Since even a small change can have a large impact on the atmosphere at work, consider the value of giving thoughtful employee gifts when appropriate. This simple gesture is a real, effective, and authentic way to make your business a wonderful place to work. It will increase employee morale. It will enhance employee retention. And it will create a positive buzz within and outside your company.
Gift giving need not be an elaborate affair. You don’t, for instance, need to go on a massive shopping spree for Turkeys during Thanksgiving. Gift giving can often be simple to arrange. Services like Perfect Feast Corporate Gifts offer turkey, ham, and other holiday feast gift certificates.
Organize a Gifting Committee.
As a business leader, you don’t have to do everything on your own. You don’t have to brainstorm what gifts to give, nor do you have to decide when to give gifts. Additionally, this should not be yet another task you want to unload on your already overworked HR department.
A better way to approach this whole business of gift-giving decision-making is to organize a committee of staff members to decide what special awards to bestow top performers at corporate events and what gifts to give everyone during the big holidays like Christmas or New Year’s Eve.
3 Reasons Why Gift Giving Works.
Here are three primary reasons why employee gift giving works so well:
1. Show Appreciation. Your employees will feel appreciated and valued. You’re showing them that you notice the efforts that they’re making to build your company. People will feel recognized for the quality of effort they’re putting into their work.
2. Earn Goodwill. You will change disgruntled employee’s perspective of you as an employer. In every business, there are disengaged employees who feel that they are being treated unfairly and tend to do as little work as possible. These sullen attitudes will dissipate when you show that you’re actually a generous, kind, and thoughtful employer.
3. Encourage Employee Retention. You will make employees want to stay on even if they happen to be tempted by better job offers from competitive firms. Your most talented employees will want to stay because they will feel more connected to your business, its values, and its mission purpose. Employees who tend to feel most loyal are those who feel that the gift they received was an expression of your appreciation for their efforts on the job.
4 Ways Not to Give Gifts.
Sometimes the way gifts are given can backfire. Instead of spreading goodwill, they stir resentment. This can happen under the following four circumstances:
1. Favoritism. You only lavish expensive, thoughtful gifts on C-level executives, directors, managers, and supervisors, but give junior staff members no gifts at all or only low-value gifts.
2. Inappropriate gift-giving. It’s essential to give everyone gifts aligned with their values. For instance, it’s a mistake to give a publicly acknowledged teetotaler a bottle of Cognac. It shows that you neither know nor care about their values. Similarly, you could offend someone of a particular religious persuasion by giving them a gift that is considered a taboo in their religion.
2. Branded gifts. It’s offensive to give employees, promotional items, swag, as gifts. It doesn’t matter if the gift is high quality, or even-expensive, if it has your company logo on it, it’s considered a giveaway rather than a gift. This is particularly insulting if the gift is given for a personal occasion, like a birthday, anniversary, graduation, goal-achievement award, or holiday. The only time when it’s appropriate to give employees swag is if you give them during a recruiting job fair or as a welcome package.
3. Regifting employees. Distributing gifts purchased for some special company event that never materialized or for clients that never received them and that have been lying around in the stockroom picking up dust shows complete thoughtlessness. Instead of being seen as a generous employer, you’ll be considered a cheapskate who is merely trying to recycle unused purchases.
In conclusion, gift-giving is a powerful way to improve morale within your company. But you do have to be careful to do it in the right way with the right attitude. Figuring out what people consider memorable isn’t always intuitive. You or your designated gifting committee have to think about the interests, values, and beliefs of every gift recipient.
