Corporate gifting — so familiar and banal, yet so important thing. It helps to increase employee engagement and royalty, boosts team spirit and productivity and so on and so forth… only if it’s done right. Even though we all know it’s important, the amount of time we dedicate to it can be, well, not enough. With a lack of time, expectations are not always met, especially when it comes to corporate gifting.
Here should be the classic meme expectations vs reality, and today it’s all about personalised corporate giftings. Beware of these unmet expectations so that you’re more prepared not to make common corporate gifting mistakes.
Expectation: Gifts with company’s logo will create a sense of belongings for the employees.
Yes, we’re talking about water bottles, umbrellas with logos, pens and planners, and many more. You’d think those are actually being used on a daily basis and everyone will feel proud of having them because there’s a logo on each gift that can be seen from a space station.
Reality: Well, let’s be honest, when was the last time you wore a corporate t-shirt outside of the office? Probably, a branded teacup also doesn’t fit in your designer kitchen. Here’s the bitter truth — your employees won’t use branded gifts, most likely, at all.
Expectation: Food and drinks must be a safe choice!
Everyone loves food and beverages, and there are so many great things we just don’t buy on a regular basis: expensive cheeses, high-end whole arabica coffee beans, exotic fruit baskets. Why not treating employees well?
Reality:
‘Hi Jenny, my company just gave me this amazing pack of exclusive coffee, but I’m intolerant to caffeine. Do you want it?’
Yessss… the last thing you want to happen is when your employees give out their presents for free to friends or partners. You just picked an expensive gift that contains 11 packs of best teas, but an employee is allergic. Or it could be alcohol for a person who doesn’t drink, or citruses for a person, who sneezes a mile away from one orange. How could you know about it? Correct, you couldn’t, but that’s what happens when a gift is not personal.
Expectation: Practical gifts will be useful
Why not giving something very practical as a present? Something everyone needs and will definitely use every day: coffee maker, wireless phone charger, a set of good kitchen knives, or even a comfortable blanket.
Reality: Everyone has it already. There’s still a chance your knives will be better than the one your employees have, or their charger just broke and they forgot to buy a new one. But let’s be honest, this chance is very low.
Expectation: Gift cards will give them more options. Everyone will be happy with what they get.
You might also go with a brand that has a very broad spectrum of products. This will make your choice even safer — there always will be something your employees find for themselves.
Reality:
Have you heard of ‘gift card effect’? We invented this term, but in a second you will understand why. Gift cards seem to be great presents, because of the fact that they give their receivers an ability to pick what they want, hence be happier about a gift. There are two issues with gift cards though:
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You will be surprised how many times they are used for absolutely casual things. ‘Amazon card? Perfect, just wanted to buy new diapers for my newborn.’ — why is this bad? Because a corporate gift is should make your employees feel being a part of a big family, and feel appreciated. If they use the gift card for something very standard and practical, it means you gave them some extra money and that’s all. There’s nothing personal and memorable in it.
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Ok, let’s imagine the card is actually for some store that your employee loves. Now the problem is with the limit. 99,9% they will have to add more money to purchase a desirable gift, hence, they won’t feel that a gift was given by you, because they also had to contribute financially.
Expectation: A gift supplier will provide quality and unique gifts just before Xmas.
Sometimes time pressure is so high so that you delegate corporate gifting to a company, that makes all the swag. Their goal is to produce 1000 gifts for you and they guarantee that the quality is super high. Since they are professionals so they know what they’re doing, right? It totally makes sense that you go with this option.
Reality:
The problem is that before Christmas they might have various suppliers, or they didn’t solve well the quality vs. margin compromise. You end up having 1000 gifts with logos, but they will be destroyed after a few uses. The quality doesn’t meet your expectation.
To sum it up, everyone makes mistakes and what we get as a present is not always what we expected. Here at Giftpack AI, our goal is to connect people and make them feel special, so that every time they use the present you gave them they feel that they’re in a good place, working with people who really care about them and cherish their personality. That’s why every gift we pick is personal, even if it is a large and very diverse team. Our service aims to help you to get rid of the guesswork and know exactly what each of your recipients wants.
