Are you planning to give gifts to your team members ahead of the holidays?
If the answer is "yes," that's amazing! If the answer is no, read on to discover why you should - and why it’s a good idea during the rest of the year, too.
Sending gifts to team members during the holidays is a fantastic opportunity to thank your employees for their efforts during the year. A 2021 study even found that doing so could significantly boost employee retention rates.
But, you don't always need to wait until the festive season.
When should I send corporate gifts to my employees?
Whenever you like!
Obviously, the holidays are a traditional time to send such a gift, but you could also send customized gifts to your employees to mark:
- Birthdays
- Work-related achievements, which you can link to performance or things like long-service recognition
- Their “work anniversary,” marking the day they joined your team
Or why not send a gift to someone on your team just because? We're all dealing with things in our lives outside of our job, and you never know the positive difference a small gesture could make. There are few things better than random acts of kindness!
Why you should send gift sets to your employees
You don’t have to be an avid LinkedIn user to know that work environments across the United States (and worldwide) are continuing to rapidly evolve.
A typical example is working from home (WFH), which is pretty much established as the "new normal" for so many of us. While WFH has its benefits, it isn't without its challenges. Staying home can be great, but what is reducing co-worker interactions to Zoom and Slack doing to employee morale beneath the surface? According to an Optimal Networks study into “Zoom fatigue,” discussed in this article by the company’s CEO, the effect is that:
- 55% of remote workers feel less connected
- 46% feel more stressed
- 69% are experiencing burnout
In addition, we're also hearing more about the phenomenon of "quiet quitting," People do their job but consciously don't go above and beyond what’s expected of them. Gallup research found this is true of at least half the country’s workforce.
Here are a handful of reasons why making gifting part of your internal culture will help you cultivate a more motivated and engaged workforce.
1. It doesn’t have to be expensive
Having unique ideas for boosting employee morale and putting a smile on people's faces is one thing, but it can be quite another getting the spend past your CFO.
But even that doesn't have to be complicated.
While it can be tempting to look at gifting as “yet another business expense,” corporate gifting doesn’t have to be expensive. You could send a couple of gifts a year to every individual in a small team and stay within a modest budget..
And the reality is that whatever you spend, the rest of the benefits you'll enjoy, which we’ll look at now, means your gifting quickly pays for itself anyway.
2. You’ll see a productivity boost
Sending customized gifts to your employees is a meaningful way to strengthen interpersonal relationships and your internal support network.
When people get along with each other, have shared experiences, a sense of community, and feel appreciated, collaboration improves. In turn, this enhances efficiency and productivity, making your business more successful.
Even if you have a strong workplace culture where people feel valued and appreciated, you can never thank people too much, right?
3. People will perform more consistently
You never want your sending of corporate gifts to feel routine or mundane.
Still, when people know nice things are coming, they’ll perform more consistently because they're confident there will be a reward at the end of the hard work. In his book The Truth About Employee Engagement, team management expert and Table Group CEO Patrick Lencioni explains this as making employees feeling like they matter. In turn, you’re rewarded with consistent peformance, rather than seeing a drop in output becuase you didn’t recognize success. Over time, as you get creative with your corporate gifting, your team members will look forward to seeing what you’re going to come up with as a gift idea next time!
4. You’ll boost employee engagement
Employee engagement goes way beyond things like consistent performance and productivity. Boosting employee engagement means you'll reap the rewards of reducing apathy and absenteeism, common factors in quiet quitting. You'll also save a fortune on hiring and training costs because you'll retain team members for longer.
Happy teams strongly correlate with thriving businesses - in 2019 the UK’s Oxford University found that happy workers are 13% more productive so why not reap the benefits of being able to enhance employee engagement?
5. People will feel the benefits “downstream”
There's a ton of research, including this Harvard Business Review analysis of a 2019 Glassdoor study, that highlights the benefits happy and engaged employees can have on people and metrics "downstream" from those who feel the direct benefit of your gifting.
For example, happier and more engaged employees will deliver better service to your customers or clients. How they address people on the phone or in emails can improve and enhance those relationships.
Oh, and this will all lead to higher revenues and profits, too. With the return on gifting (ROG), you can increase your corporate gifting budget next year and supercharge your workplace culture, engagement and growth even more!
6. Your team sees your determination to look after them
With new ways of working becoming standard, like hybrid arrangements and WFH, many of us still spend more time with our colleagues than with friends and family. And given how we interact with each other is constantly changing, it's more important than ever that we prioritize work relationships and invest in things that show our teams that we care.
Sending gifts with a handwritten “thank you” or words of encouragement is a thoughtful way to show your team members you’re thinking about them and are determined to make their experience of work as positive as possible.
Boost morale with curated corporate gift sets from Batch!
Ready to feel the benefits of giving your team members a thoughtful gift?
With over 40 curated gift sets, we make employee appreciation easier! When you choose one of our gift sets, we will include your custom note in the gift so they will feel personally recognized. .
Our gift consultants are also on hand if you want to create customized gifts for specific individuals on your team.
Unlock the benefits of corporate gifting today and change your business and employee outlook!