Have you ever received a thank-you gift from your employer? How did that make you feel? Chances are, you felt pretty good about it. In this blog, we’re going to break down the importance of employee appreciation gifts, and how inexpensive gifts may be just as effective (if not more!) than expensive ones. Benefits of Giving Appreciation Gifts to Employees There are a plethora of benefits that come with giving appreciation gifts to employees. Arguably the most impactful: it can enhance employee engagement, which refers to the emotional commitment and involvement an employee feels towards their organisation and its goals. Let’s talk numbers. There is strong evidence that suggests high employee engagement results in better business outcomes: this 2024 study confirms that companies with highly engaged employees saw a 59% reduction in voluntary turnover, a 21% increase in profitability and 17% boost in productivity (Zenodo). And according to Snacknation, 45% of employees believe appreciation gifts reflect their value at a company. Now, if those stats don’t convince you to start gifting your employees, we don’t know what will! And if you need some inspiration on when to spoil your employees with appreciation gifts… read on! When To Gift Employee Appreciation Gifts There are many great opportunities to gift your employees appreciation gifts: Employee Birthdays Employee birthdays can easily be forgettable, but don’t overlook it! Your employees deserve to feel valued and celebrated on their birthdays, and giving them a small gift is a perfect way to do just that. It also sends the message that they are valued within the company as a human, rather than just a ‘cog in the machine’. [blogCards productHandlers="carddotgift-designed-birthday, carddotgift-designed-surprise, birthday-mastercard" /] [blogButton buttonLabel="Shop Employee Birthday Gifts" buttonTo="/cards/gifts-for-birthday" /] Christmas/End-of-Year Gifting Presenting your employees with a small gift at the end of the year or for Christmas is a wonderful and appropriate way to thank them for another year of hard work. As they depart to spend time with family and reflect on the year, it leaves them with a positive feeling about their workplace. They’ll feel genuinely valued and appreciated, and will be more likely to start the New Year with an enthusiastic outlook on work. [blogCards productHandlers="candy-cane-holidays-designed-eftpos, santa-sleigh-designed-eftpos, merry-designed-eftpos" /] [blogButton buttonLabel="Shop Employee Christmas Gifts" buttonTo="/landing/gifts-for-christmas" /] Work Anniversaries Long-term employees bring stability and expertise to an organisation, and can save businesses money as they don’t have to continuously fund hiring and training processes. Ensure you recognise your employees on their ‘Work Anniversaries’ by giving them a small appreciation gift on a yearly basis. It’s a simple but meaningful way to show them that their loyalty and dedication to the company does not go unnoticed. [blogCards productHandlers="good-food-gift-card, celebrate-mastercard, prestige-deisgned-mastercard" /] [blogButton buttonLabel="Shop Work Anniversary Gifts" buttonTo="/cards/gifts-for-staff" /] Large Project Completion or Stand-out Performance Perhaps an employee has been performing exceptionally well over the past few months. Or maybe they have completed a difficult project at very a high standard. Whatever the case, it is imperative that you recognise high-performing employees, and the most simple way to do this is with an appreciation gift. Not only does this reward those who are making successful impacts on your business, it inspires others to work to the same high standard. [blogCards productHandlers="thanks-heaps-designed-card-gift, digital-visa-gift-card, performance-designed-mastercard" /] [blogButton buttonLabel="Shop Reward Gifts for Employees" buttonTo="/cards/gifts-for-staff" /] What Do Employees Want as Appreciation Gifts Now for the tricky part: deciding what to gift your employees. Workplaces are becoming more and more diverse, which is fantastic to see. But with a diverse workplace comes employees with various interests and gifting preferences, making it difficult to find a gifting solution that every employee will enjoy and appreciate. So, what do employees generally want as appreciation gifts? Typically, employees enjoy gifts that are flexible and practical, ideally something that they’ll actually use. But finding a ‘one-size-fits-all’ gifting solution? Yeah… that’s pretty tricky. Luckily, we’ve listed some generic appreciation gift ideas below. Inexpensive Employee Appreciation Gift Ideas Some generic and inexpensive employee appreciation gifts include: Office-Themed Gifts Gifts like colourful mugs, funky stationary, a nice deskplant, a pretty notebook or something they’ll use in the office are always a good idea. They’re thoughtful, appropriate and guaranteed to be used. Personalised Gifts Personalised gifts like a keychain with their name, a candle with a scent you know they’ll love, or a customised water bottle with their name or initials on it is a great idea. The personalised touch really emphasises that they feel valued and appreciated for being themselves. Food and Drink Gifts Everybody loves food! Gift them something sweet and simple like a box of chocolates, or if you’re feeling creative, pick out a nice cheese, some dip