Top Five Employee Recognition Gifts

Select a gift that keeps on giving and keeps reminding giftees of your business.

Our number five choice for a meaningful company gift is an Amazon.com gift card. You will make an impression on the recipient when giving, when they consider all the options, when they are ordering, upon receipt, and when used.

That is a lot of good memories that include you. Unlike frozen turkeys, gift certificates are easy to handle. Give them out in person with a personally selected and signed thank you card.

Pictured is what I would value as an employee gift, but I already have a Keurig single cup coffee brewer -- I would use a gift certificate to buy more Emeril's Big Easy Bold k-cups for my favorite, wake me up, k-cup coffee -- BAM! That's personalized giving that won't feel bureaucratic and uncaring. The whole idea of gift certificates is to let your company gift recipient get what they want, not what you can buy in bulk at a cheap price.

Amazon has great prices and selection, let that be part of your gift. I lift this steaming cup from the Big Easy, to you, as a salute.

Procure a sizable quantity of Amazon gift cards. Better yet, buy a box of cards; and when you catch an employee doing something right, the reward is at hand. Give gift cards or gift certificates to reinforce that pat on the back.

Employee gifts are not just for the holidays. Amazon gift cards can also be an important part of rapid recognition for exceptional employees. Recognition that will be remembered with a smile.

Your customers need those smiles.

Reward your crew with the recognition they deserve. A few celebrations ago we gave BFU brag rags, folks still wear them and share comments they receive. It's nice to have your associates smile when they think of your combined mission.

One of our early supporters was given a stein printed with the saying on that baseball-T. He keeps it on his working desk at home. A brilliant entrepreneur, he never finished college as a youth - but he says he loves showing off his award, and it's a favorite with his grandkids.

If your company only hires one of ten they interview, or one of fifty from which they receive resumes - let your employees know.

If your corporate gift is used daily that is good, and if it appears personally appropriate - it shows you care.

"To one of the select few" would be a great label or engraving on that something useful and special.

Your gift communicates the value of exceeding client expectations.

It takes hard work and persistence to develop an innovative idea. It takes even more work to create an innovative product that is easy for clients to understand and use.

An iPod can be a tangible representation of your company's increasingly client-centric attitude.

If an employee already has an iPod, your gift is likely to be an upgrade. Even if they give it away, each time they see one in use they will think of your gift.

And how much you appreciate them.

Let your executives tell you who has the best limousine company.

Provide an award certificate to every honored employee, and include a certificate for a three or four hour jaunt in a limo whenever and to wherever they want.

If this works out well, consider buying a limo when new models come out. Buy after a major style change and your limousine will look new for many years. Consider letting any employee book the limo occasionally; that will add some employee satisfaction.

You can also create special events using the limousine in conjunction with a ball game, show, or concert as an award or prize. For most of your employees this will be something they will talk about for a very long time.

"streeetch" your budget a bit further and toss in a gift certificate to a swank restaurant, or a debit card they can use as they wish.

Bon Appetite

return to top of page.



100% of direct income from my lenses goes to micro-finance solutions for world poverty provided by the Grameen Foundation. The Grameen Foundation is creating a rising tide of positive influence upon our world.

Will YOUR life be based on what you want to use it to accomplish, or by random urges of what you want to do?

"We hear fables about the past, we develop dreams of the future, but the work needs to be done today." - Allan R. Wallace