Employee expectations have changed dramatically. With hybrid and remote work setups dominating 2025, gift-giving has evolved into a year-round engagement tool. Gifting isn’t just about festivals anymore. It now includes birthday gifts for employees, onboarding gifts, milestones, wellness rewards, and remote engagement efforts.
Ignoring these touchpoints can negatively impact your employee engagement and retention. A well-thought-out corporate gifting budget ensures that every employee feels seen and appreciated throughout the year, not just during the holidays.
Why Employee Gifting Budget Matters More Than Ever
Employee expectations have changed dramatically. As hybrid and remote work arrangements take over the majority of workplace scenarios in 2025, giving gifts in corporate has become an everyday engagement strategy. It is not only a time of events and giving during festivals. It now comprises birthday gifts to employees, onboarding gifts, milestones, wellness rewards and remote engagement initiatives.
It would affect your employee engagement and retention negatively in case you overlook these touchpoints. A carefully made corporate gifting budget will help make every employee feel noticed and valued, not only during Christmas time.
Step-by-Step: How to Calculate Per-Employee Gifting Budget
1. Define Your Annual Gifting Strategy
Start by listing all key occasions when gifts are expected:
- Holiday gift budget (e.g., Diwali, Christmas, Eid)
- Work anniversaries
- Employee birthdays
- Onboarding gift for new hires
- Promotions and achievements
- Remote team bonding or virtual events
- Exit or farewell gifts
For each occasion, assign a tentative spend range. For instance:
- Holidays: INR 1,000–2,000
- Birthdays: INR 500–1,000
- Onboarding: INR 700–1,500
- Milestones: INR 1,000–2,500
2. Segment Your Employees
Don’t treat gifting as one-size-fits-all. Segment employees by:
- Tenure (e.g., <1 year, 1–5 years, 5+ years)
- Role (executive, manager, leadership)
- Location (on-site, remote, hybrid)
- Department or unit budget allowance
A senior employee who has served 10 years can be rewarded with luxury corporate gifts or premium corporate gifts but a new employee can be given a nice yet affordable onboarding gift.
3. Set a Total Gifting Budget as a % of Payroll
A widely accepted benchmark is to allocate 1–2% of your total annual payroll toward employee rewards and gifts. For example:
- Annual payroll: INR 2 crore
- Gifting allocation (1.5%): INR 3,00,000
- Employees: 100
- Approx. per-employee gifting budget: INR 3,000/year
This could be shared over a series of events or it could be prioritized on gifting.
4. Include Hidden Costs and Buffers
Don’t overlook:
- Packaging and delivery costs (especially for remote-friendly gifting)
- Taxes or GST on gifts
- Fees for corporate gifting companies or logistics platforms
- Costs for personalization (engraving, notes, etc.)
Including a 10-15 percent cushion will make sure that you do not end up depleting your entire corporate gifting budget when most needed.
Key Factors to Consider While Budgeting
1. Headcount Changes
Are you growing fast? Consider that your employee gifting budget will need to be flexible for quarterly hiring spikes.
2. Employee Preferences
Make use of surveys to obtain information about the category of gifts preferred. This serves to prevent wastage and entails the improved participatory engagement.
3. Cultural and Religious Diversity
Do not overlook local preferences and holidays in international groups. What would be a good corporate gift box in India would not necessarily behave well with employees in Europe.
4. Remote Workforce Logistics
Shipment of personalized products to different areas may raise the expenses. For virtual teams, opt for remote-friendly gifting options like digital gift cards or curated e-commerce experiences.
