When I was Chief of Staff at a bootstrapped agency, I helped decide what to give employees for Diwali. Because people had different needs and tastes, we chose gift cards so they could select something useful for themselves.
A few years ago, I was Chief of Staff at a bootstrapped agency, with HR reporting to me.
We wanted no candles, company-branded merchandise, chocolate celebration boxes or generic hampers; something people would actually use.
Our team included college students doing internships, people early in their careers, and colleagues who were married with school-going children, making it difficult to find one gift that made sense for everyone.
We considered several options, including cash bonuses, but ruled those out because of added tax implications.
We settled on gift cards; leadership doubted a small gift card conveyed appreciation, even if the amount was decent for a company our size.
I made the case that leadership, HR and me were at different stages of life, with different needs and tastes, so a gift one person appreciated might mean little or be unnecessary to another.
After quite a bit of discussion, the leadership agreed.
We sent the gift cards just before everyone signed off for Diwali; people were genuinely thankful to have the choice.
My takeaway was that sometimes giving people the choice is more useful than choosing for them.