5 reasons why you should surprise your company stakeholders with gifts in 2016 It is gifts and rewards, which exemplify appreciation from the company.
By Manoj Agarwal •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Call it a tool or a marketing gimmick, you can't take the joy out of gifting – even in the corporate world. You give gifts to your patrons, vendors and suppliers, and employees, as a token of appreciation. There are other hidden advantages as well.
1. Happy employees
When you hire a talented employee, you are actually giving competition to many other companies. Apart from salaries being a differentiator, tokens of appreciation in the form of gifts and rewards leaves a lasting positive impact. Not just while hiring, fringe benefits make a lot of sense in employee retention as well.
2. Tax savings
There are lots of companies that don't want to showcase employee benefits in salary because of the tax implications.Thus, they mix and match salary components with rewards and recognition. Since gifts and rewards are tax-free, you can pass on more benefits to the employee.
3. Emotional connect
Money is not always a motivator when it comes to employees and vendors. Rewards or gifts from a senior or a peer speak volumes and become a talking point among people - unlike the salary package. One talks about the gift with family, friends and colleagues, thus creating a stronger emotional connect with the company.
4. Healthy competition
People don't discuss their salary packages at their workplace. Salaries don't give rise to healthy competition. It is the gifts and rewards, which exemplify appreciation from the company, which inspires and encourages company colleagues to outperform each other, thus leading to healthy competition at the workplace.
5. The real cost
One way to retain a valuable employee would be to increase his/her salary by way of appreciation. But that can take a beating out of a company's profits. The same degree of appreciation can be given by a gift and in terms of its perceived value. If the gift's actual cost to the company is, say, Rs 500, but the perceived value is Rs 2,000, it makes a world of difference. The employee feels nurtured, cherished and pampered.
(As told to Prerna Raturi)
