Everyone loves getting presents, even professional adults. Because of this, gifts can be a great way to show your employees how much you appreciate them and their hard work.
In this article, we’ll talk through why you should give employee appreciation gifts, share some gift ideas with you, and walk you through how to choose the best gifts for your employees.
Key Takeaways
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Employee appreciation gifts help your workers feel seen and valued.
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Giving employee appreciation gifts can increase employee engagement and create a healthy team culture.
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Employee gifts can range from company swag to team lunches and everything in between.
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It’s important to personalize employee appreciation gifts to the recipient and to avoid even the appearance of favoritism by giving one employee a more expensive gift than another.
Why You Should Give Employee Appreciation Gifts
You should give your employees gifts to show your appreciation for their work because it’s courteous, kind, and encouraging, among other reasons.
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It’s courteous. Yes, your employees are being paid to do their work, but they don’t have to stick around, so thanking them for all they do with a gift is the polite thing to do.
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It’s kind. Even if the gift isn’t worth much monetarily, a token of appreciation will go a long way in helping your employees feel seen and appreciated.
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It’s encouraging. Employees who know their boss recognizes and values them will see a boost in their motivation and drive. Gifts are a simple way to reward hard work and encourage your team.
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It creates a healthy culture. When you, as a leader, set the standard of showing appreciation and valuing others, the rest of your team will follow, and it will create a more positive team atmosphere.
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It improves engagement and longevity. When employees know their boss cares about them, they’re more likely to do their jobs well, care about the team and company as a whole, and stay at their jobs longer.
These are just a few of the reasons why you should give employee appreciation gifts.
Employee Appreciation Gift Ideas
Here are gift ideas for a wide variety of budgets, occasions, and employee personalities:
Individual gift items:
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Company-branded apparel and gifts
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House/desk plants
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Tote bags
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Books
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Nice pens
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Personalized stationery
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High-quality office organization supplies
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Laptop bag
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Coffee tumbler
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Water bottle
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Handwritten note
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Personalized art
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Flowers
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Hoodie or blanket
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Snack basket
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Coffee gift card
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Home office upgrades
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Luggage tags
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Headphones
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Travel wallet
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Video from their favorite celebrity
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Baked goods
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Self-care kit
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Framed photo of the team
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Reusable lunch box
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Journal
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City-specific drinking glass
Experiences:
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Extra vacation day
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Vacation money
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Consultation with an interior design or wardrobe expert
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Paid day at a local theme park for the whole family
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Money to take a class they’re interested in for fun
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Spa gift certificate
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Show or game tickets
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Gift card to their favorite restaurant
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Movie theater gift card
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Gift card to their favorite clothing store
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Gym membership
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Commuter benefits (parking, bus, train pass, etc.)
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Premium parking spot
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Gift certificate to local golf course or pool
Team gifts:
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Office espresso maker
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Office lounge area
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Office foosball table or other games
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Take your pet/child to work day
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Team lunch
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Team activity (during work hours) such as a cooking class, bowling, escape room, local tour, etc.
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Office party (around a holiday or just because)
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Food truck lunch
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Family photoshoot day
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Office coffee and donut day
How to Choose Employee Appreciation Gifts
When you’re choosing an employee appreciation gift, there are a few things to think through:
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Consider how many employees you’re giving gifts to. In other words, are you shopping for one specific person or the whole team? Or, if you’re choosing a gift to give out monthly as an employee-of-the-month gift, are you going to need multiples of the same thing throughout the rest of the year?
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Consider your budget. Whether you’re paying for these gifts out of your own pocket or putting them on the company card, you likely have a gift budget you need to stick to.
If you have a gift budget set at the beginning of the year, think through all of the different gifts you’ll want to buy throughout the year and then allot money for each one. This way, you won’t accidentally blow your budget in February and have nothing for Christmas gifts.
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Consider your employees’ personalities and life stages. An employee with four kids who have been on your team for eight years will likely enjoy different items than a fresh college graduate would, so keep this in mind when you’re choosing your gifts.
