Are you wondering what the best gift for your employee this holiday season is? When choosing to give your employees a gift, it is essential to remember that there are different types of gifts that can be given. Managers should take into account what the employee's interests are, as well as their culture. If the employee posts about travelling a lot, for example, it would be a good idea to give them airline tickets or an all-inclusive vacation package.
Some managers may choose to give their employees a gift certificate instead of an actual physical present. This allows the employee to choose what they want and need, which is more beneficial than getting something they may not need or want. Gift certificates can also be used for holiday parties or other events that the company may be hosting as party favours.
Another way to go about choosing a holiday gift for your employee is thinking about adapting it to the type of relationship you have with them. For example, cash may be the best option if you are just starting on your employer-employee relationship. However, if the two of you have built up an amicable rapport over time and have grown into more than just an employer-employee, it would be nice to choose a more personal gift.
All in all, gifting your employee is a good gesture-and some are very much expecting gifts from you. So, what should you really give? Here are perfect holiday gift ideas for your co-workers or employees that you may consider if you're stuck on what to get.
But before that, some things to remember when giving holiday gifts:
Gifts should be fair and equitable among all employees
Make sure there is enough money allocated in the budget for gifts before buying anything
If there's a close relationship between manager and employee, a more personal gift may be appropriate
Gifts should not be potentially embarrassing or inappropriate
10 Perfect Holidays Gift Ideas for your Employee
Gift Cards
First and foremost, when choosing a holiday gift for your employee, it is important to consider their interests and hobbies. If you can find a gift that matches their interests, they will be sure to appreciate it more. Some good options include books, music CDs, or even tickets to a show or a sporting event.
If you are having trouble finding a gift that matches your employee’s interests, you can always go with a gift card instead. There are a variety of gift cards that you can choose from. You can get them a gift card to their favourite coffee place, clothing store, or even an online marketplace like Amazon. Gift cards are great because not only do they match your employee’s interests, but they also leave room for customization!
Work From Home Survival Kit
The COVID-19 pandemic made working from home a necessity rather than a luxury. While the pandemic has been contained to some extent thanks to public health actions and vaccines, things are yet to go back to normal or as they were pre-pandemic. As such, a majority of office workers are still working from home.
Working from home comes with its own fair share of challenges, including a potential lack of privacy or personal space, Zoom fatigue, and the absence of co-workers to interact or deliberate on issues. A work-from-home survival kit is a much-deserved gift for any remote worker. This kit offers solutions to common remote work struggles, including boredom, noise, isolation, and a potential lack of privacy.
The work from home survival kit contains essentials such as webcam covers, earplugs, conference call Bingo cards, pants or pajamas, decision coins, and more. The kit is a perfect holiday gift for remote employees and definitely enhances their work experience at home.
Noise Canceling earbuds/ AirPods and Webcam
It's a no-brainer that office workers are making video calls more than ever. In 2020 alone, the video conference industry was valued at $7.87 billion, largely attributed to remote working. Considering office workers are always on video calls, noise-canceling earphones to enhance sound quality in video calls and a webcam to enhance video quality would be a perfect gift for your employee.
For the noise-canceling earbuds/AirPods, a headset would be an excellent option to enhance sound quality. Just ensure it has a sound-canceling feature to enable employees to concentrate on their work even in a noisy work environment. With good noise-canceling earbuds/headsets and webcam, video conferencing problems will be a thing of the past.
Christmas Gift Hamper
A Christmas gift hamper is an excellent gift to offer your employee this festive season. A gift hamper filled with different festive gifts such as chocolates, marshmallows, a bottle of wine/whiskey, good quality coffee, aromatic candles, etc., is an excellent way of spreading the Christmas spirit and will surely delight your employees.
The benefit of gifting your employee with a gift hamper is that you can pick several personalized gift items and then curate them into a single hamper. Just make sure to pick festive items that your employees would love.
Adjustable Standing Desk
Prolonged sitting for more than 8 hours each day isn't healthy. Office workers who sit for long hours are at risk of developing chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, stroke, high cholesterol, and more. With such grave consequences, office workers need to get active while working. Standing desks are a great way of incorporating small exercises into the work routine by allowing office workers to intermittently switch between sitting and standing throughout their workday.
An adjustable standing desk is an outstanding gift to your employee. Not only will it enable them to alleviate the risks of prolonged sitting but also boost their energy levels, mood, and overall productivity. A highly recommended standing desk is the Adjustable Standing Desk Pro Series from FlexiSpot.
