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Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

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51–60 of 309 posts

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#51

> It’s also best to avoid socks. Everyone already has socks, and realistically, they will likely also get socks from someone else during the holiday season. What is this crap? Socks are the best gift. Didn't the author stop to wonder why everybody gives people socks during the holiday season? Because virtually everybody uses socks, because socks wear out fast, because new socks are the most comfortable and it's alway…

This must be regional/cultural because for my family and friends socks is the kiss-off gift of a person who doesn't give a damn about you but needs to buy you a gift.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#52

> It’s also best to avoid socks. Everyone already has socks, and realistically, they will likely also get socks from someone else during the holiday season. What is this crap? Socks are the best gift. Didn't the author stop to wonder why everybody gives people socks during the holiday season? Because virtually everybody uses socks, because socks wear out fast, because new socks are the most comfortable and it's alway…

This must be regional/cultural because for my family and friends socks is the kiss-off gift of a person who doesn't give a damn about you but needs to buy you a gift.

Your company isn't family and friends though and they can't give you a personalised gift that your closest people can do.

It's strange to expect the same treatment here.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#53
> A good gift gives employees a renewed fervor to work harder, helps them feel more motivated, and makes them feel more valued by their employers.

Does it? I’ve never experienced this.

A company is not a person. A good gift or a bad gift makes me feel the company made a business decision that affected me, just like any other business decision that affected me.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#54
It is common in India to gift gold and silver. They can be sold(most jewelers will take it for cash value) and it is something that would go up in value.

This year, cryptocurrency and NFTs are also making news as Diwali gifts.

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs shall be taxable in the hands of the recipient under Section 56 (2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 if total value exceeds Rs.50,000 for the year.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#55
I hired an operations person to plan silly stuff like this because people that worked for me wanted a culture

When I was an employee I hated non-work related stuff as part of work

turns out, even the patronizing stuff is team building amongst the workers. they build rapport with each other by talking about how patronizing it is. shrug. moving on.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#57
post #46

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, whi…

This reminds me of the Amazon employee discount. 10% off any and all purchases on the site.

Up to a maximum of $100 per year.

Or in other words, a benefit you could never even notice you had.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#58
post #36

> “It was company swag (a stone drink coaster with the company logo on it) that I had to sign a form for and that form allowed the company to then tax me on that ‘gift’ as income,” Yeah, i dont think the problem there is just that it is swag. Lots of swag is kind of crap, but on occasion i've gotten some higher end swag, and i dont really mind it.

Yes, I quite like high quality company swag like sweatshirts and hoodies with logos on them. It's particularly fun in retrospect after the company has gone under and you wear them to your current job or out on the town. People will say things like "Hey, I remember them! So you used to work for them?" It's a conversation starter.

Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad

#60

> It’s also best to avoid socks. Everyone already has socks, and realistically, they will likely also get socks from someone else during the holiday season. What is this crap? Socks are the best gift. Didn't the author stop to wonder why everybody gives people socks during the holiday season? Because virtually everybody uses socks, because socks wear out fast, because new socks are the most comfortable and it's alway…

I’m glad that works for you, but it doesn’t for me. The one ‘life hack’ that’s ever worked for me is to own a single type of sock (white, cotton, Nike). The entire batch of 30 pairs was bought at the same time so they wear evenly, meaning all socks match with all other socks. When I get down to a few functioning pairs, into the bin they go and a new batch is ordered. My family knows not to buy me socks…

Exactly. Maybe I'm somewhat color blind, but many times people have told me I'm wearing one dark blue and one black sock. So I've solved that by buying all identical socks. Then there's no issue.
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