Employee Recognition Gifts: Ideas for Showing Appreciation to Employees

Employee recognition gifts are a great way to offer thanks and appreciation to staff for all the work they do, as well as their positive attitudes, their reliability, or their overall contributions to the organization. Here are great staff recognition gifts that not only show you appreciate your employees, but also help give a boost to the work environment as a whole.

Whether you're searching for work presents for a woman, a man, or a large team of employees, employee appreciation gifts are hard to pick out, for several reasons. These include:

• Budgetary constraints. Whether you're on a corporate or small business level, whether you're assigned to pick out luxury executive thank you gifts, hats off giveaways or cheap employee appreciation gifts, you still need to stay within the assigned budget)
  
• Corporate policies. Unfortunately, you probably don't have full freedom to give anything you want, to anyone at any time. Certain gifts or occasions may be deemed inappropriate by your organization.
• Variety and number of choices Oh, no! Employee recognition gifts run the gamut from personalized pens to luxury gifts to gift baskets, and they all seem so perfect!
• Personal tastes. Most work environments are somewhat impersonal. Do you know what all your employees like and don't like?

During employee appreciation week, on staff appreciation day, or on another appropriate occasion, the employee appreciation gift basket is the classic thank-you gift to present to:

• a clerical, customer service or administrative employee
• an executive employee
• an entire office or team of employees

Food is a universally beloved gift, and a professionally designed gift basket with hand-selected inclusions such as savory snacks, dried and fresh fruits, nuts, candies, pastries, chocolates, artisan cheeses and gourmet meats can be perfect.

You don't have to know everybody's dietary restrictions. But to make sure you don't give an all-meat gift basket to a vegetarian, or a chocolate-only gift basket to a diabetic, give a gift basket with an assortment of goodies when in doubt.

To avoid giving a card that's essentially worthless, be sure to choose a gift card from a vendor that serves your area, or an online vendor like Amazon.com. You can buy the card in appropriate denominations - smaller denominations for giving to an entire staff, office or team, or larger denominations for individual employee gifts.

I've worked in many offices in a clerical, customer service, or supervisory capacity, and what I've learned is that:

• Giving employees thank you, recognition and incentive gifts encourages and motivates employees to work harder, better and longer.
• Employee appreciation gifts improve the climate of the workplace, making the office or job site a better place not just for staff, but for customers and clients.
• Presenting gifts of thanks to staff requires little effort and expense (compared to a bonus or raise, say) but goes a long way toward making employees feel appreciated. This can mean greater longevity.
• Employee recognition gifts help you earn the respect of your employees, even as you acknowledge their contributions.
  

Whether it's a gift certificate, a memento of the workplace, or a luxury gift to be enjoyed for many years, a good employee appreciation present can improve the work environment and emphasize that each staff member is an essential part of the team.  

See the author's disclosure statement regarding compensation for this article.