Plenty of companies want to show their employees how much they care by providing care packages. They might be provided to celebrate a holiday or a new year. Or perhaps you use them to welcome new employees to the team. Ideally, these custom employee kits will improve morale, make life better for employees, and also help further your company’s brand and culture. Yet actually selecting gifts that employees will like if not love is easier said than done. With a bit of time and effort, however, you can build care packages that your staff will appreciate and get a lot of use out of.
Make Sure Employees Come First
When you’re designing a gift kit for employees, remember that their wants and needs are what counts, not your personal preferences. For example, you might love coffee, so you might consider picking up insulated, company-branded coffee mugs. However, if no one else on the team or around the office drinks coffee on a regular basis, coffee mugs could fall flat.
Figuring out the tastes and preferences employees have can be a bit tricky. You can observe people around the office or shop, and you may be able to get a good grasp of what folks like. If you’re building gift packages for a larger organization, you may not be able to get a feel for preferences all by yourself. However, you could ask the team and front-line managers if they have any insights.
If you’re still having trouble figuring out preferences, consider putting together a simple survey. You might even tell employees what the survey is for (building gift kits). Or you could be a bit more vague to hopefully protect the surprise.
Emphasize Day-to-Day Utility
When it comes to things like custom branded apparel, you want to give people gear they’ll actually use. Let’s say your company operates in a colder climate with long winters and your employees spend a lot of time outdoors. If that’s the case, one of the best gifts you can give will be winter gear as it’s highly practical. Rather than company-branded t-shirts, you might opt for company-branded gloves and hats.
You could also offer high-quality winter jackets from well-known apparel companies that have been branded for your business. A high-quality jacket will cost quite a bit more than a t-shirt, of course. However, t-shirts may not get as much use or offer as much value in a colder climate. Further, while many people own only one or two winter jackets, they probably own dozens of t-shirts. So, even though jackets may be pricier, they might also offer better value for both you and your employees.
Umbrellas offer another simple but highly useful gift. To be fair, many people forget about umbrellas until they need them. Yet once a storm appears, an umbrella can become essential. Just make sure you select high-quality gear so that your branded umbrellas don’t wilt in the face of a storm.
Quite simply, the more useful something is, the more likely it is to get used. Pens have long been a mainstay for branded products, for example, because pens are always in high demand. Granted, these days, keyboards and digital screens are making pen and paper a bit less common. Yet you could provide branded microfiber screen cleaners or custom laptop sleeves.
Gift Cards Go a Long Way
Branded thermoses, notebooks, pens, sweatshirts, and more can take center stage when building gift kits. However, it’s also smart to offer gift cards, say to a major online retailer or a popular big box store. Gift cards are one of the most flexible gifts you can purchase, and you can be sure that practically everyone will get a lot of use out of them and will appreciate them.
Gift cards are a bit impersonal, so it’s wise to make sure that gift-giving goes beyond gift cards. Still, you can slip gift cards into employee kits with branded apparel, mugs, and whatever else you decide on. This way, you’re giving employees a bit of space to choose what they want.
Ultimately, it’s the thought that counts. However, a bit of extra thought when planning out gifts can go a long way, no matter the occasion.
