October

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

  1. Hold breast cancer awareness classes for your employees. Give pink ribbons to everyone who participates in the classes.  You may also want to consider giving eligible employees (eligibility determined by what your insurance coverage specifies) time off this week to get a mammography.
  2. Encourage employees to sign up a team for a local American Cancer Society Relay for Life event, or a breast cancer walk.

National Chili Month

  1. Have a Chili Cook-Off Competition. If you have kitchen facilities, consider putting people on teams and having each team prepare a pot of chili with the ingredients supplied.  If you do not have kitchen facilities, ask employees to bring in a pot of their homemade chili to share.  After employees have tasted everyone’s chili, set a bowl out in front of each pot.  Give each employee two uncooked chili beans.  Ask them to drop one bean into two different bowls, to signify which two chili recipes they liked best.  The bowl with the most beans in it determines the winner.  Award a red-hot prize to the winner(s).
  2. Feature a Chili Beans Mixer at the Chili Cook-Off Competition, or as a stand-alone event. Give every employee a small bag with 10 uncooked chili beans in it.  Every time they can get another employee to answer “yes” or “no” to one of their questions, they collect a chili bean from that employee.  At the end of the mixer event, the person with the most chili beans wins a prize.

Build Your Business with Business Cards Week

  1. Fill orders for new business cards today. Insure that everyone in the company has business cards, even the interns!  When people feel that you care enough about them to give them business cards – no matter what their job title – they feel ownership and take pride in the company.
  2. The next time your business organizes a networking function, conduct a business card mixer with the guests. Make a list of categories of business cards that people need to collect.  Categories on the list could include finding a business card from someone who has:
  • The same logo color on their card as yours.
  • The same first and last initials as you.
  • A picture of themselves on their business card.

Once someone has collected all of the categories on the list, enter their name in a grand prize drawing.  This is a nice way for people to meet and get business cards from one another without having them feel awkward doing so!

National Boss Day

Take pictures of each employee. Place each picture on its own page in a scrapbook.  Have each employee write their favorite memory of their boss, what they like best about their boss, etc., on the page next to their picture.  Or, prepare a sheet with categories for each employee to fill in.  Categories could include: what they think the boss’ greatest strength is; the one word they would use to describe the boss; a color that describes the boss and why, etc.  Place the completed sheet in the scrapbook next to each employee’s photo in the scrapbook.  Present the scrapbook to the boss to make them feel truly appreciated.

Halloween – October 31st

  1. Have employees reach into a bag of trick or treat candy as they arrive to work. Do not allow them to see inside the bag.  If they choose a Payday bar, give them a small treat. Mark the Payday bars with your logo in some way so people do not catch on and bring in their own Payday bars!
  2. Supply a miniature pumpkin to every employee. Set up a station at work with pumpkin carving and decorating materials.  On Halloween, have everyone place their pumpkin on their desk.  Have judges walk around to vote for the funniest, scariest, best, etc. Award ribbons and a bag of trick-or-treat candy to the best.

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