A colleague of mine joined a company that gave out free snacks and sodas in the afternoon and always had fresh fruit in the meeting rooms.  When he asked, “why do they do that?”  The answer was “because we value our employees”. A year later, the company’s growth figures were lower than expected and margins became under pressure.  One day the snacks and sodas were replaced by payable vending machines and the fruit was moved into the reception (for visitors only).  My colleague was forced to ask himself, “just how much did my employer value me really?” The problem was not the giving, or the taking away of the snacks, sodas and fruit. It was the explanation for doing it in the first place.  “We value our employees” must have sounded great at the time but anyone could have seen that it couldn’t last forever, and then what? An alternative original reason could have been “we had a good year last year, so we decided to say an additional ‘thank you’ in a small but tax efficient way”. What actions are you going to take this year to show your staff just how much you appreciate them? Have a good week, Harley