Do spiritual gifts in the business world really work?
The practice of giving gifts is very common in the workplace nowadays. Bosses would give gifts to their juniors for a job well done. The juniors, on the other hand, would give gifts to their bosses as a way of appreciating their leadership and managerial skills. Gifts are also exchanged between co-workers on holidays or special occasions such as birthdays or engagements. The recipient of a gift always feels special and this goes a long way to enhance relationships at the workplace. Gifts also have a way of spurring competition at the workplace. A policy whereby workers will be rewarded for the successful completion of a project or assignment will push the workers to give their best so as to claim the gift or reward. The organization benefits immensely since the workers are highly motivated and this results in a great work output.
Gifts, however, are not just issued within an organization. A business can choose to send gifts to its partners in an attempt to strengthen its business partnership. It can also send gifts to its clients and customers as a show of gratitude for choosing to work with them. All these instances serve to highlight the importance of gifts at the workplace. Now that that is clear, there is the little matter of what gifts are ideal for the workplace. The rule with gift giving is to keep the gifts simple. Extravagant gifts are not appropriate at the workplace since they can be viewed as an attempt to receive favorable treatment from the recipient. The workplace environment should be impartial and extravagant gifts interfere with this balance. Other gifts that should be avoided at the workplace are romantic gifts such as flowers. Such gifts create unnecessary tension at the workplace and this could interfere with the work output.
Religious gifts.
The religious composition is most offices is usually diverse. There are Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews and even those who do not believe in the existence of a Holy being. Most organizations have tried to keep their workplace environments conducive for members of each of these religions to operate. Some would even go ahead and give gifts that are religious in nature to its members. But is that appropriate? Well, the answer is both yes and no.
It is ideal to give religious gifts.
You can only give spiritual gifts to your coworkers if you understand their religion and what it stands for. This way you are familiar with what is ideal as a gift and what isn’t. The items that one can give as gifts vary across religions and you stand a great chance of failure if you are not of the same religion as the person you are trying to issue with a gift. This, therefore, makes spiritual gift giving a preserve of members of the same religion. People from different religions who have a close relationship can also send each other spiritual gifts as long as they have spent enough time with each other to know what qualifies as an ideal spiritual gift and what doesn’t.
It’s not ideal to give religious gifts at the workplace.
Gifts are supposed to make relations easier between people but when it comes to spiritual gifts, things can get worse should you issue the wrong gift. People with strong religious beliefs will take offense to receiving the wrong gift and this could ruin your relationship even further. When this happens at the workplace, then the success and prosperity the business is at risk. This is because strained relationships between workmates will affect the output at the workplace. It is for this reason that spiritual gifts should not be issued at the workplace.
Another reason why spiritual gifts are not encouraged at the workplace is the fact that members from another region can take offense to specific spiritual gifts. This could also strain relations at the workplace and the productivity at the office is affected as a result.
Conclusion.
Spiritual gifts can create unnecessary tension in the workplace and, therefore, they should be avoided within the office. When it comes to corporate gifts ideas, stick to non-spiritual items such as gift cards, fruit baskets, and inspirational books.