Office Supplies Are Not a Gift
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder warns against the 'dystopian pitfall' of giving teachers office supplies as teacher appreciation gifts.
Key Takeaways
- Supplies are a work expense, not a gift - Giving someone the tools they need to do their job isn't appreciation; it's a basic obligation
- This reveals deeper problems - If teachers are so supply-deprived that pens and paper feel like gifts, the system has failed them
- Appreciation should feel personal - A genuine thank-you note means more than a pack of sticky notes
Transcript
Office supplies are not gifts.
Post-it notes are not a gift for teachers.
Kleenex are not a gift for teachers.
And if you're a school leader who is new to being a principal or maybe new to your school, you might have seen other people posting pictures of of what they are getting for their staff or what they've put together for their staff.
And I've seen a number of examples of this, but I want to kind of caution you against imitating because they're in that range that's like so sad and small that it would be better not to bother.
And I don't want to be mean about this because I know you have a lot of people to think about.
You might have a large staff and you don't have infinite money to spend on stuff like this.
But if what you're going to put together for people is like a basket of basic supplies that they should have access to anyway, like you get one pad of post-it notes and one box of Kleenex and one flare pen, like everybody likes flare pens apparently, but it's dystopian feeling to get one.
one of them.
It's dystopian feeling to get one pad of post-it notes and not just have access to post-it notes in the office whenever you need them, because those are kind of a basic office supply.
So one thing you'll hear in my videos as kind of a consistent theme is this idea of treating people like professionals.
And whenever people have had something withheld from them, that should be just a basic expectation, like the ability to decide on their own clothing within a dress code.
and not need a pass or something like that or the ability to get copy paper whenever you need it or post-it notes whenever you need them to do your job like those things are missing and when we give them out as gifts rather than as just basic working conditions that's when people start to resent it that's when it feels dystopian so if you want to do something nice for your staff my recommendation is food or you know autonomy you know give people what they need Breakfast always seems to be appreciated.
People like lunch or the ability to go out to lunch.
But I would really encourage you to steer away from little gifts that really should just be basic office supplies.
Let me know what you think.