Introduction
Corporate gifting is one of the most effective ways to improve your business strategy at various levels. While there are many B2B and client facing positives when it comes to sending gifts, this blog will focus on the benefits of purchasing gifts for employees.
In today’s business world, it is more important than ever to show appreciation to your employees. This is especially true with the growing trend towards remote work. According to research, 16% of companies worldwide were fully remote in 2022. With more companies opting to allow employees to work from home, it has become even more challenging to maintain a positive work culture and keep employees engaged. A gift is a personal touch that is incomparable to a paycheck or feedback on an assignment. It tells the recipient that you not only care, but that their time and effort does not go unnoticed.
Read on to explore the benefits of sending gifts to employees, the best time to send gifts, the best types of employee gifts, and how Giftsenda can help with that process.
>>Remote Work And Its Challenges
>>The Benefits Of Sending Gifts To Employees
>>The Best Times To Send Gifts To Your Employees
>>Things To Keep In Mind When Sending Employee Gifts
>>What Types Of Gifts Can You Send To Employees?
>>Giftsenda Helps You Send Gifts To Employees Worldwide
Remote Work And Its Challenges
Before looking at the benefits of corporate gifting, it is important to first discuss one of the reasons it is so necessary in the current business climate. This is because many employees are opting to work in a remote setting rather than in the office. While remote work can be more cost efficient and allow some to be more productive, this is not always true for the majority of the workforce. The main challenge here is the lack of connection between employees and their co-workers, as well as with their superiors. There is a large number of remote employees who say they don’t feel recognized for their work and a lack of rewarding positive performance. It is not a surprise that this challenge would exist in this setting. If the entire staff is in the office, work is being completed in front of everyone, making it more likely that your peers will be able to appreciate the effort being put forth.
The Benefits Of Sending Gifts To Employees
There is no better way to show your appreciation and reward your employees than through a gift. The main benefits of employee gifting include improved employee morale, increased job satisfaction, and boosted employee engagement levels.
Increased Morale
Boosting morale at work is extremely important for a well functioning organization. When people enjoy going to work, it gives whatever profession they are in more meaning. According to Forbes, employees with a positive work life see a 21% increase in productivity. Morale can be directly related to employee gifts, especially when the gift is personal to the specific employee. The personal gift will signal to the employee that you not only appreciated their time and effort, but that it wasn’t something that you did passively. What defines a personal gift is very subjective, it is truly about learning your employees passions. Say a member of your staff enjoys playing cards, then you can get them something like a Casino Set, filled with poker chips, cards, and other things to take their card games to another level. Getting a gift that truly means something to them and that they will actually use makes the gesture that much more memorable. This positive impact on the employee will allow them to have an overall positive attitude during their work day.
Increased Job Satisfaction
This boost in morale can also frequently lead to an overall increase in job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is very important in any business in terms of output quality, as well as employee retention. The more satisfied they feel working at your firm, the more likely they will be willing to stay long term. Several reports from employees indicate that receiving a gift from an executive, manager, or directors can be extremely memorable for them.
Increased Engagement
Finally, there is a strong correlation between getting gifts for employees and increases in employee engagement. According to a survey conducted by Benefits Pro, 70% of the respondents said that receiving a gift around the holidays from their company made them increase their effort at work. When they receive gifts, it lets them know that the organization they are working for actually cares about them. This can create trust between employees and their employers, creating an overall positive relationship. This sense of trust can lead to improved performance from the staff since they would feel that everyone is working towards the same goal, which is success for the organization.
The Best Times To Send Gifts To Your Employees
Personal Celebrations
There are plenty of great times to send gifts to your employees. First, employers should update their calendars with all the personal celebrations for their staff. This includes birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and if they want to go above and beyond, they can also be aware of important dates for their employees’ children. They should also account for peoples important dates related to the organization. This includes all the major anniversaries that an employee can have with a company on a yearly basis. Attention to this detail is a good show of appreciation for your employees as well as an acknowledgement of their loyalty to your firm.
National and Religious Holidays
The next best time for employee gifts is all national and religious holidays throughout the year. This is especially prominent around December when people of all religions are celebrating. This time of year is great for sending company-wide gifts since everyone will have a reason to celebrate and be able to share in the joy of receiving a gift. If you’re looking to send something on a non-religious day, why not send something on National Secretary Day or National Employee Appreciation day? You can find more ideas like this here.
Company Milestones & Appreciation
If the organization as a whole reaches a great milestone, it is important to recognize all the individuals that made that event possible. It is also a nice gesture to recognize employees during a busy time at the office. If certain employees are clearly putting in the extra effort and hours, a gift could help take the stress off their shoulders and show them that it isn’t going unnoticed.
