Corporate flower gifts: how to get them right

A corporate flower gift has a requirement that a personal gift does not: it cannot leave any room for misreading. The whole office will see it, and the recipient did not choose to receive it.

The rules of the professional register

1. No red. Red roses in an office change the message, whatever the intention. Go with white, yellow, orange, soft pink or mixed colors.
2. Sign on behalf of the company. "The Operations Team" or the company name, not your first name, unless the relationship warrants it.
3. No strong fragrance. In a shared space, an Oriental lily will bother half the office.
4. Desk-sized. A huge arrangement forces the person to carry it home on the bus. That is a problem, not a gift.
5. If several people share the same role, they all get one. It is the most damaging mistake and the most common one.

What works

Situation	What to send
An employee's birthday	A seasonal bouquet or a small plant
A promotion or achievement	An arrangement with something to toast with
An important client	A formal arrangement or a quality plant
A death in the family	A wreath or arrangement, signed by the company
A new baby	To the home, not the office
End of the year	Gift combos or an arrangement for the shared space
The whole team	One large shared arrangement, or breakfast

When there are many

With twenty birthdays a year, an individual delivery per person becomes unmanageable. Three formats that work:

• A standard recurring bouquet: the same product for everyone, coordinated month by month. It simplifies logistics and avoids comparisons.
• A monthly arrangement for the shared space celebrating that month's birthdays, instead of one per person.
• Consolidated invoicing. If you need a business invoice (factura A, in Argentina) and a single monthly statement instead of twenty receipts, write to us and we will set it up.

What to avoid

• Giving to only some people at the same level. It always shows.
• A gesture that stands in for something else. Flowers in place of a salary review or a pending working condition read exactly as what they are.
• Impersonal cards. "Happy birthday from the company" says nothing. One specific line changes the whole effect.
• Sending late on a Friday. The bouquet spends the weekend alone.

Dates on the work calendar

In Argentina: September 4 (Secretaries' Day), September 11 (Teachers' Day) if you have an education team, November 21 (Nurses' Day) in healthcare, birthdays and the end of the year. And the ones that are not dates: a promotion, a retirement, a farewell.