We spend a lot of time talking about what promotional products can do for a brand and how they can support marketing efforts. But what about human resources? Swag affects employee satisfaction, too!
Promotional products can work surprisingly hard when paired with the people that already work for you. The right piece of swag can make your team feel appreciated, inspire collaboration, and, according to recent research, even influence whether someone sticks around.
A recent survey of more than 1,000 American employees at companies with 50+ employees found some pretty compelling connections between promotional products and the employee experience. Here’s what they found (and why you should care):
Swag + Employee Retention
92% of employees surveyed said they would be more likely to stay with their employer for another year if they received the right piece of swag.
The keyword here: RIGHT piece of swag. It’s not like a branded water bottle is going to single-handedly solve your employee retention problem, but a thoughtful gift can be a pretty simple way to show someone that they’re valued.
And that matters when keeping good people around is expensive. The cost of hiring a new employee can include everything from recruiting and interviewing to onboarding and training… which adds up fast. Keeping the people you already have happy is generally a much better place to start, both for your budget and your team morale.
Swag + Community Building
Let’s talk t-shirts. Tactive runs over 250,000 pieces on our screen print machines every year – and there’s a reason so many of those are branded team t-shirts.
68% of employees surveyed said wearing a common piece of team clothing increased their feeling of connection to their colleagues.
That’s especially relevant for teams that aren’t all in the same place every day. A shared hoodie or team jacket can create a little bit of that we’re in this together feeling, even when your coworkers are scattered across offices, cities or home offices.
If the concept of “connection” is too loose of an idea for your budget, consider this: a connected team is a happy team, and Research from the University of Pennsylvania has found a relationship between employee happiness and productivity. (So it’s good for business, too!)
Swag + Celebrating Success
Here’s a hot take – death to the pizza party! Listen, we like pizza. This isn’t about the pizza. It’s that a pizza party is still the go-to reward for teams that have reached a goal or completed a project… despite the survey result that 80% of employees surveyed said they would rather receive a swag item they’ll use regularly than a happy hour or meal with their team to celebrate a success or milestone.
That’s a pretty strong case for putting a little more thought into how you recognize your people. There are plenty of moments worth celebrating:
- Employee anniversaries
- New-hire onboarding
- Birthdays and holidays
- Incentives and awards
- Big project launches
- Team and company milestones
And a hot tip to go with our hot take: don’t feel like you have to save all your gifting budget for December. A surprise employee gift in March can be a lot more memorable than one more package showing up during the holiday rush!
Of course, there’s a pretty important qualifier to all of this that’s worth repeating: the swag has to be good.
If you don’t know where to start shopping for the right employee swag, you’re in good company. In another survey, 34.2% of all respondents said the promo buyers at their company have little or no understanding of what employees would actually appreciate receiving. Yikes.
That’s where Tactive comes in. We know swag… so you don’t have to. Talk to Tactive about creating employee swag your team will actually be excited to receive.
