Cash Vs Non Cash Christmas Rewards
Finding appropriate Christmas gifts for family and friends can be difficult, but sourcing the right Christmas rewards for your staff is a potential nightmare! To make life easier for you, we’ve narrowed down five popular employer options and outlined the pros and cons of each.
1. Cash
Pros:
Cash is a simple gift, it doesn’t really require any thought or preparation. It delivers instant gratification, which can be a very positive thing in this fast moving world.
Cons:
The problems with cash are numerous, however. To maximise the benefit from a gift, you want someone to be able to appreciate it for a long time after it has been given. Cash can be spent on the journey home from work without a second thought: does anyone look back fondly on a tank of petrol or a bottle of carpet cleaner grabbed from the supermarket on the way home?
Arguably cash is simply too flexible to make an effective Christmas reward that has a long term benefit for the company.
2. Cheques
Pros:
Giving a cheque reduces the risk of your gift being spent on the way home and has the flexibility of cash.
Cons:
Fewer and fewer of us bank physically these days, and the number of bank branches is falling steadily. As such a cheque can actually be a bit of a pain. They can also take time to clear, meaning that they are less likely to be spent on a morale boosting splurge in the Boxing Day sales, plus they are distinctly lacking in presentation value.
3. Physical gifts
Pros:
Providing a well-chosen gift can be an exceptional way to show your appreciation, creating good will long after the wrapping paper’s been consigned to the recycling and the recycling taken away.
Cons:
It can take a long time to source the right gift for an employee and, as even the most attentive boss will tell you, there are always things going on in people’s lives that you know nothing about but can have an effect on how a gift is received.
There are few better feelings than knowing you’ve given an employee just what they wanted, but do you have the time to get it right for everyone in your team individually? Opting for a more universally accepted gift such as a hamper or bottle of wine runs the risk of appealing to a handful of those in your workforce, so it is a difficult line to tread.
4. Vouchers and gift cards
Pros:
Offering most of the flexibility of cash without the risk of being flittered away on mundane items, vouchers and gift cards can give people the choice to select a reward that suits themselves and their family if appropriate. As well as great choice they also hold a high perceived value with recipients. You can negotiate discounts if you are buying in bulk and outsource the fulfilment of large orders. They are easy to redeem and universally understood.
Cons:
The printing costs associated with personalising cards or voucher wallets can be prohibitive to those with smaller budgets and it’s important to maximise the presentation opportunity to avoid them looking like an afterthought.
