14 October, 2023

Small Gift Ideas for Employee Appreciation That Make a Big Impact

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Skip the ordinary! Small, but relevant gifts show your employees you care about them. Explore our impactful gift options and boost your staff morale.

Employees, being the building blocks of your company, deserve appreciation and recognition at every step. But are you doing enough to make them seen, heard, valued, and recognized at your company?

Given the relentless pursuit for success and daily crusades in your business, you may lack the time to pay attention to your employees and overlook their hard work. But, there’s an idea to make up for it – little appreciation gifts for them on special occasions, work anniversaries, yearly bonuses, or milestone achievements. 

You never know how even a small gift for employee appreciation goes a long way in motivating employees and building their faith and trust in the company. So, without a second thought, consider presenting gifts to your employees, no matter whether it’s big or small, to make them feel valued.

We understand budget is a big concern when it comes to employee gifting, especially when you have a sizable workforce. To help you out, we have summed up some ideas for small employee recognition gifts that are expressive and guaranteed to leave an outstanding impact. Have a read. 

Why Employee Gifts Matter?

Every company should prioritize employee appreciation programs to foster a positive and friendly work environment, which subsequently boosts employee satisfaction. When your employees are happy and satisfied, they tend to perform better and stay at your company longer. This decreases your employee attrition rate and saves time when hiring new resources frequently.  

There’s nothing better than thoughtful gifts to show your appreciation to employees. Here’s how recognition gifts can actually help both your employees and the company. 

  • Boosting employee morale: Any meaningful and small gift for employee appreciation is sure to invoke a sense of pride in your team members and uplift their morale. They feel a push to invest more effort in their work, which resultantly nurtures an enthusiastic and positive work environment. 
  • Fosters connection: This goes without saying that considerate and creative gift ideas to employees make them feel like a significant part of the company. It builds their trust and loyalty for the company and therefore, strengthens the employee-employer connection. 
  • Recognition of individual success: By giving small presents complemented with a ‘thanks’ message to every employee, you are recognizing their individual success. This reflects your effort in celebrating each of their contribution towards the company’s growth and encourages them to continue doing the hard work.  
  • Increase employee engagement: The practice of giving great employee appreciation gifts leads to increased employee engagement. Employees feel connected more with the company and that inspires them to engage more, actively work towards the company’s goals, and share innovative ideas. 

Key Considerations for Choosing Employee Gifts

Companies seek to choose great employee gift ideas that make a difference, but budget restrictions are often imposed on them. 

However, gifts do not necessarily have to be expensive to reflect your appreciation. You need to find something expressive or with a personal touch to convey your ‘thanks’ gesture beautifully while keeping affordability in mind. 

So, here are the key considerations for choosing a sensible budget for perfect employee recognition gifts.  

  • Workforce size: Fewer employees mean you can have a slightly greater budget for gifting! But, for a large workforce, you necessarily have to find extraordinary yet small gifts for employee recognition to keep your budget low.  
  • Employee achievements and occasions: Decide your budget according to the significance of the gifting occasion. If you are sending away presents during holidays, keep the budget lower to encompass the gift expenses for your entire workforce. However, you should try to extend your budget when it’s about recognizing milestones or successes that your employees achieved through sheer hard work and dedication. 
  • Employee needs and choices: Although budget may be a constraint, keep in mind that your gifts must create an impression on the employees and make them feel valued. Evaluate their lifestyle and personality to understand their needs or preferences. This will help you figure out some great ideas for small gift for employee appreciation that truly add value to their experiences. 

5 Unique Ideas for Employee Appreciation Small Gifts for 2024

Birthdays, anniversaries, onboarding events, or success celebrations – no matter what the occasion, you need to make grand gestures of gifting to show your appreciation for employees. Small gifts can make an impact if they are picked up wisely considering the personal interests or lifestyle choices of the employees. 

Without further ado, take a look at a few unique employee appreciation gifts for 2024 that we shortlisted. 

  1. Give Employees A Gift of Their Choice

Gift cards – the most popular and purposeful way of gifting your employees that will garner too much applause for you in return! 

This idea tops our list because you can afford this no matter what your total budget is. Set a price or denomination for every employee based on your workforce strength and budget, and send them gift cards of that amount. 

Employee appreciation gift cards are incredible ideas to please your employees as they can buy anything or avail of any service of their choice through it. From global retail brands to food delivery and travel to tech gadgets, you can choose a gift card from any brand and of any amount to reward your employees. With gift cards, employees get endless possibilities to choose products or services that they really want or desire to have. 

Besides, you can also give away open-loop gift cards such as Visa or Mastercard reward cards to offer extensive flexibility to your employees in choosing their gifts.  

Some of the widely used employee gift cards are Amazon, Nordstrom, DoorDash, Adidas, Starbucks, Walmart, and Airbnb. In other words, rewarding gift cards will let your employees enjoy experiences from limitless options, including dining, traveling, shopping, video streaming, gaming, and many more.   

  1. Gift Popular Books

Book lovers are everywhere, including your workplace! So, giving away popular or best-selling books is one of the great employee appreciation gift ideas that will only get you admiration. 

