How Strategic Gifting Drives ROI

It’s hard to argue against the social value of gift giving: after all, who doesn’t feel good when receiving a carefully-chosen gift from their business partner, client, or employer? Employee rewards and corporate gifting strategies can generate warm feelings, but that’s not all. Learn how thoughtful gifting can also benefit your company’s bottom line.

Reducing turnover and increasing engagement with employee rewards

Salary, benefits and growth opportunities are obvious draws for any company trying to attract and retain talent, but if you ask workers themselves, more than half will tell you that it’s recognition that keeps them loyal and engaged.

Reducing Turnover

Recognition matters. According to data compiled by Achievers Workforce Institute and reported in Benefits Canada , 57% of surveyed workers said that feeling recognized by their company would reduce their chances of looking for a job elsewhere, with 67% adding that they prefer meaningful recognition over frequent praise.

A separate study by Eagle Hill Consulting, also reported in Benefits Canada , came to similar conclusions. “Our research signals that employers need to double down on employee recognition programs,” said Melissa Jezior, president and chief executive officer of Eagle Hill Consulting, in a press release . “Far too many employees are burnt out from their workload and say they aren’t recognized for their efforts. Failing to acknowledge workers is a recipe for subpar organizational performance and high attrition, the last thing employers need in a volatile economy.”

She’s right: a 2019 Gallup poll indicates that inadequate recognition is the number one reason employees leave, with 79% of recent job-quitters saying they left because they didn’t feel appreciated.

While some may balk at the costs of employee rewards, the price of attrition is much greater—Simply Benefits reports that it costs between 30-50% of annual salary to replace an entry-level worker and up to 400% to replace a high-level or specialized employee.

Increasing Engagement

Although the price of inadequate appreciation is high, the good news is that the rewards of a good employee acknowledgement program are even higher.

“Those organizations actively seeking to improve employee engagement, including through the use of formal and informal recognition, financially outperform their competitors,” reads a report from the Incentive Research Foundation . Similarly, a Gallup study compared the top quarter of businesses with high employee engagement versus the bottom quarter with low engagement. Engagement alone was correlated with 18% more sales and 23% more profitability.

The Eagle Hill Consulting survey supports this data, with 47% of US employees saying that when their work is recognized, they’re much likelier to go above and beyond their regular duties.

Retaining clients and increasing conversions

Data on the value of client gifting tells a similar story, with thoughtful corporate gifts being credited for helping to retain clients and increase sales. According to one report from Coresight Research , recognizing clients with gifts is particularly important in the remote work era, with 58% of corporate gift buyers saying they give the same or more than they did before the pandemic.

That’s not all the Coresight Research study found 43% of respondents believed that corporate gifting improved relationships, too.

Even better, client gifting may also lead to better conversions—a paper from University of Haifa sociologist Asaf Darr argues that gifting “operates as a conversion device” in the platform economy, aka the digital landscape where so many of our relationships (and purchases) are now conducted.

Tips for successful corporate gifting

According to the Coresight Research study, here are the top criteria corporate gift buyers cite when choosing presents for employees and clients:

• Quality: 62% of buyers said that choosing good-quality gifts is “extremely important” while another 26 per cent said it was “very important.”
• Timely delivery: This was the second-most important factor cited, with a combined 82% of respondents ranking it as either “extremely” or “very” important.
• Variety: Offering a variety of gift options was ranked as the third-most important sign of a good gifting program.
• Simplicity: Finally, eight in 10 respondents said a simple buying process was a key factor for successful corporate gifting.