus grips the United States, virtually every business has had to make significant work from home accommodations for millions of employees across the country, with little or no time to plan. While mandatory telecommuting may not be ideal for many companies, there are a multitude of ways that businesses and their team members can make the best of an unforeseen remote working situation, and enjoy a few work from home perks along the way.

Create a Routine That Works for You

Whether you’re an early bird who enjoys watching the day wake up, or you’re a night owl who enjoys working well into the evening, creating a workday routine that works for you will ensure you get the job done while keeping your home life happy and your work-life balance in check.

Create Your Office Space

Especially if working from home became necessary because of COVID-19 work from home mandates, you may not be prepared – or have the room – to designate a formal office space. A small desk, a dining room table, or a kitchen nook – anywhere that you can make your own and keep consistent – will work well.

Finding a spot in a well-lit room, or a room with lots of natural light, will help to create a light, bright work area. Be sure you have the essentials: a comfortable chair, a strong internet connection, a mouse for your laptop (game changer!), and a printer stocked with paper and ink if printing documents is a regular part of your work day.

Make your ad-hoc office space your own! Add a small vase of fresh flowers, your favorite scented candle, a few favorite photos, or anything that sparks a bit of joy throughout your busy work day.

To present a more formal setting when video conferencing with external clients or customers, visibly displaying your name plate in your video chat window is an easy way to set a professional tone while you’re working from home.

When your work day is over, tuck all of your office ‘supplies’ away and out of sight till the next day.

Set Regular Work Hours

What’s most important when working from home is to achieve your responsibilities, which will help to keep your company running smoothly and working toward its objectives. It’s less about clocking in and out, and more about ensuring that you are able to commit to accomplishing quality work in a timely manner.

It is equally as important to completely log off at the end of your work day, resisting the urge to log back in after dinner, or on evenings or weekends. Just as you put in the time expected of you during the work day, keeping work and home life separate are key to your quality of life.

Be Comfortable

While some people feel best ‘dressed for success’ whether they commute to the office or are working from home, others prefer comfy tees and yoga pants during a busy at-home work day. Work however you’re most comfortable, the more comfortable you are, the more productive you’ll be!

Keep in mind, when video conferencing with other team members, clients, or customers, be sure that what you’ve chosen to wear for the day presents the same appearance as if you were working at the office, perhaps even adding your name tag to complete your look.

Set Rules with Others Sharing Your Space

If you’re not alone during the work hours you’ve set, and must share limited space with family members, roommates, or others, set rules that will respect your privacy while you’re ‘at the office’. One easy way to avoid shared quarters distractions is to put those noise canceling headphones or super-charged ear buds to good use!

Communicate with Colleagues

Many people enjoy the camaraderie of a bustling office. Not everyone prefers to work from home, and doing so may add an extra layer of stress or anxiety to the work day. Providing your virtual teams with as much valuable information as possible will lessen the worry caused by this unexpected disruption.

Additionally, make it a priority to check in often and ‘attend’ your regularly scheduled meetings. Technology offers many easy video conferencing ways to join meetings from virtually anywhere, and continuing meetings as planned will help to keep workflows moving along and keep everyone on the same page. There are many easy to use, free video chat platforms available via social media, including Skype and FaceTime.

Keep the Social in Social Distancing

While it may be easier to be productive without the chatter of coworkers buzzing in your ear, thoughtfully interacting with coworkers via phone calls, video conferencing, or online intranet chat platforms can alleviate feelings of loneliness and isolation and keeps the sense of teamwork thriving when social distancing is a must.

Get Up! Move Around!

Once you’re settled in and working from home, it’s easy to see how much you’re used to getting up and walking around at work, whether it’s down the hall to the conference room or covering several floors throughout the day collaborating with colleagues. It’s essential to get up and move around no matter where your new ‘office’ happens to be.

Several short breaks – of even five or ten minutes at a time – are essential to clear your mind and reset your concentration. Play a few rounds of fetch with your dog, grab the day’s mail, or take a walk around the neighborhood, enjoying a few minutes of fresh air and nature as often as you can.

At a minimum, take a few minutes several times an hour to get up, stretch, close your eyes, and breathe deeply. Opening your windows for some fresh air is also a wonderful way to bring a bit of the outside in.

Take Advantage of Your Perks

While working from home offers its own set of challenges, including transitioning to a single-screen laptop, slower home internet connections, and a laggy virtual private network, there are many work from home perks to be enjoyed.

You’re not commuting! If your commute was only 30 minutes each way, you’ve just gained five extra hours per week, giving you plenty of bonus time to do the little things that inevitably pile up, or simply spend more time living your best life.

Consider the extra savings. Not only will you save the additional gasoline or mass transit costs when working from home, you can enjoy making workday meals and snacks from the comfort of your kitchen, which is a cost that adds up when eating out for lunch even a few days a week.

Speaking of saving money, be your own barista and set up a coffee shop in your kitchen. In just minutes, your favorite latte will be brewed and ready to enjoy!

