Meints, Kimberly

School of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Aviation, Oklahoma State University

MGMT 5823: Talent Acquisition

Scott Robin

December 2022

Onboarding Gift Proposal

The onboarding process can influence how an employee approaches a new position and company, and new hire gifts are a tangible part of that process. As someone who did the “boring” part of onboarding for many years, paperwork, access requests, office supplies, etc., learning more about the “fun” side, gifts, was an eye-opening experience. My previous position did not have a budget for gifts, especially as part of a public institution. Among the various articles that I read, one item of emphasis was that the onboarding, and gifting, process should be individual to the employer and evaluated periodically. Employees who experienced structured onboarding were more likely to stay with the company for more than three years and were more productive. While onboarding itself may take many months, an initial gift communicates to new employees that the employer is already thinking of them as part of the team, and that they are organized enough to plan and deliver such a gift. This is an important first impression.

Onboarding gifts may help the employer meet multiple goals. The gifts can increase employee excitement for their new role, share the company culture, and reduce uncertainty and anxiety. Some low-cost examples include Getting Started Guides, which can focus on the most immediate needs, like parking and lunch, and can be a little bit more fun or show more personality than policies and procedures. A jargon glossary can be a useful way to orient the new employee to the culture, help them to keep up with conversations from the start, and feel like they are already a part of the organization. Branded items can promote belonging for new employees. While some employees report disliking branded items for other types of gifts, as it makes them feel like billboards, I think for onboarding it makes sense to give branded items that can show the employer’s desire to include them as part of the team and the employer’s confidence in the employee representing them out in the world.

Another suggestion is to provide them with items they will need day-to-day, such as an insulated lunch bag, lanyard, tote bag, or standing desk mat. One important concern to note is that people do not want to receive items that are so low-cost or useless that they are essentially trash. There are also mixed feelings about gift cards. For some, these offer an employee the opportunity to buy themselves something that they like and will use. However, others found them easy to lose or forget about. Another problem with gift cards and other cash-adjacent gifts is that they are fully taxable as income. Other gifts may be exempt under the unspecific de minimus rule. Generally, any gift whose value is under $10 is not taxable, and any gift over $100 is taxable. However, the range in-between is a grey area and best reviewed by a tax expert.

For the résumé assignment earlier this semester, I decided to use a position with Stillwater Public Schools (SPS) to guide my project. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to approach this assignment from the other side. I assembled a new hire gift package that I thought could work for all levels of employees at SPS, including teachers, administrators, support staff, and bus drivers. Because SPS is a public institution, it seems likely that there may not be room in the budget for new hire gifts and that a donor (or two) might be recruited to fund the gift packages. I looked up information about donations in Oklahoma, and it appears that the Oklahoma State Department of Education Office of Legal Services should review proposed donations to public schools to determine if further approval is necessary.

Several sources indicated employees appreciate hand-written Welcome Letters, and I thought these would be most appropriate coming from the hiring principal or administrator. The superintendent could write a form letter and include the names of donors or sponsors. Education, especially in K-12, is so closely tied by personal relationships with colleagues as well as students, that these personal touches felt appropriate to introduce new employees to their local team.

I identified six other gifts that I thought would be useful and appreciated for new employees in an educational setting, from a first-year teacher to a veteran, a front office worker to a custodian. I also sourced these items from a local vendor because I thought it probable that they may already be an existing customer, or that the vendor might be motivated to give a discount for the schools. There is also the possibility of savings on shipping for certain items. After viewing the SPS Facebook page, I determined that they hired approximately 60 teachers at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. To include all new hires for the year, I thought that doubling that number would be a good approximation. The vendor was able to offer larger bulk discounts when 250 items are ordered for almost every gift, so I based my budget on that amount. 250 should get SPS through about two years of new hires, at less than $10,000. This seemed like an attainable amount for a donation from just one or two sources. The total taxable amount per employee, if determined to not be exempt from de minimus rules, is only $32.39, a very modest number. As new hires who only work half the calendar year, it is also possible that including the full value as taxable income would not impact their tax liability. By buying in bulk, the set-up costs and shipping fees per employee are about $5. The budget is included in Appendix A, and images of the items are in Appendix B.

