Tips for team Christmas gifts from Office Management Group members

Be a Christmas early bird  

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Every savvy office manager knows the 2022 Christmas countdown has begun and has already started looking for team Christmas gifts. As part of our mission to create happier workplaces, we recently sent a survey to members of the Office Management Group, a UK and global community for office and administration professionals, to find out how they’ll be celebrating Christmas this year.

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With 63.3% of OM members responsible for Christmas gifts, and 68% of members enjoying it, we knew this community would have some valuable insights into team gifting. Here are the Office Management Group’s top tips for a very merry (and kind!) Christmas.

It’s never too soon to start planning for the festive season – in fact, 58% of office managers start prepping Christmas celebrations and gifting in August and September! Only 11.8% leave the task until November, and 5.9% leave it until December.

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We weren’t too surprised to learn that 47% of members spend more than one day organising gifts for Christmas. Finding the best Christmas gifts for teams at work can be time-consuming, but Huggg’s gifting platform enables you to choose and personalise the perfect festive gift for every colleague and client, and schedule them in advance to beat the Christmas rush.

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With a tried-and-tested range of gifts with choice and no need to chase up gift preferences, update addresses or worry about GDPR compliance, Huggg is a one-stop shop for Christmas gifting. Giving you more time to plan the office party – and enjoy the festivities.

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When planning team Christmas gifts and parties, include all your employees - wherever they work

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The past couple of years have seen lots of changes to Christmas team gifting and celebrations. According to our survey, 46.8% of OM members want to send gifts to both the office and the home, so they can treat in-office, hybrid and remote teams equally. With 62% of office managers planning to send gifts to every employee, Huggg’s gifting platform makes it easy to deliver gifts for all on time. Recipients enter their own address details, so there’s no need to keep track of where everyone will be over the holidays.

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We’re also excited to launch our range of gifts for European delivery this autumn, so EU teams aren’t left out of the festive fun.

The Group link function makes it easy to send a single gifting link to an entire team at once, and also provides a space for social engagement whether teams are in-office or remote – a great resource for gauging how successful gifts are.

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Food and drink are all-time favourites 

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No huge surprises here, but food and drink (46.8%) closely followed by hampers (45.6%) are the most popular Christmas gifts form teams. Huggg’s festive range favourites include Harding Gomez hampers, our gift hampers with choice, Virgin wine boxes and our classic Tipple of Choice gift, not to mention our crowd-pleasing advent calendars.

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Our survey revealed that 40% of members will send smaller gifts this year, and 35.4% would like to send gifts that focus on staff wellbeing – both preferences covered by Huggg’s gift range, thanks to the handy budget filtering tool and our carefully curated wellness gift category.

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Each gift on Huggg’s platform has been tested via mystery shopping, so you can be assured of their quality – we don’t stock anything we don’t genuinely love!

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Budget is a barrier to gifting (but it doesn’t have to be)

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A key factor in team gifting, especially at the end of the year, is budget. 51.4% of respondents said that the main reason for not sending gifts would be because of financial restrictions. Luckily, Huggg offers high quality gifts for budgets of all sizes – with an easy-to-browse range of treats for micro-gifting (all of which include the cost of postage).

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Our survey found that 34.2% like the flexibility of giving gift cards, and our gifts with choice range features brands and gifts at lower price points, so you can be certain everyone will receive something they’ll love. 

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Don’t forget about feedback

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Like any investment in your people, whether it’s a training programme or new office chairs, it’s important to measure its impact. At the moment only 2.5% ask for feedback on team gifts, and only 6.3% use employee engagement surveys to gauge the success of gifting. That means there’s a wealth of data about your employees that’s going unrecorded! Most respondents measure the success of team gifting from office chat and atmosphere, or from the number of thank you’s they receive.

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While it’s a good start, there’s so much more to learn. Our Group link functionality and reporting can help you understand the bigger impact of team gifting – and how it can help create a more appreciative workplace. Talk to the team here to find out how Huggg can set you up for Christmas gifting success.

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Inspired to start your Christmas gifting? Huggg’s festive range launches soon. Click below to get early-bird access.

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