Enjoy moments that you wouldn’t necessarily have at the office. Listen to your music or podcasts sans headphones, cuddle your kitty to relieve stress (or to remove her from your keyboard!), and enjoy a few minutes of extra sleep instead of sitting in morning traffic.

Stay Healthy!

During stressful times, and especially being so close to a kitchen and pantry full of tempting treats, it’s easy to go for the salty, sweet snacks too often! Instead, focus on healthful fruits, nuts, and nutritious lunches, and then reward yourself with your favorite treat as a bonus at the end of the day.

For Managers

As mangers that are faced with heading up an unplanned virtual workforce, effective communication and a positive tone from the top are key to encouraging productivity and reducing stress for remote workers.

Sharing the message that the company expects challenges and knows they will pass, and that you’re all in this together, will help calm anxieties and create a feeling of camaraderie among team members during times of uncertainty.

Be sure to stress the importance of work-life balance when your team members are working from home. If employees feel that they have to overcompensate because they do not commute to the office every day, they risk becoming worn out and resenting what could and should be a positive remote working situation.

Let Happy Hour Begin!

If happy hour is a trend you wish could continue amid coronavirus social distancing and self-quarantines, why not give a virtual happy hour a go? One of Bloomberg’s Hong Kong employees says that, after several weeks of working from home, a manager set up a video chat for 20 team members. With drinks in hand, conversations were enjoyed, including family updates, casual conversations, and even a pet or two made an appearance!

This recently unimaginable coronavirus outbreak has sparked a mandatory telecommuting trial run for thousands of businesses and employees across the country and around the world, creating a work from home labor force on a grand scale. While there are obvious work from home perks, including no commutes and a more relaxed remote working home office space, heightened anxieties and uncertainties about what the future holds abound.

Remembering that we’re all in this together will go a long way in keeping the circle of collaboration flowing and our successes rising, at work, at home, and everywhere in between.

February 20, 2020February 23, 2021

Top 10 Employee Appreciation Day Gift Ideas

Updated: 2/23/21

What is Employee Appreciation Day?

Employee Appreciation Day began as a day to show appreciation to employees everywhere and to strengthen relationships between employers and employees. The first Friday in March marks this unofficial annual holiday, celebrated this year on March 5^th.

Not only are recognition and appreciation key for motivating employees, showing your sincere, genuine appreciation for valued personnel goes a long way in maintaining employee job satisfaction. We’ve compiled our favorite 10 ways to show employees how much they’re appreciated. There’s something for everyone!

Put Pen to Paper! Write Employee Thank You Notes

Pen a genuine, sincere, handwritten thank you note for each of your employees expressing your thanks for their dedication and a job well done all year long! A personally penned thank you is more meaningful than a standard email destined for a future in cyberspace!

Personalize Gifts for Your Employees

Give personalized gifts to your employees they’re sure to appreciate. From engraved desk plates to personalized pens, tumblers, and more, they will enjoy putting your thoughtfully chosen gifts to good use!

Enjoy a Team Outing Digital Get Togethers

Prior to the current state of the world, taking your team out for lunch or a team-building event was a great way to show your appreciation. But, now it’s ill-advised.

So, until things return to some semblance of normal, consider digital get togethers.

Maybe set aside a time for your team to a screen-shared movie night. Send digital greeting cards to brighten their day. Or, if you have the means, get everyone together for a digital board game session.

Arrange a Volunteer Day

Giving back to your local community (or creating packages to be shared around the world) is a winner for volunteers and recipients alike. You will not only fulfill an essential need, your team will enjoy strengthening social bonds with one another along the way!

Plan an Extraordinary Treat

Whether it’s a special delivery of warm, freshly baked cookies from a local bake shop or hiring your team’s favorite food truck for a made-to-order lunch, your employees will appreciate you as much as you appreciate them!

Thank Your Staff by Bringing in Temporary Assistance

Share a few temporary workers between employees and departments for a few days or even a week. Catching up on the piles of busywork that have been pushed aside will have employees humming a happy tune all week long!

Enjoy the Local Lunch Scene

Explore your local cuisine by assigning each person on your team a restaurant to visit and write a review about afterward. And of course, have the company pick up the tab!

Order curbside to enjoy a socially distanced lunch.

Elevate Your Employee Break Room and Coffee Stations

Offer complimentary fruit or snacks and upgrade your coffee post with ceramic mugs and spoons, a selection of hot teas, and a variety of creamers, syrups, and coffee toppings. Don’t forget to include weekly Friday treats to start the weekend on a sweet note!

Create an Employee Recognition Campaign

Design a platform where employees can enjoy cheers from their peers! Whether it’s an intranet platform where employees can give a personal shout out to a colleague for a job well done, or actual certificates that are awarded, meaningful gestures of recognition are sure to be appreciated.

Start a Holiday Weekend Early

Surprise employees the morning before a long weekend and call it a day a little early. Whether it’s just before lunch or a little later, this is one surprise everyone will love!

Make employee appreciation an everyday event!

