Many businesses, big and small, have shifted their business model to allow more employees to work remotely. Even before the pandemic, companies were giving employees the opportunity to work from home. And now more than ever, many people work remotely either on a temporary basis or full-time. This helps businesses save money on rent for office space and gives the employees more flexibility and a better work-life balance. This is especially true if someone lives in a big city, and their commute takes up a good portion of their day. However with being remote, sometimes team members can feel a bit disconnected. But one thing that helps build a better sense of belonging is giving gifts to your remote team. I’m sharing 35+ remote employee gift ideas that are sure to bring a smile to anyone’s face.
Speaking of remote jobs, the virtual assistant industry is a highly sought-after work-from-home career. I share how to become a VA in this post HERE!
35+ Remote Employee Gift Ideas
Building and nurturing a sense of community to remote employees is essential to team member retention. Sometimes, remote employees lack a sense of community, which can also lead to burnout. Though you may not see virtual employees in person, virtual team building is important. Gift-giving is one way to help boost morale and make your employees feel appreciated. Employees work hard throughout the year. Why not give them a thoughtful gift to say thank you for their work throughout the year?
If you have a smaller team, you can curate a gift box based on each employee’s interests. You can build your own little bundle for each team member. Going the extra mile with personalized items catered to each employee shows that you put a lot of thought into the gift.
Gift Ideas for the Foodie
BOX OF COOKIES | BUBBLY ADVENT CALENDAR | MINI PIES
Who doesn’t love good food? We’re not talking about a tray of hard cookies from a random place. We’re talking high-quality, best-in-the-business type food. Take for instance the company, Milk Bar. They offer cakes (do yourself a favor and just look at them on their website – just WOW!), pies, cookies, truffles, and even ice cream that can all be delivered to someone.
Maybe one of your employees is hosting Thanksgiving or Christmas. If so, you can send them one of the beautiful cakes that they can have for their gathering. They also offer an assorted cookie tin filled with their six different flavors of cookies, including their Compost Cookie, Cornflake Cookie, Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookie, Corn Cookie, Blueberry & Cream Cookie, Chocolate Confetti Cookie and Confetti Cookie. They’re also individually wrapped for an extra special touch.
Another gift idea for the foodie is a box of mini gourmet pies from Tiny Pies. The story behind the company is just as adorable as the pies themselves, but I’ll save that for another time. The box comes with four mini pies in the flavors Apple, Cherry, Sweet Texas Pecan, and Texas Two Step (pecan and brownie – yes please!) The pies have also been featured on Oprah’s O List.
MUG | MILK FROTHER | COFFEE CANISTERS | SPOONS | COOKIE BOX | CREAM + SUGAR BOWLS | KEURIG
Unique Snack Baskets
As I mentioned earlier, gift baskets make great Christmas gifts or other holidays because they look a little more curated and personalized. Many of the items in the above collage can be combined to create just that. Depending on your price range for the gifts, you could combine the cookies, one or two coffee mugs with different sayings on them, the spoons, and the frother. That would be the perfect gift for a coffee lover. I mean is there any better combination than cookies and coffee? 🙂
The coffee spoons are a fun and unique gift to add to anyone’s basket. You simply stir them into your coffee and the flavoring dissolves into it. The flavors include hazelnut, french vanilla, and salted caramel. Once the flavoring dissolves into the coffee, they can reuse the wooden spoon.
If you want someone else to build a gift basket for you, Harry and David is a great place to shop. If you’re looking for a snack box, this one features crackers, cheese, summer sausage, and a few other yummy treats. You can even opt to add a bottle of wine too. 🙂
Culinary Experiences As a Team
Instead of doing individual gifts, you can opt to do team gifts. If you and your employees live close to each other, you could take them to a nice restaurant. Then, plan out a food and wine pairing for dinner to give your team a culinary experience they won’t soon forget. After dinner, you can gift them a bottle of wine they tried with dinner. Fun experiences like this are not only fun but bring you closer together as a team too. And everyone can say cheers to that!
Gift Ideas for the Planner
YEARLY PLANNER | PAGE TABS | STICKY NOTES | NOTE PAD | DESK ORGANIZER | WEEKLY PLANNER | PENS
For those employees who are organized, detail-oriented, or just love pretty supplies for their home offices, then this gift guide is for them. The Sugar Paper line at Target has beautiful office supplies from gorgeous planners, to page tabs, paper clips, and more. All great essentials to build a beautiful home office gift basket.
