Wondering how best to reward employees? Survey says they want experiences over gifts

After a challenging two years, a lot of employers are looking for ways to reward employees and express their gratitude.

Nice gifts or a cash bonus seem the natural route to take, but a recent survey found that employees are craving something a little different.

Tinggly, a global experience gifting company, conducted a survey and found nearly all employees prefer rewards in the form of experiences rather than material things.

No more material gifts

One thousand American workers were polled, and 90% said they’d like to receive a gift in the form of an experience from their employer, such as a weekend getaway, a cooking class or a sporting event or concert.

Why would employees prefer these things? One-third reported an experience makes their life feel more fulfilling compared to a material gift. Twenty percent said they like that experiences make their social media feeds more interesting, and 18% said they’re already looking to declutter their lives and get rid of more physical items.

Experts at Tinggly believe the COVID-19 pandemic had a lot to do with this attitude shift. “The pandemic has made us look at the world differently, and now being outside the home, getting out of our comfort zones, learning something new and participating in life are things we value,” head of growth Miglė Rakauskaitė said.

Favorite experiences

Some other interesting findings include:

• 45% are ready to try something out of their comfort zone
• 59% said they’d go skydiving if the experience was given to them, 30% adding they’d never do this on their own, and
• 66% said they’d enjoy receiving an experience as a thank-you for a job well done.

What kind of experiences are the most popular? Respondents’ top choices were some kind of trip or an activity they could do with a romantic partner. Twenty percent favored learning a new skill or taking a class, and only 11% would want a thrill-seeking experience such as white water rafting or race car driving.