A great way to encourage a workforce or stimulate your staff is to look at giving employees gifts as a way of a thank you for achieving goals that have been set or as an incentive to work even harder than they are already doing. Staff want to feel appreciated and a business gift of this type for an employee can go a long way. There are many options that can be considered as employee gift ideas and these can fall into many product categories with certain items providing a high perceived value to the recipient.

Quite a few companies look to provide desk top items that not only make a uniform appearance to the office but also neaten up some work spaces, adding a splash of colour and giving employees certain items that otherwise might have become a little old and worn or even products that haven’t been used before. Products such as mousemats and coaster combinations, or pen pots and desk tidies can all carry corporate branding as well as give the employee receiving the gift a lift.

Alternative product ideas to be consider as an employee gift idea would be something that again can be used during a working day, and something that assists the staff and makes it easier to work or gives them a professional edge when seeing clients. Folders or business bags would fit neatly into this category, in other words something that would be well received, more than likely be used and would be noticed and commented on by customers or suppliers.

Christmas is a good time to look at a gift for the employees but nowadays most products cross over into other periods on the calendar. Pen sets, whether they are the brand names (such as Parker) or non branded metal options are really nice gift ideas.

An area that is becoming very popular these days is corporate clothing. This can come under a couple of categories, the first being staff workwear. Whilst not exactly a gift, it does give the staff a boost when everyone is provided with a really well put together workplace uniform, however formal or informal. On the other side, there are some great clothing items, such as jackets, or casual clothing ideas that can act as a great employee gift.

The final area to consider would be awards for either the entire staff when the company hits certain goals, or for indviduals as an employee gift for those who have performed beyond the targets set. This can encourage staff to want to be that person next time, or galvanize a workforce into looking to hit a level they have been set.

Steel City Marketing is a leading UK promotional gifts distributor. Should you be looking for any business gift or employee gift ideas, please call a member of the sales team on 0114 2754150.

With the hectic pace of life most of us have these days, keeping tabs on our appointments, schedule and other pieces of information has become very important – things are easily forgotten. The use of technology has helped to a degree and we are able to document events, keep track on what is happening in our daily lives on our PC’s, mobile phones many other gadgets.

However, it is also the case that the sheer amount of technology can confuse the issue even more. Entering the information can take up valuable time and I would imagine that people start to tire of the constant device-led daily routine. This is the reason why the traditional personal organiser is becoming a very popular daily tool.

The fact that the pen and paper is still the simplest way to make a note of something has never been replaced and scraps of paper are used daily to be a reminder. Collating these and keeping order to all of this information is exactly what a personal organiser is there for.

Available in several sizes from A5 personal organisers down to personal / pocket sized, there is plenty of choice for the businessman / woman or for a lady’s handbag or gentleman’s home office.  The most popular finishes are the leather look PU in various styles allowing a splash of colour or a traditional black / navy.  For a healthier budget, all items are available in leather versions. Branding is possible to the cover and this can be done by either blind embossing, gold foil blocking or screen printing, depending on the requirements that the aim of the advertising.

Filofax are obviously an incredibly famous name in personal organisers – and these are available for branding as business gift ideas. Discounts are exceptional compared to the retail side and although, the brand name carries a premium, but this certainly doesn’t put off those searching for a prestige item.

For all the sizes available these come with the appropriate paper inserts, which can include a week to view diary, tabbed file dividers, telephone and address section and a set of world maps. This more than covers the types of information discussed above and provides a simple indexing, “easy to enter” and “easy to find” system.

So if you are looking to return to the traditional pen and paper way of keeping your vital information to hand, please contact a member of the Steel City Marketing sales team on 0114 2754150, who will be more than happy to discuss promotional personal organisers and how they can work best for you.

One of the most important tools of the trade in a businessperson’s armory is the folder that they take with them to each of the many appointments they might have scheduled. Promotional folders exists in many different forms and must be carefully selected to give off the correct impression about the company, must be practical as well as useful and long lasting for the user.

Traditionally, the choice of material finishes for folders and binders would have been limited to genuine leather, making this a prestige item and a fairly high budget was required to kit out a sales team, or to giveaway to top clients as executive gifts.  This has not been the case however for some time now, with Far East sourcing along with new material availability – this is now no longer a high spend area to achieve some really great results.

Looking into the styles available, designs are reasonably varied now. In the traditional folders, there is the conference style that has no closure, but retains a good selection of internal pockets to take business cards, pens and literature as well as a note pad. Ziparound folder portfolios protect the information within the folder during transit and often offer more internal features such as calculators and removable ring mechansisms. There are also ringbinder portfolios, which again help prevent information from falling out when on the move. Some now offer a removable ring mechanism, which is fantastic in allowing the user to decide how to use the folder.

Material finishes have certainly moved forward in terms of choice on offer. The range now starts at the low budget polyprop, mostly used for low value giveaways, or minimal protection to documents. The conference folders take on their traditional appearance with leather look PU – with as close to leather appearance, they are both durable without the smell of the real deal! Bonded leather and recycled leather uses offcuts which when processed offer a cheaper real leather solution. Finally there still remains the high end options such as the Ascot Hide Leather Conference Folder – one of the range of Rolls Royce folders that will certainly stand out from the crowd!

There is now plenty of choice of promotional folders, and there is usually an option to fit whatever quantity and budget you are looking at.  A member of the Steel City Marketing sales team would be happy to talk through your requirements and provides options and prices that we are sure you will not regret. Please call now on 0114 2754150.