All (We) Want for Christmas Is…

Christmas is approaching in 1944. As a teacher of second grade music for New York public schools, Donald Yetter Gardener asked

his budding musicians, “What do you want for Christmas?” Excited replies tumbled out; Gardener’s studied ears captured the lisp with which every student spoke. Upon further examination, Maestro Gardener realized almost all his pupils were missing at least ONE front tooth. The muse struck and in the same fashion that all memorable hit songs are written, (within a few minutes on some scrap of paper such a page from a Big Chief tablet…nah, I made up the Big Chief part, but the first part is often true) in thirty minutes, Gardener wrote “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.” There’s a whole other story about the song’s life, part of which is that even George Strait has recorded his take on it, which brings us to Christmas 2011. In the Third Millennium, “polls, surveys and studies” seem to have become an appliance to get a closer look into a sometimes dizzying pace of life. And with that in mind, Harris Interactive posed the question anew: “What do you really want for Christmas... from your employer?" 2500 working adults were asked to list FAVORITE holiday gifts they'd like to receieve  from employers. In no particular order, The List (that Santa can add to his check twice practice) includes: Holiday Party; Cash Bonus; Permission to work from home; More annual pay-(Yee-eh-yuuuh!); company stock; gift card; gym membership; more paid time off; health care subsidy. Then, the intrepid Harris Interactive inquisitors ranked The List in ORDER of preference: at the top…75% said Cash Bonus! (duh?) 62% said annual pay boost (another great choice); 32% more paid time off and 23% said GROCERY gift cards. (yeah, I know that's more than 100%, but it's Christmas; don't go all Scrooge-y!) The Company Christmas party came in at only 4% … even if it has an open bar. Yup. Seems “All I want for Christmas is my first two drinks”-just doesn’t have the same “hook” as say, “All I want for Christmas is a Bonus, Tax Free!” If you’ve a mind, you can cast your vote at http://tsminteractive.com/employees-want-bonuses-gift-cards-survey

The present vote and categories might surprise you.