How to get the most out of corporate gifts: advice from a business gift expert

1. Do employees need corporate gifts?
2. Subtleties of choosing gifts
3. Valuable gifts for individual employees on significant occasions
4. An expensive gift for the best employee
5. 3 gift options for the whole team
6. Gifts for employees on company anniversary
7. 15 original gift ideas for employees
8. Gifts for employees' children
9. List of not the most successful gifts
10. How to give gifts

Giving gifts to employees on various holidays and occasions has long become a tradition, if not in all companies and organizations, then in very many. And this is not surprising: when people feel attention from management, this has the most beneficial effect on their motivation.

However, there is one “but” here. It is unlikely that it will be possible to increase the loyalty of the team if the process of choosing gifts is treated as something routine, giving employees cheap, simple souvenirs year after year. You need to approach the matter with soul and even some creativity, only then will people understand that they are truly valued.

Do employees need corporate gifts?

It is generally accepted that it was in America that the tradition of giving company employees gifts for various significant events originated. According to legend, it all started when the first US President George Washington decided to thank all the people who participated in his election campaign and gave them small souvenirs.

However, this tradition became popular in America at the beginning of the 20th century. As for Russia, they started giving gifts to employees much later, namely when the market economy replaced the planned one, that is, in the early 1990s. It is believed that it is thanks to this move that employees’ loyalty to the manager increases. However, you need to understand that this custom has both pros and cons.

With the help of corporate gifts, you can motivate employees without spending additional money. Every person is pleased to receive a souvenir for the New Year, birthday or professional holiday. Moreover, gifts can be given not only on holidays, but also used as a reward for any achievements in work or for length of service. When attention is paid to employees who have been working in the company for many years, this stimulates young staff. If staff feel cared for by management and receive useful gifts, they will want to work even harder and benefit the company and business.

If gifts have a corporate brand, this creates a loyal attitude and also brings the company and team closer together. When a person goes to work, it is important for him to feel like part of a single whole, and for this he needs to create a corporate atmosphere. For example, he uses branded notebooks or pens, and drinks tea from a mug with a logo.

As practice shows, in companies where there is no special concern for employees, staff turnover is much higher than where management is concerned about its workforce. A gift given in honor of a birthday, holiday, or as a reward for good work allows you to show the employee that both his work and himself are valuable to the company. This allows you to increase staff loyalty and reduce the risk of dismissal.

However, according to some experts, corporate gifts are often useless, since the personnel department most often does not know how to choose them. Most Russian companies most often issue gifts to employees in the amount of 100–500 rubles, depending on the number of people and the funds allocated for this. It should be noted that this does not at all allow employees to increase loyalty to management, especially when every year the staff receives the same key rings, mugs or other little things that are more annoying than pleasing. According to numerous surveys, 1/3 of employees say that it would be better if they were not given anything at all.

Thus, we can conclude that there is no point in management giving gifts to employees, since it is impractical. According to experts, employees, of course, need gifts, but they must be useful.

Provide healthy snacks and snacks

Here's an idea your customers will never forget: Make your employees happier and more productive with a box of delicious, healthy snacks delivered right to their office.

With HappySnacks, you can send a gift box to your favorite client's office. They assemble a box of healthy snacks based on preference and then deliver the snacks directly to your customer. In addition to the delicious indulgence of healthy snacks, you also give your customers the freedom to not have to worry about fueling their insatiable employees.

When your partners see how happy their employees are with these snacks and how much time they no longer waste on breaks, they will need to thank you. And since snack time is an almost daily occurrence, they'll think excitedly about you almost every day. The study estimated that snacking and coffee consumption among company employees wastes thousands of hours of potential company work each year. So your partners won't just thank you for the snacks—they'll thank you for a more productive office!

Corporate gift idea #3

Subtleties of choosing gifts

The first thing you should pay attention to is the recipient of the gift. For example, a gift for female teaching staff will definitely be different from one intended for a team where the majority are men 40 years old.

Important points:

• gifts intended for women are radically different from men's;
• for a young team, gifts with humor or requiring activity from employees are more suitable;
• the interests of the recipient must be taken into account (if possible).