Simple gestures like being polite, saying hello, or flashing a smile to whomever crosses your path are effortless ways to show employees individual respect and appreciation all year long!

January 30, 2020December 2, 2020

Easy Ways to Improve Workplace Security (5 Tips for 2020)

Improving Workplace Security Tips from Name Tag Wizard, Server Room with Text

Table of Contents
1. Control Access
2. Provide Identification
3. Train Your Staff
4. Workplace Culture
5. Secure Documents

How secure are your premises? Do you trust your employees with sensitive information? What measures can you take to improve workplace security? Why is security important in the workplace?

If you own a growing or successful business, maintaining a secure workplace is integral to your continued operations. A security breach could lead to safety concerns or even cost your business thousands of dollars. Businesses are often targeted by thieves and hackers attempting to access customer, financial, and other records. Increasing or tightening your business’s security is imperative for ensuring you avoid costly mistakes.

Here are five easy tips you can follow to prevent a security breach in your workplace.

Reduce Access to Your Building(s)
Provide Employee Identification
Train Your Staff
Foster a Workplace Culture
Secure Sensitive Documents

#1: Reduce Access to Your Building(s)

Minimize access and mark areas to prevent unauthorized entry. If you allow guests to visit your workplace, make sure they are clear on where they are and are not allowed to go.

The more people who have access to your building and its contents, the harder it is to maintain security.

Many office spaces handle sensitive information. Whether it’s financial documentation or customer information, you need to ensure that only authorized personnel have access. Post signs or electronic security access points for server or filing rooms.

Your office most likely has guests from time to time. Whether they’re investors, interviewees or customers, people who are not employees may visit your workplace. You need to watch after visitors and ensure they don’t enter off-limit areas. Have a member of your administration, or other upper level staff member, stay with guests. This is an easy method of keeping private areas secure.

But, maintaining tight access isn’t limited to guests.

Your employees should also recognize and follow restricted area policies. Not every member of your staff needs access to every room. This is especially so if you own a larger company; the more employees, the more difficult it is to track them.

How can you prevent unauthorized employee access?

Limit employee access by marking restricted rooms. You can give keys to authorized workers to ensure only they have access to rooms or safes. If your business can afford it, you can install electronic scanners tied to specific QR code badges. Another electronic method of limiting access is providing programmable keypads with alpha-numerical codes to designated staff members.

Ensuring access to your building and certain areas is a huge element of reducing the chances of a security breach.

#2: Provide Identification

Name tags and badges are excellent for identifying authorized personnel and guests.

Supply your staff with photo ID badges for quick and easy confirmation. You can design badges to your specifications making them harder to copy. Ensure your staff then follow all policies on keeping their ID on their person while on premises.

If you have an electronic access system, you can increase security with ID badges. This leads back to restricting access on your property, but you can find or make badges with bar or QR codes for your system. Combining an employee photo with a unique code makes it harder for thieves to copy the design, which prevents unauthorized entry to sensitive information.

Clip-on or lanyard badges are pretty standard for many businesses from retail to hospitals. Magnetic or pin back name tags are common too.

If you allow visitors, provide them with guest passes or badges. While it is still a best practice to have an administrative member accompany guests, providing visitor passes gives other employees peace of mind. It also ensures easy identification of unwelcome guests or trespassers.

Sometimes it’s not reasonable for a member of staff to follow guests. Visitor badges make it easier for employees to identify authorized guests with a quick glance.

Identification badges allow easy tracking of authorized personnel and have a wide variety of uses. No matter your sector or business, your workplace will benefit if you provide clear and easy-to-read badges or name tags.

#3:Train Your Staff

Training feels obvious, but it is integral to your security. You must educate your employees on proper security measures and policies.

Where and how do you file customer information? Does your location have restricted areas? What is proper procedure for a security breach?

If your staff isn’t trained, then how can they follow security procedures?

They can’t.

Training encourages a safe and secure environment.

You should ensure your training programs address every aspect of an employee’s duties. This doesn’t mean they need to know how to do everything. If they handle customer records, they need to understand how to maintain discretion. If they deal with finances, they need to know when and how to file their documents.

Ensure your programs are comprehensive. If an employee hesitates or doubts how to follow a security procedure, risk of breach is high.

Training also gives administrative staff a chance to further vet employees.

If an employee breaks procedure multiple times, you should provide further education, or potentially terminate the employee. This is especially so for sensitive documents. Anyone who handles, transports, files, or fills customer or classified company information must understand and follow proper procedures.

Your training regimen could include online courses, in-person presentations, on-the-job and hands-on experience. Find the best ways of presenting your information.

Investing time and money into educating and training your staff ensures your security measures don’t fail.

#4: Foster a Positive Workplace Culture

All the training in the world won’t help if your employees don’t care about your company.

If your staff wants to do their best for the business, your security measures benefit. In contrast, if they don’t enjoy their work or feel underappreciated, mistakes happen and they are likely to ignore policies.

Every business benefits from building a better workplace culture. Employees are more motivated and will want to encourage or enforce security policies. If they enjoy working for you, they’ll want to do everything they can to follow proper procedures.

