Amidst the global lockdown from 2022 until the majority of borders reopen in 2023, a new normal has emerged, with a notable shift from traditional physical offices to an online work style. People are trying to adapt to this new working style, and in the business world, every industry faces challenges of the transition. 71% of employees are struggling to adjust to remote work, a report by the Society for Human Resource Management pointed out.
Even for workers who are used to work from home, according to another report, about 25% out of 1900 employees are having increased feelings of loneliness, which can lead to poor sleep, forming a vicious cycle to working performance.
The low morale of companies reflects on increasing demand for corporate gifting service.
However, cliché gifts are to avoid explicitly during this timing as they will fail to cheer people up. We researched and analyzed some of the most popular gifting options in corporate gifting this year. There are certainly big changes comparing to previous years due to the different mode of working and lifestyles. The overall trends are as follow:
- Giftcards
- Wellness Gifts
- Outdoor/ Travel Gifts
- WFH Gifts
- Self-care Gifts
- Online Courses
- Personalization
7 Trends You Should Know in Corporate Gifting 2022
Gift Cards
“Wait, you just said cliché gifts are to avoid… a gift card?” Yes. Companies have been sending gift cards for years. Gift cards’ portability, value, and ease of use make them a top choice for gift-givers and recipients, with 83% of consumers willing to hand friends gift cards over physical gifts. With the Covid-19 induced lockdown and movement restrictions, the digital gift card segment saw a substantial boost throughout 2021 and is expected to continue its upward trajectory in 2022.
In the United States, digital gift card industry is expected to grow “over the forecast period … to record a CAGR of 18.1% during 2020–2024” and “is estimated to reach US$ 101,979.2 million by 2024.” This is probably because of the flexibility gift card provides with so that receivers can buy whatever they want.
Wellness Gifts
Since everyone is very conscious of their wellness this year, wellness services like membership of gym, healthy food subscription are some popular options as they will only benefits to the receivers. And for the people who are in quarantine or have no time/chance going out, physical products such as calf massager and aroma diffusers are also common things people are looking online these days.
With cooperation with Prezze, Giftpack now has increased a wide variety of gift cards available on our platform for you to choose. Ranging from gym cards, vegan food restaurants to wellness kits like aroma candle bundles and home massager, we make personalized eGifting possible and easier than you've ever thought. Check out what's new on the board and make it a stand-out gift that's meaningful and magical!
Outdoor/ Travel Gifts
When governments in many countries announced their social-distancing policy, outdoor activities have never been more popular before. People are eager to escape from indoors and get some fresh air somewhere far from cities. The term “outdoor activities'' shows an obvious trend in search volumes going up in the past year.
Consistently being indoors has the effect of blending days together, and blending of days isn’t mentally healthy for anyone. A nice break in the outdoors will make it much easier to focus at work and get in the zone. Spending a weekend with family in the mountains or by the beaches is the best way to recharge yourself and bounce back at work!
WFH Gifts
As companies are adjusting their working culture from office to home, providing employee necessities for WFH is important. Facebook is offering each employee $1K for setting up their home office. Other giant corporates like SalesForce, the largest CRM company with a commanding 23.8% market share, demonstrates its commitment to employee appreciation by generously giving gifts to its workforce, fostering a culture that mirrors its leadership in customer relationship management. Also, Google and many others are extending WFH policies until next year or even later.
You don’t need to spend $1,000 like Facebook to help your employees to build a workspace at home. A simple gesture such as a handmade journal, an exquisite piece of stationery or a mug warmer will make your employees’ WFH situation more enjoyable.
Self-care Gifts
Working from home can make one very gloomy, especially when no coworkers are around and the stress family members sometimes put on, the self-care routines become very crucial at this point. Plus, staring at a computer screen for the whole day five days in a row causes both mental and physical health issues. Especially in online working contexts, many things can happen in just a few clicks in seconds.
Many employees are stressed out by this fast-paced working style. Therefore, a carefully-chosen self-care product such as an essential oil blend, a massage tool, or a meditation cushion, not only can boost the immune system but also make people slow down a bit to result in delivering more productive performances later on.
Online Courses
As many are still struggling with the adjustment of the new work mode, frustration often comes along as people normally don’t make as much progress as usual in the beginning during transitional periods. Providing an opportunity for employees to learn something new is a great way for them to have some sense of achievement during this difficult time.
There are companies providing free online courses during COVID! Simply providing resources for employees can do much good for them. Google is providing various kinds of courses related to business, go check out the full list. Investing in learning resources and encouraging them to learn new skills is the key for companies to get bigger and better!
Personalization
The last and the most important trend to keep in mind when considering corporate gifting must be personalization. This is one of the most obvious trends we receive this year. “Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Personalized Gifts estimated at US$25.8 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$43.3 Billion by 2027, growing at aCAGR of 7.7% over the period 2020–2027,” suggested by Research and Markets.
The personalization here doesn’t necessarily mean to “engrave someone’s name on mark cups,” or to order “customized necklaces and choose the style, color, decoration, and chain one by one,” which will cost you thousands of dollars when you have to send corporate gifts at scale. The essence of personalization is “choosing the right gift for the right person.” In this way, people are going to love the gifts that you specifically choose for them and feel appreciated because what you are sending is exactly what they want or need at the time.
Change Your Mindset
The question is no longer “Should we do employee gifting?” but “HOW to do employee gifting?
If a company leader is able to show their appreciation to their employees by sending a heartwarming gift at their door, it will certainly make them feel better. Earlier in 2018, the data has already shown “one of the key factors for employee engagement is physical gifts, with 54% of the respondents suggesting.” This is one of the main reasons why many companies had started practicing employee gifting long ago. If you still want to figure out why and how important employee gifting is, read this.
During the pandemic, more and more companies are asking for a trial on employee gifting platforms. One of the possible reasons we perceive is that 65% of all organizations indicate that maintaining employee morale has been a problem during working from home, from the same report by Society for Human Resource Management. This result in more needs for employee gifting service.
Employee gifting platforms are on the uprise, and Giftpack.ai is one of them. What’s special about us is that we do real personalization and browse through 3.2 million gifts online and pick out the most suitable 3–5 gifts in just seconds. The amount of time you will save is mind-blowing.
If you are interested in having a free trial with us, find a time slot that fits your schedule here! You can also learn more about how the platform operates by checking out our FAQ page. We are always there to help and answer any concern you might have.