An important point is the professional field in which employees work. For example, civil servants do not have the right to receive gifts while on duty, as required by the anti-corruption law. However, this does not apply to incentives. If the management considers it necessary to issue them, then this is quite legal, the main thing is that everything is official, that is, the accounts must go through the accounting department with the payment of taxes.

Gifts worth more than 3,000 rubles must be accompanied by a gift agreement signed by employees and company management.

It is worth noting that any corporate gifts must be passed through the accounting department with the payment of all necessary taxes, however, most often the NSF treats them with less suspicion than gifts to government officials.

For other organizations, the important point is the relationship between staff and employees.

If we talk about large enterprises, then in order to issue gifts to employees, an order must be issued by senior management, and local bosses who know their employees better are responsible for its execution. In this case, ensuring that there is no abuse plays an important role.

As for small businesses, there is no such formality as in a large company. The manager, as a rule, knows all his subordinates well, so gifts can be more personal.

An individual entrepreneur, whose staff includes about 10 people, can make gifts not general ones, but choose gifts for specific people with whom he communicates frequently and closely, in fact, his colleagues.

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Choosing a gift is a delicate and emotional process, so if the manager is far from the staff of his company, then it is better to entrust this work to local managers.

Give training and knowledge

Your sophisticated clients may have it all, but who doesn't love learning something new? By offering to learn something new, you can give them something they haven't had before. This is a great chance to cement memories. What gift basket, even the best of the best, can lay claim to that?

Many lessons will appeal to almost everyone, but offering something thoughtful and personalized will make a much more memorable impression. Your options may be limited by what's available in the recipient's area, but many of the ideas below are available in most locations. You can find most of the information about these classes online.

1. Improvisation classes. A few hours of laughter can be the best gift the recipient will receive all season. Improv classes are designed to bring out the inner comedian in even the most serious executives.

2. Drawing lesson. Art classes can be trendy, but also classic, which will appeal to everyone, even if they have no drawing experience or strong artistic aspirations.

3. Cooking class. Everyone eats, and most people would like to improve their cooking skills. During a quality cooking class, your clients or partners will learn skills that they can use every day, and they will thank you for it.

4. Public speaking classes. Most people, even experienced leaders, could probably improve their public speaking and self-control skills. This class is ideal for recently promoted people who suddenly find themselves in the spotlight.

Corporate gift idea #9

Valuable gifts for individual employees on significant occasions

• Birthday gift.

In this case, the best option would be a certificate from a store or a subscription to a beauty salon or gym. Or, as an option, a restaurant gift card, which can be ordered online.

• Present for the birth of a child.

Here, the gift can be a stroller, money, a crib, a set for a newborn, or winter clothes for a baby.

• Wedding gift.

The most popular options are dishes, household appliances, bedding sets and other household items.

• Retirement or anniversary.

In this case, you can give an employee a laptop, a camera, a mobile phone, a painting, or a grandfather clock.

What to choose as a businesswoman

Women have always been more sensitive to beauty than men. Living plants with a stylish pot are a decoration for your office. A plastic gift card to spa salons is a full-fledged modern gift for a woman leader. A business woman devotes all her time to work, so in moments of calm in business, she will be pleased to look at the dear faces of her family in a digital photo frame.

The mysterious female nature can be unraveled with the help of a horoscope. There you can find an idea for choosing a souvenir. A box of chocolates or a chic bouquet of flowers will always be a good addition to any souvenir.

An expensive gift for the best employee

Such gifts are rare; for example, they are given at the end of the year based on work results. However, their benefits are obvious, since rewarding valuable employees motivates them to work even more efficiently. Such a gesture on the part of management makes it clear to the employee that his contribution to the development of the company is very important. However, in order to give a gift that is valuable to a person, you need to learn more about his preferences.

If the question arises about what to give an employee for good performance of job duties, then the best gift would be a bonus. However, it is even better if it is supplemented with something or even replaced with an interesting gift. There are many interesting options you can use as a present for the best employee in the office.

• Personalized gift.

An engraved cigarette case can be given to an employee who smokes. A personalized watch would be a good option.

• Expensive gift.

In this case, the gift must be useful. You can choose a case or bag made of genuine leather, or an e-book. A good option would be literature to improve professional skills, a good mobile phone or paid special courses.

• Gift Certificate.