Unhappy employees don’t care about your business. They don’t care to follow policies. They don’t care to fulfill the full extent of their work duties. And, they don’t care about the security of the business as a whole.

Remedy this by acknowledging recurring complaints and other reasons for the lack of motivation.

Part of this is encouraging personal growth and appreciating their work. Your employees are people, so they need to know the importance of their job.

If everyone in your company enjoys at least some aspect of their work, your security will improve. Happy and motivated employees want what’s best for your business. They perform better and follow established security guidelines and policies to ensure safe operation of the company.

You can build your company’s culture through team activities, company lunches, or by acknowledging the work of your employees.

There are many ways to improve workplace positivity and culture. Find and explore the best options that fit your business and staff.

#5: Secure Sensitive Documents

It seems obvious to secure important documents, but it should be addressed. Store sensitive documents in secure areas!

If you handle customer information of any kind, keep it classified. Privacy breaches can cost your business thousands if not millions of dollars in damages paid to individuals. Limiting access to this kind of information is integral for increasing security.

Only allow certain staff members access to these documents. Give them physical keys, bar code badges, or key codes, whatever your business has the budget for and access to. Storing documents in locked filing cabinets in a locked room is an easy, low-tech way of securing information.

The same goes for your company records.

Employee information, financial records, and other documents need to be treated with the same care. Store them separate from each other to avoid confusion and potential filing errors.

Digital files are a bit trickier with the constant improvement of technology.

Ensure your servers are secure and encrypt all files. Limit access to programs and server rooms to proper staff. Digital information is easy to copy onto a flash drive, unlike physical records. Implementing as many security measures as possible lessens the chances of a breach.

An accidental or deliberate entry to your stored files could mean a potential and costly security incident.

Disposal of sensitive records needs consideration. Shredding physical files is one of the most popular methods. It’s fast and easy, and if you run a smaller business, you likely don’t have hundred or thousands of documents to dispose of. To further ensure secure disposal, completely black-out private information, on the front and back, with a security marker.

If your business handles thousands of invoices or customer records, find a local shredding company. Many of them can either pick up your documents or can leave a locked box for you to deposit physical records for them to retrieve and dispose of monthly.

Save 20% with Code NTW20, Woman Wearing a Photo ID Badge

Name Tag Wizard is your one-stop-shop of custom identification products for businesses. Increase your company’s security with customized name tags and badges to keep track of authorized staff and guests.

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January 16, 2020June 22, 2020

Wood Name Tags – An Ecofriendly Choice for Your Business

From neighborhood businesses lining Main Streets in small town America to international corporations spanning the globe, companies are reshaping their images to be seen as sustainably focused and ecofriendly in the eyes of their valued customers. Known as green marketing, these efforts are made to earn the trust, respect, and business of increasingly environmentally savvy consumers.

Going green is arguably the best practice competitive businesses can implement today.

Show Sustainability Matters to your Business

There are countless ways for businesses to demonstrate their commitment to caring for the planet, beginning with that first face-to-face interaction with potential customers or clients. Employees who greet guests wearing wood name tags make an ecofriendly impression with every handshake.

Additionally, wood name tags offer an exceptionally professional look, are laser engraved from a variety of wood types, and can include images or logos to compliment just about any business.

Wooden name tags are especially nice for complimenting uniforms for outdoor and sporting goods stores, garden nurseries, parks, campgrounds, and other outdoor recreation areas, coffee shops, health food stores, and more!

Wood – A Natural Choice

A renewable natural resource, wood is plentiful, durable, eye-catching, and economical. Additionally, wood grows cleanly, gathering its energy naturally from the sun.

Wood is a sustainable, ecofriendly material that requires minimal processing and emits some of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution rates for harvesting and milling. By choosing this renewable resource, harmful carbon is kept from the atmosphere, helping to lessen the effects of climate change.

In addition to wood being a naturally renewable resource, this ‘green’ choice is good business that also offers benefits to neighborhoods and communities across the country. The production of wood creates zero waste because it grows from, and returns to, nature. The entire tree can be used for economic and environmental purposes, including bark as mulch for landscaping.

Additional Benefits of Wearing Name Tags

In addition to displaying a professional appearance, name tags play a role in branding your business, encourage interaction between employees and customers, and provide an added level of security by identifying employees authorized to represent your business.

Whether you’re a local small business or an international corporation, name tags offer unique benefits from that initial greeting through completed transactions, and more. Designing thoughtful name tags for your business is a small investment in time and resources that has the potential to grow your relationships, and your bottom line, for years to come!

December 26, 2019December 21, 2020

2020 Desk Makeover: Tips for Refreshing Your Work Space

Take on 2020 with new energy by giving your desk a makeover.

The hustle and bustle of vacation time often leaves employees feeling tired and disoriented. Getting back in gear requires a bit more than overcoming the Monday blues. However, returning to the office after holiday fun doesn’t have to be a drag. When you are trying to get momentum to really tackle the new year, start by adapting the space you work in. Put intentionality into refreshing the environment where you get things done.