Smart Gifting Budget by Occasions (2025 Benchmark)
| Occasion | Suggested Spend (INR) | Gift Ideas |
| Holidays | 1,000–2,000 | Corporate gift boxes, hampers |
| Birthdays | 500–1,000 | Sweet boxes, plants, vouchers |
| Onboarding | 700–1,500 | Branded kits, stationery, wellness gifts |
| Anniversaries | 1,000–2,500 | Personalised corporate gifts, trophies |
| Promotions | 2,000–3,000 | Premium corporate gifts |
| Work-from-home kits | 1,000–2,000 | Desk accessories, tech gear |
What Most Companies Miss While Budgeting
1. Not Accounting for All Gift Occasions
A lot of companies only budget holidays.Failing to plan birthday gifts for employees, welcome kits, or exit gifts leads to overspending or inconsistent experiences.
2. Lack of Centralized Gift Management
In the absence of a centralized system or a collaboration with corporate gifting businesses, the companies are losing precious time on an eleventh-minute sourcing and experience untimorous cost management.
3. Skipping ROI Measurement
Nobody likes to spend more than he has to. However using gifting to gauge employee engagement, retention or morale in very few companies are measured. Begin to monitor feedback and to match it with eNPS or pulse surveys.
4. Ignoring Personalization
When you give generic gifts it is something people will forget. Personalisation of the corporate gifts and putting a personal touch to them are very helpful in increasing the emotional appeal.
How to Choose the Right Gift Within Budget
Whether you’re working with INR 1,000 or INR 3,000 per employee, consider the following categories:
– Experience-Based Gifts
Cooking classes, Spotify subscriptions, online courses especially popular for remote-friendly gifting.
– Eco-Friendly Gifts
Environmentally friendly bottles, jute bags and organic snacks are not only sustainable, but valued.
– Luxury Corporate Gifts for Leaders
High value corporate gifts like leather accessories, top-quality wine sets or high-tech gizmos can be considered as the ideal top notch gifts to managers or to staff who can be considered as long stayers.
– Curated Corporate Gift Boxes
Add snacks, drinkware, productivity, or wellness items. They are well balanced as regards to price, diversity, and display.
– Branded Merchandise
Mugs, T-shirts, and planners are inexpensive and may be enhanced by means of quality packaging and custom-written messages.
Working With Gifting Vendors in 2025
To make it easier to organise, most companies in the market today are engaging corporate gifting companies that provide:
- Gift automation and reminders
- Bulk gift personalization
- Budget controls and invoicing
- Delivery tracking (especially helpful for remote-friendly gifting)
Opt for companies that offer catalog variety, compliance support, and support for corporate gifts for employees across regions.
Tools to Help You Plan Smarter
Rather than ad-hoc spreadsheets consider:
- Gifting CRMs
- Budget tracking dashboards
- Templates for employee gifting budget planning
- Survey tools to gather employee preferences
It will take less time and will facilitate the consistency of gifting among the departments.
Final Tips for 2025 Budgeting
- Align gifting with your culture and values
- Always include delivery, customization, and tax in cost estimation
- Use gifting moments as employee recognition opportunities
- Rotate gift categories yearly to keep things fresh
The strategy of gifting in your business needs to involve the interactions of the HR team, Finance department and Administration team in arranging a gifting budget.Strategic gifting in 2025 is not just about spending it’s about making the employee feel valued at every stage of their journey.
FAQ’s
A good benchmark is between INR 2,000 to INR 5,000 per employee annually, depending on your total payroll and occasion types. This should include holiday gift budget, onboarding gift, and other milestone-based gifting.
Most companies allocate between 1–2% of their annual payroll to employee gifting budget planning. This ensures a balanced approach without overextending your corporate gifting budget.
Yes, personalised corporate gifts have a higher emotional impact, enhance employee appreciation, and tend to increase retention. They show thoughtfulness and individual recognition.
Yes. Allocate luxury corporate gifts or premium corporate gifts for top performers, leadership roles, or long-tenure milestones. Balance these with more economical options for general gifting.
A thoughtful onboarding gift may include branded stationery, tech accessories, wellness kits, or a curated corporate gift box with a welcome note.
Eco-friendly products, self-care kits, custom tech, and hybrid office tools are trending. Curated corporate gift boxes are still a favorite for versatility and presentation.