It can be purchased at any store, but to do this you need to decide what kind of gift you want to give. This could be sports equipment, household appliances. The advantage of the certificate is that the employee can choose the thing he needs.

• Travel package.

Everyone wants to take a break from work, but not everyone can afford it. As a gift to a valuable employee, you can give a trip for several days, which will become motivation for productive work, will bring a lot of benefits and will be remembered for a long time.

Classic surprise options for a business man

So, the eternal classic will help you out this time too. This is a win-win option; it’s simply impossible to go wrong with such a gift! Choose:

• branded wristwatches – a status and worthy surprise! A true businessman cannot do without them. This is a kind of accessory of success and status; in addition, a business person’s collection can have 3 – 4 or even 5 watch options;
• elite alcohol is already a traditional and wonderful gift. Well-aged whiskey or cognac is especially appropriate in this case. You can also present a bottle of wine released in the year of birth of your hero of the occasion;
• chic globe bar. Such a surprise will successfully combine two functions: it will decorate the interior and reliably store your favorite drinks;
• weather station - it’s already a national tradition for us to monitor the weather. So your present is a great idea! A thermometer, barometer, hygrometer and clock put together will help you always be aware of the vagaries of the weather;
• business men's bag or folder made of genuine leather. It is convenient to store documents and necessary papers. This classic gift for a male businessman is very convenient on business trips;
• expensive writing instruments are another traditional surprise option, and there are not many such accessories;
• A classic leather-bound diary will help you competently organize the day of a busy person. This surprise will demonstrate the social level and status of the businessman;
• a work of art , the ideal solution is a painting. Believe me, this is an appropriate present. However, it is better to find out for yourself the tastes of the hero of the occasion in advance. It is good if the painting is placed in an original gilded or silver-plated frame;
• a handmade tabletop chess set made of ivory , a solid and stylish gift, even if the birthday boy doesn’t play, it’s a worthy decoration;
• collector's edition of a man's favorite books;
• a glass or stone plate with the inscription “Successful Businessman” on a special stand will be a worthy souvenir. Such a thing can be decorated with interesting custom engraving;
• a classic spyglass is also a memorable gift. It is better to choose a body made of natural wood or metal. At your leisure, your male businessman will be able to explore the world around him.

Classic surprises for a businessman can sometimes be perceived as an attempt to present at least something. However, this can be easily avoided by preparing a gift in advance and ordering a special engraving on it. By showing your imagination and using your imagination, you will definitely find something worthy of even the coolest businessman!

Gifts for employees on company anniversary

Unlike generally accepted holidays, for which you can give small souvenirs, a company anniversary is a more significant event, so you shouldn’t skimp on gifts. It must be remembered that employees are part of a well-coordinated mechanism that leads to the implementation of projects. Therefore, the emphasis on this day should be on the corporate spirit of employees.

A good gift for employees on a company's birthday can be items with its logo, for example, toys, clothes, stationery, electronics. Delicious gifts, for example, good tea or honey in a beautiful jar, are very popular among employees of organizations. Useful things for work will also make a good present (desk decorations).

However, such gifts should be in addition to the main one, for example, a good coffee machine for the office or a corporate party.

A banal evening in a restaurant or cafe can be replaced with a collective active holiday. This could be some kind of sporting event or outdoor recreation, which will help unite the team and raise corporate spirit.

However, the possibility of refusal must be provided for. It is unlikely that employee loyalty will increase if they are forced to participate in an event against their will.

Board games

Today, many companies play board games during breaks. This not only relieves the atmosphere and promotes team unity, but also trains communication skills, attention, and creative thinking. So you can buy not only beautifully designed classical chess as a gift for your partner, but also please the organization’s team with a modern board game. For example:

• chess;
• backgammon;
• Go;
• Jenga;
• Imaginarium;
• Startup;
• Resistance;
• Poker.

Gifts for employees' children

Despite the fact that the children of employees do not participate in the work of the company in any way, attention to them from management significantly increases the loyalty of the team. If this is a large enterprise, then it is enough to give gifts for major holidays, for example, company day and New Year. In a small company where employees communicate more closely with each other, you can congratulate the kids on their birthday.

