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Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

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Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#41

Post by deathanatos »

smsm42 wrote: post #15
club_tropical wrote: post #5

Some of these are objectively bad ($5 grocery card) while others (team dinner) are basically complaints about a job/coworkers you hate (now these fools are taking your free time, too).

If it's cash-equivalent (i.e. I can actually use it in a store I commonly go to) then I don't mind even $5. I mean, it's not something that would make me particularly happy, but $5 is more than $0. I have also used some company swag for years (cups, water bottles, hoodies, scarves, backpacks, etc.) with no complaints, if it's not cheap-ass stuff but a proper product with a logo slapped on it, why not. I mean, if it's…

It's as the article says, a pittance. If you go above and beyond by some amount, you want to see that rewarded proportionally. Yeah, it's > $0 … but was it commensurate with the effort?

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#42

Post by EdwardDiego »

A company I know gave all their employees company branded beach towels, sunscreen, water bottles, and bucket hats for Christmas when it was making record profits. Being in the southern hemisphere, beach paraphernalia is seasonally appropriate, but I suspect they would've preferred just being given their share of the money that was spent on company branded products. Or, you know, a bonus because, well, record profits.

In maybe an unrelated note, a few of those employees later stole from the company.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#43

Post by bawolff »

bombcar wrote: post #12
metadat wrote: post #3

Some of these criticisms come across as pretty entitled and spoiled. Lots of places never give out any gifts, or give you a shitty cheap watch or a plastic company pen in recognition for 30 years of dedicated service. The socks complaint really bugs me. If I received a pair of socks from my boss, as long as they weren't tube socks, I'd actually like and use them! As long as you don't love in the tropics, it's hard to…

Yeah, lots of the stuff on the list isn't going to piss me off , it's just "meh" at worst. If they handed out $5 gift cards and people didn't want them you know I'd be going around and slurping them up.

This is the tech industry. Lots of people are paid enough that they would be paid more than $5 in the time it takes them to pick up the card.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#44

Post by dang »

fargle wrote: post #37
Brian_K_White wrote: post #30

Why flag this? It's 100% true. My last place gave us cheap baseball caps and light jackets with the company logo. I would never wear either of those unless it was on the clock and a required part of something like staffing a booth representing the company at a convention or something. And they weren't even good quality compny advertizing, they were junk. Imagine giving your kids a presentvfor their birthday, and it's…

not showing flagged for me? is it just greyed out? I think that's just downvoted not flagged?

Someone emailed to protest the flags so we turned them off.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#45

Post by club_tropical »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #32
smsm42 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's cash-equivalent (i.e. I can actually use it in a store I commonly go to) then I don't mind even $5. I mean, it's not something that would make me particularly happy, but $5 is more than $0. I have also used some company swag for years (cups, water bottles, hoodies, scarves, backpacks, etc.) with no complaints, if it's not cheap-ass stuff but a proper product with a logo slapped on it, why not. I mean, if it's…

Once when I was a kid, too young to have any sense, I wanted to make some money shovelling snow. I didn't realize yet that you need to make an sgreement with your customer before doing the work. This was a small town in upstate new york so even the strangers were not really strangers. As a kid you don't really see any adult as being all that different from your parents or teachers. So dippy me just starts shovelling…

No post body was provided.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#46

Post by allenu »

One place I worked had layoffs and project cancellations, so morale was way down. As a tone deaf move one day, we got an email saying as a treat because we appreciate you all being here despite how shitty everything is, you can purchase yourself a coffee and expense it (max of $10). That turned into more jokes than anything. Morale was horrible and they thought making people feel good was letting them buy coffee, which they'd then have to fill out expense forms to get "for free".

Yes, we're privileged to get a free coffee, but relative to our paycheck, it's a pointless gift and just smacks of being out of touch with employee sentiment at the time.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#47

Post by Tempest1981 »

smsm42 wrote: post #15
club_tropical wrote: post #5

Some of these are objectively bad ($5 grocery card) while others (team dinner) are basically complaints about a job/coworkers you hate (now these fools are taking your free time, too).

If it's cash-equivalent (i.e. I can actually use it in a store I commonly go to) then I don't mind even $5. I mean, it's not something that would make me particularly happy, but $5 is more than $0. I have also used some company swag for years (cups, water bottles, hoodies, scarves, backpacks, etc.) with no complaints, if it's not cheap-ass stuff but a proper product with a logo slapped on it, why not. I mean, if it's…

Some of these end up in the Goodwill stores of Silicon Valley. Someone should visit them all, and make a blog: "Coffee cups and water bottles from failed startups."

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#49

Post by jerlam »

Not just employee gifts, but nearly all gifts are valued less by the receiver than the giver.

A gift represents a decision made on behalf of the receiver by the giver. In very few situations would the receiver make the same decision as the giver with the same resources. It's assumed that the receiver will use the same resources in an optimal manner, so gift-giving is a net negative.

In some circumstances, gifts are valued higher by the receiver than the giver. Gifts of time, of expertise, of opportunity, or things that the giver can get at a much lower cost than the receiver - these can be more appreciated.

Anyway, that's my grand theory of gifting, and why I generally avoid it, unless I can make it worthwhile to the gift receiver.

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