Don’t be the office Grinch this holiday season. Share your appreciation of your staff with these workplace gifts that won’t break the bank.
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by Stephanie Sparks
Administrative Assistant
Since a busy workday entails endlessly talking with clients and co-zworkers by phone or in-person to make your company look good, your assistant could use a (throat-) soothing cup of tea. The Naked Leaf (www.thenakedleaf.ca) in Calgary offers a wide array of teas and tea ware, which includes designs by local artists. Teas start at $12 and selected tea ware at $25.
 | Accountant Skip the boring, old coffee mug and calculator combo this Christmas and give your favourite bean counter Not-A-Paper Cup, made of ceramic and shaped like a Styrofoam coffee cup. More importantly, it’s dishwasher safe. Find it online (www.organize.com/i-am-not-a-paper-cup.html) or at Urban Outfitters in West Edmonton Mall (US$16.99). A retro calculator watch (www.urbanoutfitters.com, US$69.99) is also available if your account exec has really crunched those numbers. |
 | Techie For your always helpful IT department, why not those always helpful USB flash drives? Honor Computer Systems (www.honorcomp.com) in Edmonton has Christmas tree, snowman and Santa Claus USBs from $7 to $20. Delroy Decor (www.delroydecor.com), a Calgary-based online gift seller, also has flexible hands-free flashlights for $17.95 for days spent crawling under desks and manoeuvring around computer cords. |
 | Sales Team It’s been a tough year for sales departments everywhere, so offer your team roadside assistance when they’re on the road with an auto emergency kit ($49.95) also from Delroy Decor. For their longer travels, be sure to include a gift card for their favourite restaurant or coffee shop. |
 | The Boss Give a goat. A $30 donation in your boss’s name through UEnd: Foundation (www.uend.org) can aid communities around the world. The Calgary-based UEnd (formerly ChristmasFuture) allows your boss to view the donation amount online and decide where it will go and what it will cover (water and food supplies, shelter and even livestock). Your boss doesn’t need another “World’s Best Boss” mug when he or she is helping end world poverty. |
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