Perfect inter-office relationships can make a huge difference in the productivity of the team, which is something you can never afford to downplay or underestimate. One of the ways to achieve this is with small signs of attention and affection, like gifts. The thing is, as a coworker you're not expected to choose a perfect gift; such high expectations are reserved for partners, closest friends and siblings, which may help you out quite a bit. Nonetheless, the better the gift you choose, the greater the message of support you're sending. With that in mind and without further ado, here are several tips on how to choose the right gift for your coworkers or employees .
Keep it private
Unless you've got something for everyone, it's quite bad-mannered to exchange gifts in front of coworkers who haven't made your list. In other words, you need to do this in private. If you and your coworker have a ritual of meeting in private after work or have some mutual rituals, you might want to use this alone time to exchange the gifts. Nevertheless, if you have such an intimate relationship, you're probably expected to know exactly what they like. Therefore, the bar of expectations should be somewhat higher. On the other hand, there's a certain level of intimacy that you shouldn't cross. There are some gifts that are only meant to be given by a partner and doing this as a coworker might make things somewhat uncomfortable.
Stick to a budget
The next thing you need to keep in mind is that getting a gift for a coworker isn't the same thing as giving your spouse an anniversary present or buying your kid a present for their birthday. Therefore, it doesn't deserve the same portion of your budget. In fact, it might be for the best to set the price-range and stick by it as much as you can. This is also why you should approach this gift picking as rationally as possible.
Some gifts, on the other hand, make this easier to do than others but it also might depend on the market in question. For instance, gift card Hong Kong market revenue is so vast that it makes this in such an obvious choice. It also allows its recipient to choose their own gift, while still feeling like they've received it from a coworker. This also extends their thoughts about you to the entire gift-purchasing process, which is a formidable boon, to say the very least.
A gift for a boss
Some people prefer to give their boss a gift and, even though this may be met with a certain amount of skepticism (even accusations of trying to work your way up in this way), this is a great gesture to make. Still, picking a gift for a boss isn't the same thing as choosing a gift for another fellow colleague. For instance, for a colleague, a picture frame, a fashion voucher or a DVD may be a suitable present, while, when it comes to the boss, you might look more towards a restaurant voucher or a tie. In other words, you should aim for something a tad more expensive, yet, not so expensive that it becomes inappropriate. Fortunately for you, the list of appropriate gifts for your boss is virtually limitless, even though it does have somewhat strict rules.
Lastly, you might also feel inclined to get some gifts for your clients, which may not be thematically far from what we've currently been discussing. In that case, gift bags, fruit baskets, crafted beers, wines, flowers and tickets for events might be the best solution. This will help leave a better impression with your clients and, unlike some of the above-listed gifts, even yield a tangible ROI.
Include a receipt
The next thing worth keeping in mind is the fact that the gift you've chosen may be broken without you noticing it or might not fit. This is why you need to include a receipt with the gift and allow the recipient to use the warranty, get a replacement or a refund for the item. Either way, this is something you should definitely do, even though you might be reluctant to show the person how much you paid for the item in question.
Be careful with prank gifts
Some of your coworkers may particularly like pranks, which would make a prank gift the most obvious choice. Even if the person is the office prankster, this might take it too far. Some people aren't that ready to receive the joke even though they're the main source of pranks around the office. Sure, getting some of this back might be justified or even karmic, yet, the point of this gift is not to be punitive but to help you improve your relationship with the coworker in question.
Conclusion
As we already said more than once, as a coworker you shouldn't feel the pressure or the need to get the perfect gift or the best gift they've ever received. In fact, they probably don't expect the gift at all, which means that just by getting them something universal, something that doesn't directly offend their beliefs, you'll achieve the purpose behind this gift. In other words, take some of the above-listed factors into consideration but there's really no need to start overthinking this.
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