• Messenger Bag: This charcoal messenger bag would have the SPS logo printed in one color on the front. It would hold all of the other gifts, and we would add tissue paper inside to make it feel full and festive. Then the employee could use this to take items to and from work or use it at home.
• Branded T-Shirt: Working in a school provides employees with many “spirit” themed days where they are expected to wear school gear or colors. By providing them with their first shirt, SPS can reduce the burden of purchasing a shirt in the early days of work when they are managing many other expenses.
• Touch-Thru Waterproof Phone Pouch on Lanyard: Schools are large buildings that require a lot of walking to navigate (from the staff lounge to individual classrooms), and some employees may travel to different campuses. Some staff may have additional duties as playground or lunchroom supervisors. SPS relies on cell phone technology to communicate with staff in emergencies, including SMS-alerts, and many staff may also need to access their email, Google Classrooms, or other resource while away from their computers. In all of these cases, the phone pouch would allow the employee to keep their phone close by while keeping their hands free. This can also be customized.
• 16 Oz. Double-Wall Tumbler: As a culture, we have become more aware of the necessity of staying hydrated, and that is even more important in a profession where someone must talk a lot throughout the day. SPS can acknowledge and meet their new employees’ needs by providing them access to a large, branded tumbler which requires fewer trips to refill.
• Blue-Light-Blocking Computer Glasses: As instructional education becomes more integrated with technology, the blue light from screens can take a toll on an individual’s vision. These glasses may reduce eye strain caused by using necessary technology while working. Instead of a logo, I would recommend including the team’s name, the “Pioneers.”
• 16 Oz. Alcohol-Free Lotion Hand Sanitizer: Teachers have always been susceptible to whatever viruses were being passed among their students each season. With the introduction of COVID-19, the awareness of that problem has grown. For staff who need to sanitize their hands frequently, an alcohol-free option can mitigate dry skin while also helping to reduce illness.

By focusing on employees’ daily needs and incorporating branded gifts, SPS can help new hires start their year on a positive note, anticipating that their administrators care about them as individuals.

Bibliography

Acharya, S. (2022, April 12). Employee onboarding process – best practices & examples. OffiNeeds.com. https://www.offineeds.com/employee-onboarding-process/

Dearingers. (n.d.) Online catalog. Accessed November 29, 2022. https://www.dearingers.com/

Fluckiger, B. (n.d.). New hire gifts. Eddy.com. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://eddy.com/hr-encyclopedia/new-hire-gifts/

Graybill, J. O., Hudson Carpenter, M. T., Offord, J., Jr, Piorun, M., & Shaffer, G. (2013). Employee onboarding: identification of best practices in ACRL libraries. Library Management, 34(3), 200-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435121311310897

Hirsch, A. S. (2017, August 10). Don’t underestimate the importance of good onboarding. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/dont-underestimate-the-importance-of-effective-onboarding.aspx

Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). De Minimus Fringe Benefits [webpage]. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://www.irs.gov/government-entities/federal-state-local-governments/de-minimis-fringe-benefits

Pitman, T. (2015). Out of the Box. Credit Union Management, 38(1), 29. https://www-proquest-com.argo.library.okstate.edu/docview/1652935603

RealThread.com. (n.d.). How to make your teams stronger through new employee welcome gifts. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://www.realthread.com/blog/how-to-make-your-teams-stronger-through-new-employee-welcome-gifts

Siocon, G. (n.d.). 11 welcome gifts for new employees you should consider. Academy to Innovate HR. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://www.aihr.com/blog/welcome-gifts-for-new-employees/

State Department of Education (Oklahoma). (2013). State Department of Education policy for solicitation and acceptance of gifts or donations of things of value. https://sde.ok.gov/sites/
ok.gov.sde/files/20130917%20Revised%20Gift%20Donation%20Policy_0.pdf

Wilkie, D. (2020, March 4). Company gifts that workers hate. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/
resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/gifts-workers-hate-.aspx

Appendix A

Appendix B

• SPS-Branded Messenger Bag ($12.74/piece):
       
• SPS-Branded T-Shirt ($6.70/piece):
  
• SPS-Branded Touch-Thru Waterproof Phone Pouch on Lanyard ($5.61/piece):
  
• SPS-Branded 16 Oz. Double-Wall Tumbler ($3.16/piece):
  
• SPS-Branded Blue-Light-Blocking Computer Glasses ($2.24/piece):
  
• 16 Oz. Alcohol-Free Lotion Hand Sanitizer ($1.94/piece):