In addition, your computer programmers might not appreciate or use a collection of high-quality, colorful pens as much as your communications manager or even graphic designer might, but a nice laptop bag might be highly useful for them.
Keep all of these differences in mind as you choose gifts for your employees, as they’ll be more appreciated the more considerate they are.
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Consider what you’ve given in the past. Keep a list of all of the employee gifts you give out to ensure that you don’t accidentally give them the same water bottle four years in a row. This will also help you remember what you did for past employees so you can give similar items to others in the future.
For example, if you write down that you gave a spa gift certificate to an employee a few years ago when she came back from parental leave, you will remember to do something similar for other employees when they return from parental leave.
Tips for Giving Employee Appreciation Gifts
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Keep them equitable. It’s important to not accidentally show favoritism by giving one person more gifts or gifts that are more expensive than the others, so come up with a system to keep your gift-giving consistent.
For example, when you’re giving one employee a gift to mark a special occasion like coming back from parental leave, it can be a good idea to have a standard gift you give everyone. Or, for something more regular like birthdays, bring the whole team in on picking out the gift within a set budget.
When you’re choosing gifts for the whole team, it’s a good idea to get everyone the same thing to avoid even the appearance of favoritism. Plus, it makes things simpler for you.
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Remember that bigger isn’t always better. Giving small gifts throughout the year usually has more of an impact than one giant gift a year. Plus, heartfelt, simple gifts are easier for you to keep up with than flashy, expensive ones.
Consider giving your workers just one major gift a year and keeping the rest small. This will help the major one feel more special and is more sustainable for you and your budget.
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Recognize employees’ successes immediately – gift or no gift. Even if you want to give them a gift to commemorate their efforts, don’t wait until you have it to verbally recognize them.
You can congratulate and thank them as soon as the success occurs and then present them with the gift later. This way, the gift acts as further recognition rather than frustrating the employee by making them think you didn’t care about what they did while you wait for the gift to arrive.
Employee Appreciation Gifts FAQ
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What is considered a corporate gift?
A corporate gift is a gift given to an employee by the company that employs them. Often corporate gifts will be given to all employees for holidays or general employee appreciation.
Common corporate gifts include company-branded clothing, office supplies, or personal items such as water bottles or backpacks. Some companies may also provide their employees with experiences such as company-hosted holiday parties or all-expense-paid trips to a local theme park for employees and their families.
Individual bosses and leaders may also give their employees gifts, whether out of their own pocket or a budget set for them by the company, but typically these aren’t considered corporate gifts.
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Can you write off gifts to employees?
Yes, you can write off gifts to employees. This means that typically gifts you give to your employees are tax-deductible. However, this will not apply if you’re paying for these gifts with your personal finances rather than corporate finances.
If you are giving gifts to your employees with corporate funds, it’s important to note that the IRS puts a cap on how much money spent on employee gifts that you can claim is tax deductible.
In other words, if you buy $100 worth of gifts per employee each year, the IRS will usually only let you list $25-$75 of that as a tax-deductible business expense. This doesn’t mean you can’t spend more than $75 per employee on gifts, but just that you won’t necessarily be able to write it all off if you do.
Still, some tax deductions are better than none, so give gifts generously and keep records of your giving for your accountants.
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Do gifts count as income?
No, gifts do not count as income. While your employees will be taxed for cash bonuses you give them, they won’t be taxed on the gifts you give them.
This doesn’t mean you should avoid giving bonuses to your employees (they still like them even if they do get taxed on them), but it does mean that you should give non-cash gifts as well to express your appreciation for them.
Even gift cards and certificates aren’t taxed, so don’t be afraid to give those out as tokens of appreciation for a job well done if you don’t want to go shopping.
Some companies even have online stores that allow them to give their employees points to shop with. This way, the employees can choose what they want without having to pay taxes on a cash bonus.
Author
Caitlin Mazur
Caitlin Mazur is a freelance writer at Zippia where she has written 140+ articles that have reached over 1 mil viewers as of June 2023. Caitlin is passionate about helping Zippia’s readers land the jobs of their dreams by offering content that discusses job-seeking advice based on experience and extensive research.