Here are some cleansing tasks to revive your surroundings. As you organize the atmosphere around you, you can re-align yourself and find the motivation to take on the challenges that January brings.

Eliminate Visual Obstacles: It might sound abstract to try to identify what constitutes a desk obstacle, but this is part of the process. Begin by throwing out trash: napkins, old paperwork, and sticky notes you no longer need. Then find clutter, those items that are distracting and taking up valuable desk real estate. Keeping office supplies in a box in a drawer underneath your desk is often a much more efficient use of space.

Retire 2019’s Tchotchkes: Last year’s mementos may still have a place in your heart, but that doesn’t mean these should still be a part of your workspace. It’s also easy to max out on the number of pop figures that “decorate” your space. The new year is a good time to phase out desk accessories that have gathered dust. Do a little purging and throw some away. Take treasured items home to bring out another season, when they are ready for their revival.

Compulsory Calendar Purchase: Schedule your life effectively with a new calendar. Whether you’re into wall calendars, bullet journals, or weekly calendar tear off pads, make sure you have a current calendar to welcome the new year. Get inspired every new month as you see images of your favorite things, from puppies and miniature pink pigs, to nature scenes, beach escapes and motivational quotes.

Give Your Coffee a New Home: You know that lipstick stained mug that you got two birthdays ago? It’s time to take that home (or throw it out). Take your morning ritual of fresh hot coffee or tea to new heights by bringing in a different daily use mug. Feeling the texture of a different cup handle in your hand, you will start feel like a new 2020 you.

Mark of Ownership: Own the area in which you get things done by making sure your desk is marked with your name or initial. Get a personalized desk plate, painted sign or decorative letter with your first initial. Putting your one-of-a-kind signature out there shows that this is where you belong, what you are responsible for, and who you are. Adding your name to your space helps communicate to your coworkers that you take ownership for your role in the organization.

Invite in Good Vibes: Feng shiu your belongings so you can navigate your space with ease. Part of the way to bring life in is by re-arranging how your desk is set up. Designating an area for your purse, phone and keys will give you room to breathe. Get a Zen garden or salt lamp to welcome soothing vibes all day long.

Cohabitate with Nature: Make a living thing a desk accessory by bringing a little plant to work with you. Find a vase or pot that has subtle colors and blends peacefully with your desk theme. From bamboo, ivy, spider plants and cacti, there are many types of greenery that can bring harmony to your desk. If you haven’t already gotten on board with the succulent trend, now is certainly a good time to start.

Swip-Swap Your Pictures: Do you have old photos on your desk? Once the swip-swap is done, make your space not look so dated and representative of memories that have gone stale. While that picture of your dog is cute, your 8-year old canine is no longer a pup. That vacation to New York was 2 years ago. You’ve had another kid since that family picture was taken. Do you remember the names of those old golfing buddies? Take the time to print updated photos that represent where you are now in your life. For the classic photo that you still love, you can refresh the look by swapping out that old frame for a new one.

Introduce Order to Your Desktop: Over time the number of desktop icons on your screen can mount into a cluttered chaos of Apps, file names and unorganized folder frenzy. As part of your cleansing ritual, put your digital world in order too. Delete old documents, create folders for your main projects, and finish off this task by adding a new desktop background that matches the theme of your re-energized space.

Unleash Coworker Karma: Create harmony in your office by bringing joy into the lives of your coworkers. Celebrate the pod of people around you by sharing a positive message. You can contribute to your work culture by giving small holiday gifts to your deskmates. Consider bringing in donuts or baked goods. Get succulents for your neighbors. Make custom name tags with nicknames, motivational phrases, or company values for everyone on your team. Even a brand new ballpoint pen can be a simple way to boost the morale of your team.

December 12, 2019December 2, 2021

Corporate & Coworker Holiday Gifts – Do’s and Don’ts

Jump to Your Section
Holiday Gift Exchanges
When to Give Corporate Gifts
Corporate Holiday Do’s & Don’ts
Last Minute Gifts

Updated: 11/30/2021

Selecting a gift for everyone on your shopping list is no easy task. As you tackle your weekend errands you will find thousands of last minute shoppers out to find the perfect holiday gift. You may encounter these lines of shoppers with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. You may feel eager to join in the Christmas spirit, December revelry and holiday enthusiasm. But as the 25^th creeps closer, the frantic pressure to have everything ready in time will build.

For many professionals, holiday shopping lists include people from work. In addition to close friends and family, there are a few more recipients on the list. This means finding gifts for clients, coworkers and bosses is now on your fun-filled and nearly endless list of holiday to-do’s.

Choosing corporate gifts can be a less of a hassle when you are sure your gifts are appropriate, your items are customized for recipients, you have a few ideas to start, and when all of your shopping can be completed without ever leaving your home.

Holiday Gift Exchanges

Participating in holiday gift exchanges is an investment in the relationships that you put 40 hours a week into. As long as you follow company guidelines for gift giving, and use discretion with how much you spend and what you purchase, you are contributing to a better workplace environment for yourself and coworkers.