If we talk about the age at which it is customary to give gifts to the children of employees, then this issue is decided by the company management, but most often it is 14 or 16 years old. In addition, there are no rules regarding exactly how many presents are needed (for each child or one) if there are several children in the family. The same applies to New Year's gifts for employees. The management of each company decides whether both parents will receive them if they work at the same company or one of them, as well as women on maternity leave.

When all these schemes have already been worked out, another question arises - what to give to the children of employees, for example, for the New Year holidays.

• Set of sweets.

This gift is the most popular. Thanks to the huge range of sweet products in colorful packaging (bags, boxes, bags), there is no problem choosing something suitable. You can often see sweet gifts in stores wrapped in a soft toy. This option for a New Year's gift saves the employee responsible for preparing children's gifts from unnecessary fuss and hassle.

It is worth noting that it is more practical to buy a ready-made gift, but making it yourself will be cheaper. In the box, in addition to the usual chocolates, you can put apples, tangerines, oranges, kinder surprise, which all children like, marzipan, gingerbread, cookies and other baked goods for those with a sweet tooth.

• Toys.

This is a great New Year's gift for any child. However, in this case it is necessary to take into account the age of the recipient. If these are kids, then you can choose a soft toy; for boys 3–8 years old, a car would be an excellent option; for girls, a doll. However, there are also universal options that are suitable for both, for example, a mosaic or a DIY kit.

For older children, you can give a board game as a gift. Still, the ideal option would be an individual gift for each child, but this is only possible in a small organization, where you can ask an employee about the preferences of his child.

• Puzzles.

This is a good option for a gift for the children of employees, since both kids, teenagers, and adults love to collect puzzles. However, the choice of colorful paintings from pieces is so huge that difficulties may arise. Here you should also focus on the age of the recipient, since easy pictures are unlikely to be interesting for adults to collect, and complex ones for kids. In addition, the choice should be made based on gender, that is, for boys - these are images of cars, planes, tanks, and for girls - princesses, flowers, cartoon characters.

Purchasing puzzles for the children of employees in a large company is not such a difficult task; it is enough to divide the recipients by age and gender and order products in bulk for each individual category.

• Educational games.

Here, first of all, you should focus on the age of the children. However, due to the fact that manufacturers indicate it on the boxes, the employee responsible for purchasing gifts should not have any difficulties making a choice.

Gifts can include construction sets, puzzles, board games, and creativity kits. The range of these products today is huge: from ordinary plasticine and modeling kits to applique and embroidery.

Children love to conduct various experiments and also make crafts, fortunately today there are many opportunities for this. You can give your kids kits for making their own slime, soap, perfume, crystals or cosmetics. A win-win option would be kits for experiments and experiments.

There is also a universal gift for children of employees - this is an artist’s set, which you can purchase ready-made or assemble yourself. As a rule, it includes an album, brushes, paints, pencils, and felt-tip pens. You can supplement it with a mini easel (drawing board) and wax crayons.

• Other options.

Despite the fact that children are not picky when it comes to gifts, giving them something boring and simple is not worth it. It is much better to think and choose a present that will be a reminder all year round. Here are some options:

• an umbrella with cartoon characters depicted on it (ideally taking into account the interests of each child);
• bed linen or pillow with images of your favorite characters;
• stationery sets (pens, pencils, markers), which in any case will be useful in kindergarten or school;
• beautiful lamp or night light.

Even things that are useless from the point of view of adults are suitable for children, for example, funny and funny trinkets such as an eternal pendulum, angel figurines, and magnetic hourglasses.

• Performances for the New Year.

As a rule, during the New Year holidays, many entertaining events are held in which children actively participate. In addition, this is another opportunity to spend time with your parents. When choosing matinee tickets as a gift, it is better if they have a floating or open date, so the family will not have to change plans to attend the event.

If you want to give an original gift to employees and their children, you can celebrate the New Year in the company itself. For a child, a holiday at his parents’ work is a real adventure. In this case, you will need to think through the script, prepare competitions and costumes. However, you can also use the services of professional presenters, which will greatly simplify the process. As practice shows, such events bring the team together much more effectively than corporate events.

Provide local flavor

Locally sourced goods and services have a certain magic that makes even the largest cities feel like unified communities. By making locally sourced gifts, you remind your lucky partners that they live and work in a thriving, colorful place full of talented people. This gift will help you if you don't know much about the person on your list. Local pride is something everyone has, even if they hide it.

