Could Offer Letter Kits Be the New Onboarding Kits?

Remember when you got your acceptance letter from college, and you knew you got in because the envelope was fat? Maybe it even came in a specially marked envelope that said something along the lines of "Congratulations, you're in!" Ours did. (Thanks for eliminating the suspense, Temple University.)

That same practice could extend to job offers now, too.

Companies have long been giving their new hires gifts to make them feel welcome, especially when they were hired remotely during the pandemic. A welcome kit with products like water bottles, T-shirts, note pads, pens, etc., all with well-placed logos, can make a new hire feel like part of the team from the jump.

But the job market is extra competitive these days, and companies are looking to fill a lot of positions. That means that they need to stand out from other prospective hirers and appeal to applicants before they even sign on the dotted line. So, increasingly, companies are taking the welcome kit approach a step further.

According to Fortune, startup companies like Calendly have been sending gift boxes along with offer letters. "Congratulations, you just got a job offer from Calendly!" the note says. Inside the box, there's a T-shirt with the company's logo, a cocktail kit, a thermos, a glass candy jar, stickers and a card with the company's values printed on it.

"The swag bag gives a glimpse into what the employee experience will look like at Calendly," Kelly Minella, the company's head of recruiting, told Fortune. "We want anyone who enters our application process to leave as a Calendly ambassador."

Aside from getting the applicant excited about starting work for the company, sweetening the deal with a swag box is definitely a good tactic to stand apart from others who might have made offers.

"We want to do what it takes to make sure we're on top of the latest and greatest," Minella added. "With the boxes, we just hope it shows applicants that we start with a human. And we want to say thank you for giving us a chance to get to know you better."

Finding ways for a company to appeal to a customer's or client's human side is paramount for distributors. The goal is always to come off as more than just a faceless organization. That's where appreciation cards and gift boxes come in handy.

Any company experiencing staffing issues could benefit from an offer kit. It goes a long way beyond just promos to hand out at career fairs or during interviews. It shows that the company is serious about investing in that applicant's future at the company, and that there's a human being on the other end of that offer letter.