At The Notoire Media House, we utilize Google Calendar to help our team be as productive as possible. But there’s also something to be said about writing out your to-dos on a daily basis. This daily checklist is both beautiful and useful to keep you on-task throughout the day, and it has over 6,000, 5-star ratings. So it must be doing something right!
Because so many people are working from home, coworking memberships are on the rise. A coworking membership is an arrangement in which entrepreneurs, freelancers, and the like share an office space. It’s a place where they can come to host a meeting, work alone, or collaborate with other entrepreneurs in the area. They can bounce ideas off one another and gain inspiration to be their most productive and creative selves. This gives employees who work from home the opportunity to change up their workspace. Some memberships even offer shared equipment to use.
Here’s an example of what you could include in a gift basket for the planner:
- 2022 Planner
- Pens or pencils – I love these with inspiring sayings. Just a little special touch.
- Desk organizer
- Coffee thermos for days at the office co-op.
To make it easier to send in the mail, you don’t necessarily have to build a gift basket. Simply arrange the items in a box, and utilize bubble wrap and shredded paper to keep your items secure. You can even buy green and red shredded paper to make it a little more festive. To finish off the box, lay a card at the top with a personalized note.
Gift Ideas for the Techy One
BLUE LIGHT GLASSES | SCREEN WIPES | PHONE HOLDER | PORTABLE BATTERY | WIRELESS KEYBOARD | CHARGING STATION | 10ft CHARGING CABLE
Technology-inspired gifts make great work-from-home gifts because after all technology is how we can work from home to begin with. There are many different gadgets that make working from home easier and more enjoyable.
This charging station can charge your cell phone, headphones, and smartwatch at the same time. If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly needing to charge your phone. Having a charging station handy and available at a desk is convenient and looks chic too. It comes in four colors and under $35.
Other gifts for employees who enjoy technology could include a wireless keyboard, portable charger, or 10-foot charging cable. This pretty stone-white wireless keyboard is helpful in case you want to easily adjust where your keyboard sits. This is especially true if the employee is at his or her computer for most of the day. It also comes in a dusk blue.
You think you’ll never need a portable charger until you actually need a portable charger. It’s especially true when you’re holiday shopping, at sporting events, or at holiday parties snapping tons of pictures. And you never knew you needed a 10-foot charging cable until you got one. It makes it convenient to hook up and charge something when there aren’t a lot of outlets to choose from. This makes it easy to charge, especially in coworking spaces.
If you want to keep it simple, why not send your remote employees virtual gifts like e-gift cards to stores that carry a variety of technology like Best Buy, Apple, or Walmart.
Gift Ideas for the Homebody
DIFFSUER | SCRUNCHIES | CLIP | MUG | ROBE | PAJAMAS | FACE MASK | JADE ROLLER | PILLOWCASE SET | SLIPPERS
Who doesn’t love a good pamper sesh at home? I’ve been using Beauty Counter products for a few years now, and love what it has done for my skin. What I love most about the company is its commitment to clean ingredients in its products. This charcoal facemask has over 2,000, 5-star reviews on their website. It’s rejuvenating and relaxing.
Going to bed has never been so dreamy with this silk pillowcase set. A silk pillowcase is not only good for your skin but also helps keep your hair healthy (and less oily). It comes in seven colors and under $40. This brand has a variety of other accessories like hair clips, hair ties, soaps, and more. And it’s female-owned!
To go along with the perfect pillowcase, these best-selling pajamas are comfortable and soft. They come in a variety of prints and colors to suit anyone’s style and taste. Once you feel these, you’ll want them for yourself too!
For a relaxing, unwinding routine at night, an oil diffuser sets the tone for just that. You can also buy a few different oils to mix and match to get the most relaxing or uplifting scents. Once the diffusers go, this jade roller straight out of the refrigerator will make anyone feel like they’re at a spa. It helps wind you down and get rid of any tension the day might have brought.
Here’s an example of what you can include in a spa-like gift basket:
- Pajamas
- Jade roller
- Scrunchies
- Gift card to a local spa or nail salon
No matter what gift route you take to gift your remote employees, they’ll be happy you took the time to send them something special. More than anything, it’s about the thought and the meaning behind the gift that counts.