'Once I know as an employee that I'm getting a certain amount of salary… anything beyond that the company does is true recognition and appreciation'
Corporate gifting can be a key tool for employee engagement, particularly in the wake of major workplace shifts, according to one expert.
“If you look back since the pandemic and up until now, there has been constant push and pull between employers and employees on different kinds of constraints and changes around us,” says Ribat Chowdhury, co-founder of The Happy Box, in talking with Human Resources Director Canada.
He mentions the changes related to remote work, the end of the pandemic and the return-to-office movement, and the current tension between Canada and the U.S. amid the tariffs issue.
“Because of all of that, there is a lot of tension and challenges in the mindset of employees, which is really affecting their day-to-day productivity.”
Chowdhury notes that some employers are stepping up by giving gifts to workers.
“For companies, they're always looking for ways to get employees to feel more appreciated, recognized and understood, beyond what their pay scale and their pay grade is.”
And workers highly appreciate this gesture, he says.
“Once I know – as an employee – that I'm getting a certain amount of salary, and this is my pay package and these are my benefits, anything beyond that the company does is the true recognition and appreciation part of things that's beyond what has been agreed between an employee and the employer.”
In the context of a holiday season, the majority of workers believe receiving a holiday gift from their employer increases their job satisfaction, according to a previous report.
The effectiveness of a corporate gift depends on what message it conveys, according to Chowdhury. He notes that effective gifting strategies align with both company values and employee needs. Many companies now use corporate gifts to reinforce their mission.
"For example, if your company believes in sustainability, if your company believes in supporting Indigenous businesses… then [try] to reflect those values inside the box," he says.
Employers are also increasingly tailoring gifts to employee well-being, particularly as mental health and stress management become greater priorities, such as “a box that rests and relaxes them, gives them opportunities to do something outside of work," he says.
Chowdhury notes that, for many employers, giving out Amazon gift cards or gift items that are heavily promotional of the company’s branding is the way to go.
However, these are “poor ideas of recognizing employees,” he says, as a gift card is essentially just another way of giving people money. On the other hand, when you give a box of promotional items, “it's more about the company promoting themselves, and less about giving a gift”.
To maximize the powers of gifting, employers can make the items more apt for the receiver, says Chowdhury.
“There's a psychological element to gift giving. The receiver needs to understand that the sender has put in a considerable amount of time, effort and resources to putting this together… the more well thought out the gift is, the more powerful the results are.”
Gifting alcoholic beverages is also a hit or miss for employers, says Chowdhury. Wine used to be a symbol of luxury, expense and value, he says. And receiving this from their employer was very much appreciated by workers, he says.
However, there are now a lot of workers who are trying to avoid alcohol, so an employer should be “absolutely sure” the recipient will appreciate this as a gift.
“What we recommend during that time is incorporating other drinking elements… [like] soda flavours or other things that can go into making an amazing drink. And the receiver can choose whether to make it alcoholic or not.”