Gifting a book will make avid book lovers among your team immensely happy at heart to read something new. On the other hand, it will also persuade non-readers to engage in some interesting reading and continue their learning process. 

This makes book gifting a win-win idea for you, sure to be loved by your employees. They will respect this gifting gesture more because it is an investment made to nurture their passion while fostering their professional development.  

With literally an uncountable number of books available under diverse categories, you can also go with the idea of giving gift cards from any reputed bookstore. This gives your employees the chance to pick a favorite book according to their preferences or interests. 

  1. Coffee Hamper

This is one of the most cherished small gift ideas for employee appreciation that never fails to impress. 

The coffee bugs in your workplace will be more than happy to receive a hamper of the branded coffee beans. Coffee is a quintessential part of every employee’s life. Almost everyone sips up a steaming hot cup early in the morning or while running to their offices. Gifting them a hamper, which comprises a handful of authentically roasted specialty coffee, will definitely cheer them up! 

A coffee hamper also makes a brilliant small gift for employee appreciation because it is way more affordable than any other idea. Yet, it’s thoughtful! After all, who does not love brewing coffee from the freshest beans? 

Some of the best and go-to brands for coffee lovers from where you can gift the hampers are La Colombe, The Organic Coffee Co, Chicago French Press, and Grounds & Hounds. 

  1. Ballpoint Pen

If you are looking for small gift ideas for employee appreciation, this idea is significantly relevant and appealing yet comes perfectly under a lower budget. A ballpoint pen is something that every desk in a workplace must have and employees need it every moment. 

Gifting a trendy-looking ballpoint pen from the classiest brand around the world is a great idea for workplace recognition. Make sure to choose the pens with striking and playful designs that employees will love to hold and write. 

Additionally, you can make this small gift idea absolutely out-of-the-box through personalization. Many product printing service providers print the name, initials, or signature of the employees on the dazzling body of the ballpoint pens. So, you can get the ballpoints customized by one such printing service company and make your gifting idea totally admirable and unforgettable to your employees.  

  1. Color Blast T-Shirt

Give the coolest color blast T-shirts from a popular clothing brand to your employees as recognition rewards. Color blast t-shirts, being a trending fashion today, will be instantly loved by your employees, and they can wear them to office or casual outings. 

Several popular brands are offering color blast t-shirts at affordable prices. Choose a unisex style and color that goes with the persona or brand theme of your organization. 

It’s even better if you spend some more and customize the t-shirts with your brand logo or organization name. Getting t-shirts with their organization’s name or logo embossed will make your employees sense a deep connection with the gift and urge them to wear it often. 

Needless to say, this is one of the great employee appreciation gift ideas that will also help foster your brand presence! 

Is it Necessary to Give Employee Gifts?

The answer is a big YES! With unique and small gift ideas for employee appreciation, you can directly contribute to the development of a people-centric work culture while motivating your workforce. 

The gift-giving gesture is quite becoming a norm in the corporate sector as there are several benefits that organizations are gaining from it. From improved productivity and greater job satisfaction to enhanced employee engagement and higher retention, there are many perks that organizations realize by giving thoughtful recognition gifts from time to time.  

If you don’t want to miss out on these benefits that will further push your company’s progress, make sure to plan and give away recognition gifts to your employees. 

Find Impressive Corporate Gifts for Employees with Gifted.co 

Before choosing any ideas of expressive and small gift for employee appreciation, you need to understand that every employee has unique preferences and choices. That’s why you spend some months evaluating your employees’ personalities and preferences to choose a tailored gift idea that makes the maximum impact. 

Whether you want creative gift ideas for employees or send away employee gift cards for any budget, Gifted.co has got you covered. 

  • Seamless delivery: Send away digital gift cards or physical gifts with a few clicks to your employees anywhere in the US. 
  • Epic catalog with gift cards: Choose from our vast catalog of gift cards from 3500+ brands in 150+ countries and give your employees the chance to choose a desirable gift out of endless possibilities. 
  • Easy integrations: Gifted.co platform flawlessly integrates with the HR platforms, which helps HR managers introduce personalized gifting directly into their organization’s workflows. 
  • Intuitive platform: With our user-friendly platform, curate ultimate employee gifting experiences with presents or gift cards for birthdays, onboarding, work anniversaries, holidays, celebrations, spot bonuses, and recognition programs.  

Go For The Best Creative Ideas For Small Gift For Employee Appreciation with Gifted.co!

No more stressing over budget while deciding ideas for great employee appreciation gifts. With a bit of thoughtfulness and creativity, you can choose the best idea for gifting your employees without breaking the bank. 

We have discussed the above exciting ideas of small gift for employee recognition that you can consider for birthdays, anniversaries, holiday seasons, work anniversaries, etc. While these are low-budget ideas, make sure to carefully craft your gifts or gift cards with a personalized gratitude message that will light up the face of employees with glee and satisfaction. 

Contact Gifted.co today to learn how you can deploy your ideas of employee recognition gifts and create a difference in your workplace culture!  

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