When it comes to showing appreciation for clients or people you work with, corporate gifts are a great way to do it. Some of the best gifts for clients and customers are thoughtful, personal and show that you want to maintain a long, mutually beneficial relationship with them.
While corporate gifts have a number of benefits, you do have to be aware of ethical considerations.
For example, there are some industries where you might not be able to send a gift. There are also considerations as far as the IRS, and these are the things detailed below.
What If Someone Can’t Accept a Gift?
It might feel a little heartbreaking if you send a corporate gift, only to have someone tell you they can’t accept it. Ethics and transparency are important across all industries, but some are stricter than others as far as gift policies.
The pharmaceutical industry is an example. Others include media, government, technology, nonprofits, and financial services.
In recent decades, the business world has become increasingly concerned with corporate gift-giving policies.
A lot of companies are putting in place or already have in place gift and entertainment policies.
Employees have to think if they accept a gift whether it could compromise the duty to act in the client’s best interest. Regulators indicate firms should have strong control and recording measures if gifts are received or given to avoid anything that could even appear as a conflict of interest. Companies want to ensure they’re not doing anything that could damage their reputation.
Why Are There Policies About Giving Gifts In Corporate Settings?
This is touched on a bit above, but corporate gift-giving policies are meant to make sure organizations stay compliant with anti-bribery laws but also are able to maintain their reputation and integrity.
If a company doesn’t have policies in place, they’re at risk of fines, or they could lose opportunities. There is even the potential for jail time.
The concept of giving someone a gift is meant as a way of showing appreciation and kindness, and that’s almost always what it’s meant to be and how it’s received.
However, in decades past, particularly in financial services and medical marketing, vendors and sales reps would take their clients to expensive events and gift them with luxury items. These clients were usually the decision-makers for big purchases.
The media industry, which can be heavily influenced by advertisers spending that’s in the millions of dollars, was also scrutinized for gifting.
In some industries, there are guidelines determining who can give and accept gifts, the value of the gifts, and other elements of gift giving.
What’s a Bribe?
The General Federal Bribery Statute defines bribes as directly or indirectly giving corruptly, offering, or promising anything valuable to someone who’s a public official or a person selected to be a public official. The intention is theoretically to influence an official act or to influence the gift recipient to commit fraud or act otherwise unlawfully.
These laws apply specifically to elected officials and the people who work for them.
Bribery laws can also apply to witnesses for trials or hearings, members of Congress, people who work in a government agency, or an officer who’s legally authorized to hear testimony or evidence.
There’s the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act also, which was put in place to prohibit people and organizations from making payments or promising to pay foreign government officials. This includes gifts as well as money.
Of course, in a corporate gifting situation, you may not have to worry about any of these things, but these laws provide some of the background as to why it’s relevant.
What will a Corporate Gift Policy Usually Include?
There are many variations of corporate gift policies, but most will include details on which employees can give gifts and the situations where it would or would not be appropriate. They’ll include who outside the organization can give gifts and when it is and isn’t considered appropriate. There may be policies for receiving gifts and what’s generally considered acceptable, generally unacceptable, and unacceptable. Policies typically include a maximum monetary value for gifts too.
What Gifts Are Usually Considered Acceptable?
If you’re a recipient of a corporate gift, make sure you’re clear on the company policies of your employer and the law. You can ask HR or the finance department at your office to review policies that could be applicable to you.
Most often acceptable gifts include low-value items with a company logo, meals, and perishable gifts.
Gifts may need to be approved by a supervisor, which would be noted in the policy too.
As far as what’s not permitted, corporate gifting policies often say that gifts can’t be given to government officials or be high-value or lavish.
Good ideas for things you can gift in a corporate setting include:
- Things that are sharable, like a team lunch or baked items. This allows an entire department or office to enjoy the gift without it seeming as if you’re showing favoritism to your main contact.
- Charitable gifts can be a great way to build your brand.
- Low-cost, fun, and unique items are often a good way to go. You can do anything from tech gifts to mugs, sunglasses, or tumblers. Low-cost and even quirky gifts show you’re thinking of someone or that you appreciate them, but you aren’t getting into a risky legal or ethical area.
If you ever find yourself dealing with a situation where you have doubt about whether or not someone can accept a corporate gift or if the gift you’re thinking about giving is appropriate, it’s always best to ask. Some large companies will publish their codes of conduct online, so you can check that. For smaller companies, or if you can’t find the information online, just give the company a call.
If someone such as a prospect or client refuses your gift, you can use that as a chance to clarify the policies and let them know you’ll keep that in mind going forward.
If you want to show someone appreciation in a highly regulated industry, it’s especially important to ask before you send anything.
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