The Right Gift For the Right Worker
When you’re determining what to give somebody, it’s hard enough if they’re not your coworker. If they’re your coworker, that complicates things. The wrong gift sends the wrong message. Also, the person you’re working with will ultimately influence your choice.
Many different appreciation gifts for employees may fit; flowers are a good gift for many workers. The hyperlink includes a few tactics to help celebrate when employees do well. Following we’ll explore ten more options in employee gifts to help you get an idea of what will be liked, and start thinking about a few options you might not have considered otherwise.
1. Casual Desk Baubles for Casual Teammates
If you’re sitting across from the same people at the same cubicle every day, a little bobblehead or something of the like may be in order. Next time you’re in a dollar store and see something you wouldn’t mind somebody giving to you, pick it up and give it to your desk mate. You might get a tongue-in-cheek tradition going.
2. Flowers, Bamboo Plants, or Other Small Foliage
Offices have a clinical, synthetic quality. Even top-tier workplaces like those of Silicon Valley still feel like an office. While a little potted bamboo plant, or a bouquet of flowers, or something of the kind won’t totally reverse that, such plants help make someone’s desk feel like an oasis amidst workplaces otherwise desolated in corporate professionalism.
3. Tools to Help Make the Job Easier Where Appropriate
Not all jobs are corporate; some involve specialization. If you’re part of a contracting crew for a construction company, you might have a buddy who could really use a new cordless replicating saw, or “sawzall”.
4. A Boss Will Like Boss-Themed “SWAG”
Buying for your boss is hard because you never want to be a suck-up. Wait for legitimate moments where showing appreciation is appropriate, and get mid-level gifts that don’t really require reciprocation. SWAG, or Stuff We All Get, is a great move. T-shirts, coffee cups, lanyards, and meme-level posters; are fine gifts for a boss.
5. General “SWAG” Can Be For Multiple Departments
Different departments will certainly enjoy the odd box of SWAG. If you run across things at a convention or something that are just going to be thrown out or put in storage, you might grab them up and put them in the break room of your or another department. Everybody likes a little SWAG now and again, and it doesn’t demand any emotional connection that’s an issue.
6. Humorous Gifts For Competing Internal Departments
Friendly rivalries are good, and they keep the job feeling somewhat exciting. You’ve seen the selection at stores like Hot Topic or Spencer Gifts in the mall. These with an appropriately challenging message can be great for department rivalries. They’ll likely reciprocate, and now you’ve got a “thing” going.
7. Appreciation SWAG For Receptionists
Receptionists love a little coffee mug with their name on it, or a message like “keep up the good work!”. Since you only see such coworkers sporadically, you’ve got a little more leeway to go above and beyond.
After all, they may never know who you are in a large organization with many departments. Especially if you can see they need a pat on the back, get them something good.8. Custodial Staff Love Quality Headphones
Janitors, custodians, and staff involved in keeping premises clean tend to spend long lonely hours scrubbing or mopping or polishing or vacuuming. They all have headphones, and those headphones all get broken every couple of months. Get them a nice pair and leave it in their custodial office with a bow on top and a friendly note. Anonymity is best for this gift.
9. A Team Gift Can Be Donuts in the Break Room
As with SWAG gifts, you can give the team a “corporate” gift; one meant to be enjoyed by everybody. A box of donuts picked up at the bakery and dropped off in the break room will be well appreciated.
10. Managers Can Give Employees Work “Coupons”
Say there’s an incentive option for a certain amount of sales. Managers and team leads might give employees who “win” a “coupon” for an extra day off or something. Such gifts can also be given out for a variety of reasons. Employee excellence that managers want to recognize across the floor, or privately, can be appropriate. You’ve got options. A Gift That Fits
Work coupons, team gifts, headphones for custodians, SWAG or more for receptionists, humorous gifts for internal rivalries, corporate SWAG generally and for managerial staff, tools where appropriate, flowers or other foliage, and desk baubles can all be good gifts. Just match the present to the recipient and put a little thought into it. Your gift will be a big success.
