“The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.” –Charles Dudley Warner, American Essayist and Novelist

Employee Appreciation Gifts Opportunity

Choice is important, when deciding on the perfect employee appreciation gifts. Consumers increasingly want more and better choices when it comes to the products and services on which they spend their hard-earned cash. This same tendency is present in the workplace, when employees discuss the incentive gifts they prefer. Choice matters—in more ways than one.

Not only is choice important psychologically and culturally, it matters for inclusion as well. Workplaces are more diverse than ever: there are five generations, many races and backgrounds, and all genders. This means that preferences are equally as diverse. In fact, a recent study co-sponsored by the Incentives Marketing Association (IMA) and the Incentives Research Foundation (IRF) found that effective incentive programs are not one-size-fits-all. Employees overall have a range of recognition and rewards preferences.

Still, if choice were the only quality of effective employee incentives, cash and universal gift cards would have the most impact. But this is not the case—too often, cash and gift cards are spent on bills and necessities, which means they lose their gift “luster.” Tangible incentives, on the other hand, tend to be more personal and more memorable.

The question put to the Incentive Concepts research team, then, was this: How can we provide an incentives experience that mixes choice and tangible rewards in a memorable event? Contact us to get started on employee gifts.

Event Gifting experiences

The answer that our research team came up with was the Event Gifting experience. Event Gifting experiences reward and recognize employees by allowing them a chance to sample and customize their employee rewards. The idea is to position brands in an environment of integrity and reward, creating a culture of loyalty that strengthens the bottom line while growing business.     

Doing this required finding luxury brands that employees would value, but that also provided some degree of variety and customization. That way, finding, sampling, and customizing the reward would be a part of the reward experience itself—just as trying on new clothes is part of the shopping experience.

Our team identified several brands to fit this model:

• Bose audio. The Bose Event centers around an interactive audio experience that allows attendees to sample and select the system that will best enhance their future listening experiences.
• Seiko timepieces. The Seiko Event allows attendees to savor the most current fashion styles (for both men and women) from a premier watchmaker. Watches are a classic symbol of appreciation and tenure, not to mention a status symbol.
• Kate Spade handbags. The Kate Spade Event allows attendees to choose a handbag or other gift to suit their needs. It’s a charming and colorful incentive you will never forget.
• Briggs & Riley luggage. The Briggs & Riley Event allows attendees to pick out high-quality luggage to suit their needs and personality (great for employees who travel often.)
• Trek bicycles. The Bike Event includes a full-service bike fitting process that helps attendees not only select the bike they want, but ensures that it is properly fitted for them.

All of these brand experiences can be brought to an appropriate venue in cities worldwide, with the Incentive Concepts team handling the details and logistics.

What these brand experiences have in common is the opportunity to choose or customize a tangible incentive as part of a larger experience. This tends to be more meaningful and rewarding than cash or gift cards, more memorable than points systems or catalogs, and more personal and valuable than pre-bought gifts.

Most importantly, both participants and decision makers who try these Event Gifting experiences report high levels of satisfaction and a desire to repeat the experience again in the future. That’s building not just memories—it’s building anticipation.

Organizations with higher employee engagement have:

22% higher overall productivity
27% higher profits
50% higher sales

A properly structured incentive programs can increase employee performance by as much as 44%. [Source: International Society of Performance Improvement]

Companies using incentives programs reported a 79% success rate in achieving their established goals when the correct reward was offered. [Source: Incentive Federation Study ]

62% of employees say they prefer a tangible reward when asked about their incentive preferences. (Source: IMA/IRF study)

Annual revenue increases are 3 times higher in companies that use a tangible sales incentive over those that do not use an additional incentive. [Source: IRF ]

Sign up for our preferred pricing to begin receiving special pricing on corporate gifts and incentives, call us at 888-862-9283, or contact us today to start selecting incentives for your team.