Your list can include team members, office administrators, clients, coworkers, bosses and even the person that sits in the desk next to you. Consider buying gifts for people who work on the same project, such as those assigned to the same team or department. While gifts are not necessary for everyone in the office, put some thought into who you are shopping for and why.

Here are some of the benefits of buying appropriate corporate gifts:

Shows your respect for colleagues
Shows appreciation for work well done
Builds interpersonal office dynamics
Celebrates recent promotions or outstanding performance
Contributes to the company culture
Recognizes an individual’s role in the organization

When to Give Corporate Gifts

Buying an extra nice gift for a brand new boss or coworker can potentially be a bit awkward. Make sure to put more time and focus into longer and more established work relationships.

The type of item you get will convey a specific message. For instance, a beautiful marble desk plate with your boss’s name and job title may demonstrate your appreciation for time that they have mentored you. Gifts can be used to say thank you, celebrate achievements, recognize hard work, and show your appreciation for what your colleagues bring to the table. A simple note, holiday card or tasty dessert can be another way to politely participate in holiday cheer.

Choosing a similar gift for all members on your team can be a safe way to avoid leaving anyone with feelings of exclusion. For example, bling badges for your entire customer service team can be an easy way to show everyone how they are a valued member of the organization.

Corporate Holiday Do’s and Dont’s

Corporate Holiday Gift Do’s

Include a personal note that expresses appreciation for commitment to their work.
Keep the tone of the gift and card professional.
Consider something trendy that will enhance their desk area, from a small succulent to a new name plate.
Bring humor into your gift if it is appropriate. For example, if you have an established rapport with your cube mate, you might want a funny mug or joke calendar.
Consider higher caliber gifts for C level employees or larger client accounts. For example, you can customize an Executive Kit to include all types of personalized desk accessories.
Celebrate known employee habits or hobbies, such as giving gifts to travelers. An engraved luggage tag or travelling pillow can bring ease to their many commutes.
Double check spelling on any personalized items and cards.

Corporate Holiday Gift Don’ts

Never buy clothing for coworkers. Accounting for both taste and size is too risky.
Avoid gifts such as music and books unless you are certain that your coworker has an interest in a certain topic.
Certain gifts are never appropriate. Avoid choosing items that are overly personal, suggestive, offensive, or will make anyone uncomfortable.
Even if alcohol is not explicitly prohibited in your office, it is still better to avoid drinks in a workplace environment.
Making a huge production of giving presents to certain coworkers and not others is in poor taste. Consider who will be around when you give gifts and how the display will be interpreted by present company.
Buy items that call attention to a coworker’s age.
Pay attention to office gifting policies, which address spending limits, expectations or rules. Some company structures do not allow for lower level employees to give gifts to bosses or anyone in a position that is above theirs in the company hierarchy.

Last Minute Gifts

If you are still stressed about what to purchase, keep in mind that you want to order before Christmas. Ordering online from an established company can help ensure that your gift will show up in time.

Remember, if you still are panicking about which item to get, consider practical, useful and professional gifts. Incorporate the color scheme of your workplace and choose something that will motivate or inspire others.

Let this Christmas be your chance to contribute to your company culture and lift the spirits of those around you.

November 28, 2019April 26, 2021

School Visitor Policies

Safe School Visitor Policies

Table of Contents
Code of Conduct
Check-In
Classroom Visits
Public Events
Unauthorized Visitors
Visiting Reasons
What is FERPA?

The safety of children should be the most important element of your school. To ensure a safe learning space, your facility should implement in-depth yet easy-to-follow visitor policies.

Enforcing your policies ensures a safe learning space for your students.

Each school or district will have different rules for visitors. However, there are some similarities that any school can put in place.

We’ve previously addressed designing name tags for school security and the benefits, detriments, and ethics behind tracking students with RFIDs. Please read these articles for additional information on improving your school’s security.

Code of Conduct for Visitors in School

Generally, your facility will have a code of conduct for visitors. These rules for school visitors should match your current safety policies. You should have basic policies that are easy to understand. Ensuring your code of conduct is straight forward and available means visitors can follow them without incident.

Some of these policies may include:

A member of school staff will accompany any visitor while they are on-campus (if available)
Visitors may not interrupt classes in session or coordinate with a teacher ahead of time to observe
Visitors may only enter and exit your facility through the main entry
Visitors must always wear a pass while on-campus
Visitors must check-in or register their attendance with front office administration
Visitors will be subject to security screening (if available)
Visitors must present a valid form of identification
Visitors will not take part in nor encourage any illegal activities

School Visitor Check-In

We recommend requiring visitors to register with your front office. This allows your administrative staff to track who is on-property and for what length of time. Registration should be standard for any educational institution to ensure a safe facility.

Information collected at check-in may include:

First and last name
Any classroom they are visiting
Date of visit
Check-in/out time

After signing-in with your facility’s front desk, you should provide a school visitor pass. Instruct guests to wear their pass at all times while on-campus. Visitor passes allow other members of staff to identify allowed guests. Administrative staff should then ensure that all passes are returned at the end of a guest’s visitation.

