Christmas presents: What is popular with companies and employees? – Human resources management

Since 2020, we have been dealing with multiple crises that have led to significantly increased people’s living costs. At the same time, companies in Germany are having more and more difficulty recruiting new staff. Perhaps it is these two reasons that are encouraging more employers to give their employees gifts this Christmas. While only just under half of companies (46 percent) granted such benefits in 2020, more than every second company (55 percent) currently considers this annual benefit to be mandatory. 44 percent of employees say they have never received a Christmas present from the company; three years ago it was 63 percent. This emerges from a survey commissioned by the incentive specialist Cadooz, in which 751 employees and human resources managers took part between August 15 and September 15 of this year

Christmas presents, above all, express appreciation

Both employees and companies primarily associate Christmas presents with appreciation. In second place is the cause for joy, followed by increasing the motivation of the employees. As far as appreciation is concerned, it is becoming increasingly important from the employee’s perspective: Currently, two thirds of employees (67 percent) say that the gift is a sign of appreciation, compared to just 37 percent three years ago. However, this aspect has become less relevant for the companies themselves over the same period; Here the proportion of those who gave gifts to express appreciation fell from 94 to 77 percent.

Universal vouchers, fuel vouchers are more popular than cash

Employees and HR managers were also asked which Christmas presents they preferred. According to this, universal vouchers with a specific value that can be flexibly redeemed into vouchers online or in stores depending on the brand chosen are by far the most popular: three quarters (75 percent) of those surveyed on both sides said this. This solution is advantageous for companies because it reduces the organizational and accounting effort and – with personalized greetings – can suit the tastes of the entire team, they say. The second most popular are fuel vouchers, mentioned by 41 percent of employees and 38 percent of companies. Special payments for Christmas come in third place and are significantly more popular among employees (43 percent) than among employers, of whom only a sixth (16 percent) would consider this benefit. According to Cadooz, the fact that cash is less well received by employees than vouchers could be because employees perceive vouchers as more emotional, personal and celebratory. An earlier study from 2022 showed that this benefit is often perceived more emotionally.

Use of tax-free benefits in kind is becoming more important for companies

The survey also showed that for 42 percent of companies it is important to take advantage of the tax-free benefits in kind when giving Christmas presents to employees. In 2020, only 35 percent said this. Another tax- and duty-free option is the inflation compensation bonus, which can be paid out in partial amounts up to December 31, 2024 in the amount of up to 3,000 euros per employee. Here, too, more than every second company can imagine using vouchers instead of cash.