There’s something about receiving a delivery “from work”, that isn’t directly related to work, which makes you feel connected to the team. It’s nice to see LinkedIn photos of people receiving boxes of company swag (congrats on your new job!) and I’m keen for more people to get creative about this idea. After all, the surprise factor adds a bit of spice to a gift!

Let me start by sharing three stories…

Commissioned art work

In the first year of the pandemic, the partners at our design studio decided against a holiday Zoom party—it was too close to “yet another Zoom” and we felt that people would rather finish work.

Instead, we asked an artist friend to make pieces for each member, part of a set but slightly different, and shipped them to everyone’s homes over the holidays.

Food deliveries for a #hybrid party

When our project team learned that someone couldn’t make it to a small in-person gathering, one of us went to drop off a party kit. It included portions of the food we’d have at the party, along with a bottle of wine to help make it a household affair on their end.

I don’t know if we would have taken an “extra” step like that prior to becoming a distributed team. I hope it means that we’re becoming more versed at building belonging.

An actual care package

One time, I received a box from a new collaborator, as an expression of her wish for our nascent partnership to flourish. She’d sent bath salts and seasonal snacks, enclosed with a handwritten letter. We were about to start on an assignment for a client of hers, and this act shifted my perspective from project success to a broader range of possibilities.

We could do with more meaningful gift-giving at work, right?

What lies beyond the tropes of company t-shirts and hoodies, cacti and retirement watches?