Classroom Visits

Parents may want to sit-in and observe an in-session class. Coordinate parents with associated teachers ahead of the parents’ visit to prevent disruption. Entering a class unannounced or without warning causes unwanted and unnecessary distractions. You should establish rules discouraging interaction from visitors. Unwanted interruptions disrupt regular class proceedings and hamper the class’s lessons.

Public Events & Organization Meetings

If your facility hosts public events, you will most likely not want to register every attendee. These could include parent-teacher organization meetings or open-house events. Requiring sign-in for every parent or visitor unnecessarily slows down processes.

Distributing numbered tickets, disposable wristbands unique to your school, or using skin-safe hand stamps are better alternatives if you feel you need the extra screening. Since many school events since COVID-19, including graduation ceremonies, are held in smaller groups or not at all, you can also improve morale with customized items like name tags, grad signs, ribbons and more!

If your school has the budget set aside, reusable name tags may be used. However, you will need to prepare for some of your badges to either be returned damaged or not returned at all.

Security staff should still enforce regular school safety procedures during public events.

Unauthorized Visitors

If someone ignores your code of conduct, you will need procedures to enforce your policies. Most schools encourage staff to report unauthorized individuals to the principal or other designated administrative staff.

If your school keeps security staff on-campus, you could instead direct concerns to them.

In the event that an unauthorized visitor refuses to follow your policies, you may need to contact local law enforcement.

Reasons for School Visitors

Your staff should understand why specific guests visit your facility. Parents may want to observe their child’s class or classes. Donors could want a tour to ease any hesitations in contributing to your facility.

Understanding the reasons visitors have helps you in showing the best and most relevant side of your school.

What is FERPA?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act allows parents to access educational information. It also allows some rights to disseminate personal information at their discretion. But, once a child turns 18, the rights transfer over to them from their parents. Find more information on FERPA at studentprivacy.ed.gov.

Name Tag Wizard is the best place to find badges and photo IDs for visitors to your school. From teacher name tags to reusable name tags, find templates and designs you need for your staff.

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November 12, 2019October 5, 2020

Five Tips to Prepare for Small Business Saturday

What is Small Business Saturday?

Started as a way to bring attention (and shoppers!) to the thousands of small businesses across America during the holiday shopping season, Small Business Saturday is celebrated each year on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. This year, on November 30, 2019 (Small Business Saturday’s 10^thanniversary!), small businesses everywhere will open their doors to shoppers looking for those extra special gifts this holiday season!

How Can I Prepare for Small Business Saturday?

Small Business Saturday is a wonderful opportunity to welcome new shoppers, inspire customer loyalty, and increase holiday sales! These are some of our favorite ways to create a winning Small Business Saturday strategy.

Host or Participate in a Small Business Saturday Event

Many local neighborhoods and small business organizations come together to plan creative Small Business Saturday events that add an extra bit of fun to this festive holiday shopping weekend. For example, Visit Jacksonville, the official travel website for this beach side city, offers a #SmallBizSat passport where shoppers earn stamps by visiting local small businesses that can be entered into a drawing for exciting holiday giveaways.

Include holiday treats for everyone! Offer hot chocolate and cookies to weary shoppers, and delight the little ones with surprise visits and photo opportunities – straight from the North Pole – from Santa Claus himself! Keep the festivities bustling by piping holiday music throughout the store or by featuring live performances by local Christmas carolers throughout the day or evening.

Advertise! Advertise! Advertise!

Advertising has never been easier – or more economical – with opportunities like the many social media platforms available to reach potential customers. Create festive posts and tweets to keep your followers informed about exclusive Small Business Saturday deals and events and how they can take part.

Like, love, and share other Small Business Saturday social media posts to spread the word to others. Be sure to include the holiday hash tags #SmallBusinessSaturday, #SmallBizSat, and #ShopSmall to connect with others in the small business community and beyond!

Emphasize Personal Interactions and Build Relationships

Small businesses have the valuable opportunity to offer personalized interaction with their customers, unlike large retail stores where finding employees is often challenging or via chatbot conversations when shopping online. Personal conversation is at the heart (and the start!) of creating meaningful, lasting relationships.

Welcome conversation by wearing an eye-catching name badge and greeting each guest that comes into your store. Rather than the usual ‘May I help you?’ offer a heartfelt ‘Season’s greetings!’ or ‘Welcome in!’ to start a festive conversation. Sincere, professional interaction with customers often leads to increased holiday sales and returning customers throughout the year.

Offer Valuable Sales and Deals

Valuable offers don’t have to mean deep discounts like the big box stores use to lure customers on Black Friday. Small businesses typically don’t have the sales volume to support such substantial markdowns, even for a short time. Small business patrons generally shop to support their local communities rather than dashing in just for that sought-after door buster.