While gifting your employee the standing desk, you could also send along an anti-fatigue mat to make their standing more comfortable. This will undoubtedly be an excellent addition to the standing desk gift.
Ergonomic Office Chair
How about gifting your dedicated employee an ergonomic office chair this year. Since they sit behind their desks for many hours, having a comfortable, ergonomic office chair is essential to avoid poor posture and back pains. Ergonomic office chairs offer plenty of benefits, including maintaining proper posture by providing excellent lumbar support, enhancing the level of comfort, reducing muscle stress and promoting blood flow, improving workspace efficiency, and generally promoting health and wellbeing.
Desk Accessories
There are tons of desk accessories you could gift your employee this season. From a desk organizer, desk vacuums, and a lamp, here are a few options you can consider for this category.
Mini Desk Vacuums- Gifting your employee with a mini desk vacuum will ensure they keep a healthy and clean office environment perfect for working. Desk vacuums suck off crumbs, dust, debris, and pet hair, ensuring the workspace is tidy, free of dust, and refreshing. What's more, they are tiny and unobtrusive thus can seamlessly fit in compact spaces.
Desk Organizers- As an employer, you might have noticed that your employee's desk is constantly cluttered and disorganized. You could gift them a desk organizer to keep their office desks tidy in such a situation. Desktop organizers are small furniture units fitted with racks and strategically placed on the desk to keep the desk organized.
Desk Pads- Desk pads come in handy to make the workspace more comfortable and give it a cleaner look. A fantastic gift idea would be to gift your employee a personalized desk pad.
Desk lamps- Desk lamps illuminate the desk optimally, preventing eye strain. Get your employee a desk lamp and contribute to their well-being as a show of appreciation.
Desk plants are another excellent desk accessory to gift your employee this festive season. Whether natural or artificial, desk plants enhance mood by bringing cheer and colour to the office space. You'll want to go with succulent plants such as terrariums, hanging planters, and faux mini pumpkins as they are easy to care for and can easily be mailed.
Wireless Charger- If your employee has a Qi-compatible (wireless-charging ready) device, you could gift them a wireless charger to streamline their phone charging. A wireless charger will also eliminate the struggles of managing cables. It also promotes a minimalist desk appearance.
Monitor Arm
A monitor arm is a perfect holiday gift for your employee or co-worker, especially if they're in computer-based sectors such as IT, coding, digital marketing, content production, etc. Monitor arms come in handy to alleviate problems associated with prolonged computer use, including muscle strain, poor posture, and blurred vision, among others.
Monitor arms alleviate these issues by allowing users to adjust their monitor screens’ position, height, angle, and distance, ensuring they are not straining their muscles, eyes, or assuming a poor posture while working.
Personalized Gifts
You could surprise your employee or co-worker with a personalized gift this festive season. There is a wide range of options when it comes to personalized gifts, including:
Personalized Travel Mugs- Travel mugs are best suited for employees who travel a lot. You could give your employee a customized travel mug to allow them to carry their favourite beverages with them everywhere.
Personalized Coffee Mugs- You can gift your employee a customized coffee mug with their names written on it. You could also imprint an animation, drawing, logo, or something your employee loves. As an idea, you could also add a personalized message to make the gift extra special.
Personalized Pen Holder- Misplacing your pen can be pretty disappointing, let alone inconveniencing. A pen holder can save your employee from the inconveniences of losing a pen. To make the gift extra special, personalize it to your employee's taste.
Heated Lumbar Support
Prolonged sitting causes low back pain and spinal issues, which is quite common among office workers. Heated lumbar support is a perfect Christmas gift for office workers to enable them to overcome back pains. This will keep your employee’s backs fully supported and comfortable throughout the whole day, regardless of their sitting position. This will enhance their productivity and well-being.
Conclusion
While employers don't have to gift their employees Christmas gifts, gifting your employee is a nice gesture and shows gratitude and appreciation. Buying Christmas gifts for your employee can be pretty challenging, especially if you don’t know them on a personal level. However, you should choose the perfect Christmas gift not just on how well you know your employee but also based on the challenges you might have seen them go through.
This festive season, forgo the tired and cheap corporate gifts and surprise your employees with elevated, thoughtful, and actually useful gifts that could make they are work-life happier and healthier. You could go the extra mile and personalize the gifts or customize them with the company colours to truly show your appreciation.
Whatever you decide to give, be sure to personalize it with a handwritten note. Merry Christmas!