and crackers from your local supermarket and put together a small hamper. If they drink, gifting them a bottle of spirits, bubbles or wine is also a great idea, although this can get quite expensive. Inexpensive Employee Appreciation Gifts: Gift Cards When it comes to giving employees inexpensive appreciation gifts, gift cards are a clear crowd favourite (not that we’re biased!). Here are just a handful of why gift cards are the best solution when it comes to employee gifting: Cost-controlled: Gift cards can be as much or as little as you like. From $5 to $500, simply select the amount you’d like to give your employee and send it their way. No hidden fees, no extra costs, just exactly what you wanted to pay. Personal: Gift cards sometimes get a bad rap for being ‘impersonal’ – but that couldn’t be further from the truth! Because of their flexible nature, they allow the recipient to purchase something that aligns with their personal taste. Flexible: As mentioned above, gift cards are incredibly flexible, allowing recipients to purchase something they actually would like. Open-loop gift cards, such as Mastercard, Visa or eftpos gift cards, provide the most flexibility, allowing recipients to spend almost anywhere. Scalable: When you’re gifting at scale, it’s even more difficult to find appropriate and inexpensive gifts for employees. A gift card (and particularly an open-loop gift card) is your safest bet every time – guaranteed to be used and appreciated by every employee. Remote/hybrid friendly: Gift cards are available in both physical and digital formats, meaning you can either gift in person, or send your gift visa email or SMS. Inexpensive Employee Gift Cards: 7 Ideas As we’ve discussed, gifting your employees appreciation gifts has countless benefits. However, for some businesses (particularly smaller ones) it’s just not possible to fork out lots of money to spend on appreciation gifts. Below are seven inexpensive gift card ideas that are still thoughtful, effective, and guaranteed to be appreciated: A $10 Mastercard - Shout them their morning coffee and a pastry with a low-value Mastercard like this. Bonus points for choosing a beautiful design (countless to choose from on Card.Gift!) A $25 Uber Eats Gift Card - Gift them a night off cooking. A $30 Cinema Gift Card - Treat them to a night at the silver screen – because everyone loves the movies! A $20 Card.Gift Swap Card - So they can get $20 off when shopping at their favourite brand. A $50 Pamper Gift Card - Encourage a bit of ‘me-time’ with a $50 voucher to any beauty salons or clinics that accepts eftpos. A $30 Pub and Bar Gift Card - Shout them a few beers at the local pub. A $100 Good Food Gift Card - Treat them to a nice meal. [blogCards productHandlers="lux-mastercard, uber-eats-gift-card, cinema, carddotgift-designed-generic, pamper, pub-bar, good-food-gift-card" /] [blogButton buttonLabel="Shop Inexpensive Employee Gifts" buttonTo="/page/corporate" /] Appreciation Gifts for Employees: Expensive vs Inexpensive Let’s address the elephant in the room: does it matter how much I spend on an employee appreciation gift? Is there such as too little or too much? In short: there are pros and cons to gifting your employees both expensive and inexpensive gifts. Let’s break it down: Expensive Gifts Receiving a gift that is on the more ‘expensive’ side is a great feeling: the gift may come across as more impressive and higher quality than a less-expensive gift. However, expensive gifts are obviously costly for the gifter. And more importantly, at times they can be inappropriate and can put pressure on the recipient, making them feel like they might owe their gifter something. Inexpensive Gifts In contrast, inexpensive gifts can be slightly less impressive and lower quality. However, that doesn't necessarily mean they are less thoughtful or personal. In fact, sometimes gifting someone an inexpensive, thoughtful gift is more impactful than gifting an expensive gift with no thought behind it. For example: You’ve just finished organising an enormous company event that took months of planning and effort. When the event is over, your manager thanks you and offers you two ‘thank-you gift’ options: Option 1: A lavish hamper filled with fruits, nuts, chocolate and a $500 bottle of champagne. Option 2: A $150 Mastercard that you can spend on anything you like. What would you choose? The first option is very generous, but it’s slightly impersonal. And if you’re allergic to nuts or don’t drink, it’s not ideal! Chances are you’d much rather receive the $150 Mastercard to spend on anything you like. This goes to show: it matters less about how much you spend on your employee gifts, and more about whether the gift is personal, flexible and genuinely something that they would appreciate. Appreciation Gifts for Employees: The Bottom Line If you want your business to succeed in 2026, you need to be buying your employees appreciation gifts. With an undeniably positive effect on employee engagement, appreciation gifts are one of the most simple and effective ways to accelerate all aspects of your business, so if you’re not already doing so, this is your sign to start today! Browse the Card.Gift site for hundreds of inexpensive gift card options for your employees. Need assistance with bulk orders? Head to our corporate page and submit an enquiry – we’re always happy to help.