Chinese New Year is a time for celebration, tradition, and showing appreciation for loved ones. And as the workplace becomes increasingly diverse, it's also a time to show appreciation for the hardworking employees that make your company run. Besides employee appreciation day, Chinese New Year Gifts for employees are also a great way to show that you value and appreciate the contributions of your colleagues, and to foster a positive and supportive work environment.
Despite covid, the spread of Chinese culture has been going on for years all over the world. There are Chinatowns and Taiwan Communities in just about every country you can name. Naturally, Chinese New Year has become one of the most important holidays we celebrate not only in Asian countries but everywhere in the world.** If your company is based in South East Asia, or you have employees with a Chinese background, it is best to know the ins and outs of doing gifting at this meaningful timing.**
What is Employee/Coworker Gifting?
Employee or coworker gifting is all about showing your colleagues how much you appreciate them! It's the perfect way to brighten someone's day and make them feel valued. Whether it's a small token of appreciation for a job well done, or a special gift for a milestone or holiday, employee gifting is a great way to show that you care. And let's be honest, who doesn't love getting a little something special?
The goal of employee gifting is to show employees that they are valued and appreciated, and to foster a positive and supportive work environment. It's also a way to boost morale and show gratitude for the employee's hard work. It can be done on individual or team basis and also it can be done on different occasions such as during festivals, on birthdays, or on company's anniversary.
The best time for employee gifting can vary depending on the company's culture and the specific occasion. Some popular times for employee gifting include:
Holidays: Many companies give gifts to employees during the holiday season, such as Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year. Special Occasions: Gifting on special occasions like birthdays or work anniversary can be a great way to show appreciation to employees. Recognition and Rewards: Gifting can be done to recognize the employee's achievements or reaching a milestone. Festivals: Gifting during festivals such as Chinese New Year, Diwali, or Eid can be a great way to show appreciation and respect for cultural diversity among employees. Company's Anniversary: Gifting on the company's anniversary can be a way to show gratitude to employees for their hard work and dedication to the company.
Ultimately, the [best time for employee gifting]((https://blog.giftpack.ai/article/when-is-the-best-time-for-employee-gifting) will depend on the specific goals of the company and the needs of the employees. It's important to consider the individual employee and the company culture when deciding on the best time to give a gift.
What is Chinese New Year?
Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, is the most important traditional festival in China. It is celebrated at the turn of the lunar calendar and is typically a time for families to gather and celebrate together. The exact date of Chinese New Year changes each year, but it usually falls between January 21st and February 20th.
During Chinese New Year, people typically clean their homes and decorate them with red lanterns, banners and other decorations to symbolize good luck and prosperity. They also exchange gifts, give red envelopes filled with money to children and elderly, and prepare traditional foods such as dumplings and sweet glutinous rice cakes.
The Chinese New Year celebrations usually last for 15 days and the most important day is the Chinese New Year's Eve and the Chinese New Year Day. It's also a public holiday in China and other countries where there is a significant Chinese community.
The Chinese New Year is not just an important time for Chinese people, but also for Chinese communities all over the world. It's a time for families to come together, share good food, and celebrate the new year with fireworks, parades, and other festivities.
Gifting Culture in Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is the time of the year for Asian family reunions. Family members who are working in other cities or countries most of the time take a flight back to their hometowns to celebrate this holiday altogether. Family members would normally chat about everything: life, school, work, relationships, just to name a few.** It’s the time when everyone in the family talks about how the past year has gone, and what are the milestones they’ve achieved.**
The elderly giving younger generation red envelopes is the most well-known practice in Chinese culture. While this kind of act happens only between family members and a small portion of companies where the boss would give cash gifts to their employees, what most of the corporations would do is practice gifting to everyone relating to the company. The target may be most commonly employees, employers and, shareholders. Therefore, during Chinese New Year, companies based in Asia, or foreign corporations with Asian employees should always show appreciation by giving. Gifting allows us to enhance the relationships between others and ourselves.
Best Practices for Gifting During Chinese New Year
When it comes to corporate gifting during Chinese New Year, it's important to remember that thoughtfulness is key. As a stockholder, you may receive gifts from multiple companies, but it's the personal touch that will make a lasting impression. Rather than simply sending generic gifts, putting in the effort to personalize each gift can go a long way in showing your employees that they are valued. This extra effort can make all the difference in making a good impression and building a positive and supportive work environment. Remember, even if you are sending a large number of gifts, personalization is still crucial to succeed in employee gifting during Chinese New Year.
As a lot of people might know, Chinese culture entails many traditions and customs. This makes gifting more difficult especially during Chinese New Year. While we don’t want to restrict on what exact gifts you should be sending, here are some general practices you should follow for a successful gifting campaign.
To start with, since the colors red and gold are symbols of richness, using red or gold packaging for gifts is a good idea. A second rule sounds quite conflicting with what we said about personalization, but it’s actually a common practice for companies to gift food gift baskets during CNY. Ranging from fruit baskets, cakes and cookies, to wine baskets are all very suitable choices. If you need more ideas, there’s one world famous food corporates doing this for generations. Go check out Jiu Zhen Nan Taiwan Pastry for more details! Just don’t forget to include a small personalized message in the gifting set to let your employees know you care for every one of them. Lastly, you would also want to make sure the gifts arrive as early as possible so your employees and stockholders can share the joy with their families. Creating a handful word-of-mouth by employee gifting, that’s how successful gifting works!
Attention! Taboos for Employee Gifting during Chinese New Year!
In contrast to “dos” when gifting employees during Chinese New Year, there are also taboos that you certainly want to know about and prevent unnecessary awkwardness. Items you want to avoid gifting are “clocks”, “umbrellas”, “candles”, and “pairs of shoes”.
It's important to note that these four items are just examples of what not to give during Chinese New Year and not an exhaustive list. This is because of the homophonic meanings of these words, which can have negative connotations in Chinese. For example, "sending clocks" sounds like "wishing you rest in peace" in Chinese. To avoid any misunderstandings or unintentional offense, it's best to avoid these items as gifts during Chinese New Year or any other occasion. To learn more about the do's and don'ts of gifting during Chinese New Year, check out this article for a more comprehensive understanding.
Let Giftpack Help You Send the Right Gifts for Chinese New Year
Having no time preparing customized gifts for your employees? Having troubles picking different gifts for employees with different cultural backgrounds? Giftpack AI have devoted ourselves into developing a corporate gifting platform that generates personalized gifts at scale tailored to each of every recipient you’re about to gift. Be it cultural background, personal interests, favorite colors, special needs, we promise to do our best with our AI-generated technology just to create a wonderful and painless gifting campaign. Are you interested in helping yourself save more time and efforts? Fill in our form right now and we’ll get in touch with you!
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