Here are some creative client gift ideas that will please everyone on your list:

1. Local farm offerings including produce, eggs and dairy. Choosing local farm produce significantly reduces transit time from farm to table, so food retains unparalleled flavor and tons of nutrients.

2. Local art. Local artists create some of the best conversation pieces - ones that your recipients will love showing off to family and friends for years to come. You can find local artists practicing in a variety of mediums, including painting, photography, pottery, sculpture and more.

3. Local services. Online aggregators can help you find local professionals offering tai chi classes, personal training, house cleaning services, guitar lessons and more.

4. Local impressions. Who doesn't love playing "tourist" in their hometown? Treat your co-workers to walking tours covering historical sites or local mysteries. Maybe your partners would prefer to tour their city in a horse-drawn carriage.

More information about corporate gifts

List of not the most successful gifts

Whatever professional field the company operates in, regardless of its size, there is a list of gifts that are not recommended to be given:

1. The same presents . When gifts to employees are repeated every year, that is, men receive a shaving kit on February 23, and women receive a box of chocolates on March 8, then the surprise effect disappears. In addition, in this case, employees do not feel attentive from management. Everyone already knows in advance what they will get, and it becomes boring.
2. Low quality cheap gifts . This could be clothes that lose their appearance after the first wash because they are made of poor fabric, pens that stop writing after a few days, or bad-smelling soap. These, of course, can be called gifts, but hardly anyone wants to receive them. Moreover, in this case one cannot expect an increase in loyalty either.
3. Cosmetic products . Every woman uses a set of cosmetics of a certain brand, so you shouldn’t give everyone the same thing, otherwise you shouldn’t expect anything but indignation from the fairer sex.
4. Cloth . It’s not worth giving your company’s employees items of clothing as gifts, since they are unlikely to want to wear the same thing, and you may not be able to guess the size. The only exception may be T-shirts in corporate colors.
5. Presents with humor . It must be taken into account that the same things may seem funny to one person and offensive to another. In order to give humorous gifts to employees, you need to know the team very well.
6. Each has its own gift . You should never give employees different gifts, because rumors may spread that there are favorites in the team, some will think that they were underestimated, others will be completely offended. Therefore, it is necessary to give everyone the same thing.
7. If the preferences of employees are known, then you should never give them unnecessary gifts , for example, handing over a certificate to a cosmetic store for loaders, or giving parachute jumps to young teachers.

Universal Giftery Card

The Giftery online service offers a solution that will allow you to easily and without any problems take into account the interests of everyone - the universal Giftery Card!

The card can be exchanged for one or more of the brands presented. The Giftery catalog contains more than 100 famous brands in different categories! Your employees will be able to choose their own gift, and you will be sure that they will be satisfied.

Electronic gift cards eliminate the hassles of packaging, storage and delivery. Savings reach 20%! All you need to do is load the database of recipients’ email addresses and select the sending time. When the cards are delivered, you will receive a report.

How to give gifts

To create a festive atmosphere, you need to properly design a gift for an employee:

• choose attractive packaging and tie everything with ribbon;
• attach a personalized card to the gift for the recipient;
• Add a small sweet one to a big gift.

The delivery can be organized in the form of a surprise, for example, when employees come to work they will find pleasant gifts in their place. If it's New Year's, a good option would be to organize a performance, for example, a parody of a children's party or a funny skit. Alternatively, you can simply hand out gifts and say a couple of warm parting words to everyone, but this should be done from the heart, and not read from a piece of paper.

We cannot fail to mention monetary gifts to employees. An award is, of course, also a good present, but not exactly a festive one. This option is best used to reward an outstanding employee. As for other cases, it is worth adding at least a chocolate packaged in a beautiful wrapper to the money - this will create a festive atmosphere.

Instead of conclusions

How to choose a gift for a business partner is up to you! There is no universal recipe, but it is best not to forget about the rules of business etiquette, allowing yourself serious deviations from it and experiments with gifts only in your own company.

With clients, partners and representatives of other companies, any experiments can produce the opposite results instead of the expected gratitude and improved relationships. The maximum task is to find loopholes for originality and uniqueness within the framework of all rules and requirements. If you use your imagination and creativity, you will definitely succeed!