The holidays are a special time of the year. As a kid, I always enjoyed the presents and food but as I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate just the time off to spend with those I cherish. As I normally do this time of year, I reflected back on the year its been and just how hard our employees have worked for us and for you, our clients. There are not enough succinct words to express how appreciative I am of what they do for Garland Group each week. They care so much about building great relationships and offering high quality of work - that's the REAL business that we're in….the 'Peace of mind' business.

Money or Time?

So, while in reflection, I decided I wanted to figure out a way to give back to the employees. In the past, we've done Christmas bonuses and the standard Christmas party but I wanted to do something a bit more for their efforts. So this year I've decided to give them the gift of time. There's nothing more valuable in my opinion so we are shutting down all Garland Group operations from Friday 12/23 until Tuesday 1/3. That means no emails, no phone calls, no trips to the office…..nothing. Go enjoy the time. This is outside of their standard vacation policy, of course, and I wanted them to use this time to be with their families because family is so important to me.

I'm also requesting that the staff put this vacation message up:

"If you have any major issues during this time, Brad Garland asked that you please send your requests directly to him at brad@thegarlandgroup.net and he'll respond ASAP otherwise I'll be back on January 3rd. Thanks and have a blessed holiday season!"

I was excited to share this with them and more excited to hear what they will be doing with their time off (even if it was nothing at all). We all need that from time to time, right? Again, thanks to all that work at the Garland Group and those of you that we work for, we appreciate you all, and wish you a great holiday season!