Employee gifts are great for recognizing the work of your team. Thus, it should be on your list of priorities—it yields dividends not just for employees’ well-being, but also for their commitment to your business.
Many situations are ideal for providing employees with everyday recognition, whether in the form of positive feedback or thanks, for example. But there’s also another, complementary form of recognition that is sometimes just what the situation calls for.
If you’ve had a banner year—or survived a crisis or a major change—you can highlight your employees’ efforts or successes with a gift.
Here are my best company gift ideas, divided into 6 categories.
The Fun Employee Gifts
1. Basket of Artisanal Food Products
Encourage local producers by bringing together a variety of artisanal food products to make a lovely gift basket. In the summer, you can include seasonal vegetables, jams and fresh fruit pies. In the winter, opt for prepared food products such as pickled garlic scapes, homemade bread, pâtés, and quiches.
2. Quality Bottle of Alcohol
When it comes to alcohol, there are so many options to choose from. Gift your employees a good bottle. Better still, go the extra mile and buy something local, for example the Quebec-made Romeo’s Gin. My go-to selection includes maple cream drink, Coureur des bois, Choco Crème, and Pur Vodka.
3. Cocktail Kit
Have you heard of Monsieur Cocktail ready-made kit boxes? If your employee is always talking about how much they love drinking daiquiris on their patio in the summer, Monsieur Cocktail is sure to win them over. The box makes 10 frozen strawberry daiquiris, and includes everything you need, from glass and straws to umbrellas and syrups. The only thing you’ll have to add is a bottle of rum, for the alcoholic version. Of course, you can also use the kit as is for the mocktail version of the drink.
4. Takeout from a Local Restaurant, Delivered to Your Employee’s Door
For Christmas, at Agendrix, each employee received a meal box for two from a fine cuisine restaurant, bottle of wine included. This gave each employee the opportunity to enjoy some quality time, over a good meal, minus the cooking and dishes. Yippee! Over the past year, restaurants have come out with many more “meal box” options. Check them out!
5. Show Tickets
To highlight a milestone for an employee or congratulate them on a success, why not gift them tickets to a show? For best results, make sure to find out what they enjoy. Imagine the look on your employee’s face when they see two tickets to a show they’ve only ever dreamed of going to…
Avoid buying tickets to just any random show, without checking your employee’s tastes—this could make the gift seem generic.
6. Prepaid Credit Card
Gifting a prepaid credit card lets your employee finally buy that special something that’s been sitting in their Amazon cart but that they’ve never quite decided to buy. Done and dusted!
Corporate Gifts Connected to Your Values
7. Budget for an Outdoor Purchase
If you say that your employees’ health is important to you, and you understand the value of exercising and enjoying the outdoors, walk the talk by giving your employees an outdoor budget! They can use it to buy the paddleboard of their dreams, a sleeping bag, or a tent for their next camping trip.
8. Sports Footwear Budget
You can also treat your employees to a gift card from a sports shoe store with branded icons using a card template, or announce that you’ll pay for their new pair of sneakers upon presentation of receipts.
9. Quality Handmade Kitchen Item
Want to encourage people at work to take the time to cook up an amazing meal? Gift them a good handmade chef’s knife or an elegant serving tray. There are oodles of local and artisanal options in the way of kitchen tools, and the quality really does make all the difference.
10. Eco-friendly Household Item
Live up to your values and give the environment a helping hand by gifting your employee an eco-friendly household item. A good example is Bee’s Wrap, which replaces Saran wrap. Dans le sac and Trois fois par jour, both made-in-Quebec companies, offer a number of eco-friendly products that make wonderful gifts.
Employee Gifts That Encourage Self-Care
11. App Subscription
Apps might be a non-physical gift, but they can have a very concrete impact. Gift your employee a subscription to a meditation or yoga app to let them know that you care about the well-being of your staff. There are also personal development and reading apps, for example.
12. Spa Package
Everyone loves a spa package! Having some quality time to relax, alone or with someone special, is rarely an unwelcome gift. Choose a nearby location and give a gift card to an employee who has earned it, or to the entire team.
13. Surprise Day Off
This non-physical gift can be announced as a surprise: Next week, everyone’s off on Friday! Encouraging employees to take care of themselves or to enjoy some time to rest and relax is a valid form of recognition. If giving everyone some time off is impossible for your type of business, you can go with groups of employees.
14. Sports Outing
Organize a group hike or an adventure course to reward your team while also cementing group cohesion. If a group outing isn’t an option, offer your employees an exercise budget, for example, a yoga or gym membership, or a family outing to a tree-to-tree adventure course.
Symbolic Company Gifts
15. Plant
A plant is a very symbolic gift. Some plants even have their own inherent symbols in different cultures. For example, a Crassula, or succulent plant, is a symbol of happiness and prosperity.
Pick a low-maintenance plant so that everyone can enjoy it, whether or not they have a green thumb. You can also put plants in decorative pots so that your employees will want to proudly display them at home, or even at work.
16. Book that’s Meaningful to You
Have you read a meaningful book that you think could benefit others? Gift it to your employee, and add a personal note on the front page. I personally find that Simon Sinek’s Start With Why is a great gift for anyone.
17. Handmade Game Set
Atelier-D makes handcrafted wooden game sets. The games produced by this Montreal company can be played as a couple, as a family or with a guest. These are the kinds of game sets you can leave out on the living room table for entertainment. You can check out their chess and tic-tac-toe sets, which are our personal favorites.
Unifying Corporate Gifts
If you plan to give a gift that reflects the company’s image, at the very least, opt for a quality, original gift that will truly bring some joy to your team. Forget about water bottles that will start leaking after just a couple of weeks of use.
18. Item Bearing the Company Logo
Here at Agendrix, we were gifted a hoodie featuring the Agendrix colors and image, designed in-house and produced by Unique Wool. Everyone loved this thoughtful gift, and has been wearing it with pride. Whether you settle on a cap, a canteen, a coffee mug or a toque, this idea is always a winner, as long as it’s a quality item.
The originally Montreal-based brand Kotmo offers a range of corporate and promotional items, sold alone and in gift boxes. What sets them apart is that their products are designed in Quebec, and inspired by an eco-friendly philosophy.
Handy Employee Gifts
19. Work Equipment
If, for example, your employees regularly use a bottle opener, offer them a quality corkscrew with your company image on it.
The possibilities are endless—all you have to do is tailor the gift to your workplace and your team’s needs.
20. Online PD Classes
Allocating a budget for a professional development class of the employee’s choice is a win/win for the company and the team. The class doesn’t have to relate directly to work; a plethora of training is available to help develop “soft” skills that can have a positive impact at work.
Personalized Form of Recognition
The takeaway from the 20 employee gift ideas above is this—personalize your employee gifts! When you take into account employees’ needs and tastes, you send the message that you really care about them. This, even more than the gift itself, speaks volumes.
