🎅 Budget-Friendly Office Gifts, Benefits Survey, Global Gender Gap - Dec 12, 2025

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On today’s agenda:

🎅 Budget-friendly office gifts

⚡ The $20B talent engine

👩‍💼 Global gender pay gap 

💵 Minimum wage hike

THE HR SPOTLIGHT

🎅 Holiday Cheer Without the Budget Burn: Office‑Friendly, Thrifty Treats

The holidays are here, and thoughtful gifting can make employees feel appreciated — without blowing the HR budget. Smart, creative choices can boost morale, strengthen culture, and keep remote and in‑office teams feeling connected.

👀 The snapshot - Year‑end is here, and everyone loves feeling appreciated — ReadySetGift’s survey shows nearly all employees (93.9％) say company gifts make them feel more valued. Thoughtful gifts can boost job satisfaction, connection to team culture, and even retention, with many employees reporting positivity that lasts months.

But let’s be real: not every HR budget can spring for luxury hampers or high‑end experiences, and remote teams bring extra challenges in logistics and equity. So the question becomes — how can HR make gifting feel meaningful without stressing the budget?

🎅 Easy, practical picks for HR

In‑Office Treats:
• Desk essentials that feel useful — mugs, planners, water bottles, or fun stationery.
• Group goodies like snack baskets or holiday breakroom surprises.
• Team‑wide bonus (think lunch on the house or a small experience voucher).

Remote & Hybrid Picks:
• Curated e‑gift cards or options that let each person choose what they want.
• Virtual experiences (online wellness classes, coffee tasting vouchers).
• Home office upgrades — tech accessories that make work more comfy. 

Pro Tip: Pair every gift with a quick handwritten (even digital) note — personalization goes a long way and supports impact without adding cost.

✅ 15 Practical Holiday Gift Ideas for Employees »

TOGETHER WITH RIPPLING

The Experts Powering Kraft Heinz's 20B Talent Engine

The world’s most iconic brands don’t scale by accident.

In this Built to Scale session, where HR leaders share the behind the scenes that fuels their enterprises, Andrea Rickey reveals how she’s modernizing talent strategy across a 19,000-employee workforce and turning HR into a true business driver.

We’ll go deep into what high-leverage HR looks like and what people teams of all sizes can take from it.

You’ll learn how her team is reshaping high-volume hiring through AI and skills-based recruiting, building leadership pipelines, and aligning people decisions directly to business impact — all inside one of the world’s most recognizable companies.

Join us for a candid conversation on the future of talent, organizational design, and what high-leverage HR looks like at scale.

Save your spot

🗽 Union Win for Federal Workers — AP News

• What’s unfolding: The House passed a bill restoring collective bargaining rights for 600,000 federal workers.

• Why it matters: HR should monitor potential impacts on compensation and labor relations, updating union engagement strategies as needed.

• What’s unfolding: Texas added more jobs than any state, reaching nearly 16 million workers with unemployment below the national rate.

• Why it matters: HR pros should adjust recruitment and retention strategies in tight local labor markets to attract key talent.

• What’s unfolding: Women work more hours globally but earn significantly less, with little progress on workplace equality.

• Why it matters: HR leaders should strengthen pay equity, career development, and flexible work policies to support women’s advancement.

WEEKLY GOODY

COMPLIANCE CORNER

• What’s unfolding:  Minimum wage rates are rising in about 19 states and dozens of cities on January 1, 2026, with many reaching or exceeding $15/hour. 

• HR implications: HR leaders should prepare for wage restructuring, payroll updates, and budgeting impacts, and communicate changes to employees well ahead of the effective date to ensure compliance and morale.

• What’s unfolding: Increased immigration enforcement is shrinking the child care workforce and forcing many parents — especially mothers — to leave jobs due to unstable care availability.

• HR implications: HR should recognize childcare barriers as a retention risk, consider flexible work options and support programs, and monitor how labor shortages outside the company can affect attendance and career progression.

• What’s unfolding: Philadelphia is expanding its Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards, further restricting how employers can ask about and use criminal history in hiring, effective January 6, 2026.

• HR implications: HR teams with Philly employees must revise screening and hiring policies now to comply and avoid discrimination claims, update job postings and training on the new process before the new year.

BREAKROOM

QUICK POLL

📬 Missed Wednesday’s issue on ‘Pay Transparency Without TMI’? Read it »