These types of employee gifts help show management’s attention to detail and reinforces all of the other benefits of employee gifting previously mentioned. It is also worth noting that this type of employee gifting has increased in recent years. According to PR Newswire, 66% of corporate gift giving in 2022 was done for employee milestones. Companies are starting to realize the importance of keeping their employees happy.
Things To Keep In Mind When Sending Employee Gifts
While we have discussed all of the reasons businesses should implement a system of gifting their employees, this next section will discuss the important factors to keep in mind when doing so.
First, when looking at employee gifting at the macro-level, it is important that these gifts are perceived positively rather than negatively by all. Jealousy can be a real evil in a workplace, and improper gifting processes can create this in your office. Imagine your boss decides to reward you and a coworker for great work on a project. They buy you a G-Shock watch, while your coworker receives a Rolex. While they both tell the time, they are not the same watch. Soon you will begin pulling your hair out wondering why their gift was better than yours.
If members of your staff feel as though others are receiving better gifts in exchange for similar performance, they will feel unrecognized. That is not to say that employees should always receive the same gifts all the time. Personalized gifts are part of what makes them special. The key here is to differentiate based off of people’s preferences while making sure gifts are all similar in value. However, when buying gifts for a large number of employees, sometimes unity is better.
It is important to set a standard for the different times mentioned in the last section. For holidays and anniversaries, it is important to make sure everyone is getting gifts of the same value. For more specific work accomplishments, the value of these can vary based on the effort and contribution. This is much less problematic since they are for a much smaller group and more closely related to job performance.
Another important aspect to keep in mind with gifts for employees is to make sure that you stay realistic with your company’s limitations in terms of budget and ethics. Giving gifts to your employees can make managers just as happy as those receiving the gifts. While you may have the urge to go above and beyond for your employees, it is important to stay realistic and not get over zealous. If the goal is to use gift sending to benefit your business, it is important to not go beyond what the company’s finances are capable of providing.
What Types Of Gifts Can You Send To Employees?
The possibilities of gifts to send your employees are endless and specific to your firm. Almost any surprise gesture from management or HR can go a long way in terms of benefiting their employees and company as a whole. At the lower level, just a handwritten letter for holidays and anniversaries is a solid acknowledgment of care. While not very high in monetary value, it is a nice gesture to let employees know they are appreciated.
One very popular gift right now is digital gift cards. According to the National Retail Federation, gift cards have been the most popular wish list item for the last 16 years, with over half of their respondents having this type of gift at the top of their list. This genre of gift is great because they allow the employees to choose their own gift depending on how they spend the gift card. These can buy meals, gadgets, clothing, and nearly anything else. They also help take the pressure off finding the perfect gift since it offers them a choice.
Another popular gift is gift baskets. These are done best when personalized to the specific employee. They should be personalized based on your employees interests. If you know one person has a sweet tooth, then a basket filled with chocolates and candies will do the trick. Many in the business world enjoy relaxing with an alcoholic beverage after a long day of work. Perhaps you could send them a basket filled with all the ingredients necessary to make an old fashioned cocktail. There are endless possibilities when it comes to gift baskets, it is just important to make sure you put some thought into it.
Giftsenda Helps You Send Gifts To Employees Worldwide
Giftsenda is an international corporate gifting platform that provides ultimate access to a wide variety of specially curated gifts in more than 200 countries. The gifting platform allows you to fully automate your gifting process and includes CRM integrations with HubSpot and Salesforce.
The gift catalog features a wide variety of gifts, including gift baskets, alcohol, wellness items, accessories, SWAG, eGifts, tech gifts and so much more. These high quality gifts can be sent to homes or offices. Giftsenda has partnered with local vendors across the globe to ensure that these gifts are also available at an affordable price and that you don’t have to worry about expensive customs fees.
One of the best gifts you can give someone is the gift of choice. Through Giftsenda you can send a recipient a gift link allowing them to choose their own gift. In addition, the digital delivery method also allows recipients to provide their own delivery details, allowing for a smooth and seamless process.
Ready to find out more? Book a demo with one of our Gift Campaign Experts to see the platform in action or request a project quote for a one-time gift campaign. If you aren’t looking to purchase recurring gifts for your employees, check out the Giftsenda shop which features plenty of incredible gifts that can be sent worldwide.
Conclusion
There is so much more to business than a good product and money to finance it. You need a strong group of individuals to help make that product or service successful. In order to accomplish this you need to create a culture that incentivizes success and retention. You want to make your company a place that employees want to work at. They need to feel appreciated and recognized for their hard work. The best way to let your employees know that their effort doesn’t go unnoticed is through a gift. After all, who does not like receiving a gift?