Begin by aligning your holiday promotions with your store’s sales goals. Restaurateurs may consider offering special Small Business Saturday menus, including discounts on holiday-inspired meals. Retail shops could offer small denomination gift cards with purchases of a specific dollar amount that will inspire customers to return throughout the shopping season.

Show Your Appreciation

There are multitudes of ways to show your appreciation while building customer loyalty. Begin by offering a heartfelt thank you to every shopper who visits your store and send handwritten thank you notes to those customers who purchase from you all year.

Make shopping easier by extending your hours during the bustling holiday season, on the weekends or all week long. Set up a festive gift wrapping station and offer free gift wrapping for all in-store purchases. For an added bit of seasonal marketing, use gift wrap or seals printed with your shop’s name and logo, sure to signal to the gift recipient that something special is in store!

Show your support for local charities. In addition to promoting these charities from within your small business, make a donation in your customers’ honor as a special thank you for shopping with you.

October 24, 2019July 7, 2020

Let Your Badge Network for You – Conference Tips

When you are registering for a conference, trade show, or networking event, what type of information do you provide for the badge you will wear? Do you give just the basics of your name and company? Do you include your job role?

Pre-Conference Name Tag Checklist:

Badge Basics ✔

Social Profiles ✔

Twitter ✔

Relevant Work Experience ✔

LinkedIn ✔

Getting the Most Mileage from Name Tags ✔

Choosing what to share can be a crucial element in directing your career. Each event you attend is an opportunity to represent not only the business you work for, but your personal brand. Use the real estate on your conference name tag intentionally, putting your best foot forward by including links to relevant social profiles and job experience.

The information you put on your professional name badge can help you can expand your networking circle and continue the dialogue that begins during conference downtime when everyone is scrolling through their phones.

Badge Basics

When you are inputting your personal data for your name tag, start by making sure that the basic information is free of errors. A typo or misspelling can immediately change the tone of first impression conversations. You want to be able to introduce yourself with confidence, rather than an explanation about accidentally forgetting to capitalize your last name because you rushed through registration.

Check these personal data basics first:

Review spelling and capitalization
Make sure that job title and company information are up-to-date
Include a professional, recent photo
See if fonts are clear and easy to read. You may need to change size or fonts so that all information fits within the space allotted.

Social Profiles

For many jobs, including your social media handle can be a way of demonstrating your ability to develop brands, gain followers and have a voice in your industry. Use your best judgment to choose which platforms are appropriate for your personal brand.

Instagram can be an ideal place for sharing accomplishments related to the beauty or fashion industries. For many comics and influencers, it might be a priority to include your YouTube channel.

However, not every social media profile showcases your abilities well. For example, if you are attending a conference on laser safety technology, your Facebook profile is not likely the place where you display your knowledge of lasers.

The one exception that has relevance in most fields is a Twitter profile. If you don’t have one currently, you can create one to use during conferences.

Twitter

Twitter is a great place to contact conference speakers and set up events. Start tweeting prior to the event to show your interest in specific conference topics. With a twitter handle, you can be tagged for important discussions, announcements and post-conference events

Make sure to follow the conference hashtags and participate in questions presented to audiences during sessions. Asking the right questions can often get you noticed. Tweetchats that happen during the conference weekend can also be a place to chime in about hot topics in your industry.

A Twitter handle allows conference goers to communicate immediately with direct messages. This allows recruiters to contact you and gives you access to speakers without having to wait in line or clog their inbox. You may also catch the eye of colleagues who were unable to attend the conference but are participating from their desktop.

You never know where the catalyst for your next project will begin. It could be a direct message from the keynote giving you feedback on your website. It could be a potential job opportunity that arises after you answer questions from a tweet chat and display a new perspective and creative solution to a common problem in your field.

Relevant Work Experience

In some cases it’s important to display your company name, but in other cases you may want to focus on professional accomplishments and areas of expertise.

For example, a website that has case studies on your products might be a good addition for marketers. If you are a teacher, a website with your CV could be helpful. Including a special certification or degree could be the eye-catching detail that takes a brief moment of networking small talk and opens the dialogue for a job interview.

You can also skip the step of emailing your resume by including a link to your LinkedIn profile.

Sharing your LinkedIn profile allows you to introduce your own expertise and past experience. Recruiters can view your company’s LinkedIn page, which is especially helpful when you don’t work for a largely established company. A well-rounded profile will show your professional reputation and authority on a range of subject matters.

The simple link gives others a connection to your experience, references, the company you work for and your current network of professionals. You can even customize your Linkedin URL to make it more readable and easy to remember.

Getting the Most Mileage from Name Tags

Keep your conference badge on after attending sessions when heading to evening events. You may find opportunities to chat with other conference goers when exploring the city you are visiting, getting coffee near your hotel or grabbing dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Bring business cards with the same information and a similar design. Just like branding a business, you want to brand yourself and create familiarity by putting the same message on multiple formats.

The custom fields on name tags allow you to include information that helps you connect with recruiters and future business partners. By taking advantage of creating professional relationships with conference goers, you are investing in your future growth and perhaps even changing the direction of your career toward an exciting and uncharted path.