A roundup of weird Christmas gifts from internet tech companies

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The annual Christmas has evolved from a religious festival to a global carnival. Today's Christmas is becoming more and more secular and commercial. Foreign technology companies have always attached great importance to team building and material rewards during Christmas, while in China, the Christmas of "foreigners" coincides with the end of the year for various technology companies, and money and gifts fly together, and a carnival is inevitable.

Today, we’ll take a look at some of the weird Christmas gifts for employees at technology companies at home and abroad.

1. Apple: I never gave away iPhones.

Although Apple, the world's richest company, is rich and willful, it is not like Chinese companies that give iPhones away at every turn. Apple's gifts are always warm and affectionate. In 2013, Apple employees received three Christmas gifts: a windbreaker, a pen, and a notebook. All three gifts had the Apple logo printed on them. In 2014, Apple gave a customized Incase backpack with a white Apple logo on the front.

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This year, Apple also did not give employees the latest iPhone 6s, but Beats Dr. Dre headphones, which come in two colors: red and black. The Beats headphones are currently priced at around $99.95, and Apple also printed "Thank You 2015" on the packaging. Not only American employees will receive this gift, but Apple has already packaged these gifts and sent them to employees around the world a few days ago.

Although Apple's gifts are very valuable, many employees believe that Apple, the world's most valuable technology company, is a bit stingy in its choice of Christmas gifts, which seems to be inconsistent with its leading position in the technology field.

2. Google: Give away its own top products every year

Compared with Apple's stinginess, Google seems much more generous. Since 2011, it has given its employees the company's top products every year.

In 2010, Google directly gave employees a red envelope of $1,000 after tax, and in 2011, Google gave them the latest Galaxy Nexus phone. In 2012, Google gave employees the right to choose gifts, allowing them to choose one of the three products: Chromebook, Motorola RAZA M smartphone and Nexus 7 tablet. In 2013, they chose between Nexus 5 phone and the latest Nexus 7 tablet. In 2014, Google directly gave employees wearable LG smart watches worth about $200. Although it is worth a lot of money, the spoiled Google employees still don't buy it.

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Although we haven't received any official news, based on the rule of giving away official products every year, the gifts Google gave to its employees this year should be Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P.

3. Microsoft: Give away Surface tablets every year

Microsoft has also been generous in giving its employees Christmas gifts. Since 2013, Microsoft has given its employees Surface tablets every year.

In 2013, Microsoft gave away a Surface RT tablet, Windows Phone 8, and Windows Office PCs worth $2,000. In 2014, Microsoft gave away the most expensive Surface Pro 3 tablet to its employees.

On Christmas Day 2015, Microsoft should have given its employees the best-selling Surface Pro 4!

4. Xiaomi: Like Microsoft, it also gives away tablets

In 2014, Xiaomi gave each employee a Xiaomi tablet as a Christmas gift. All current Xiaomi employees are eligible to receive it (by December 24), and employees who have been employed for less than 3 months must wait until they are 3 months old to receive it. In addition, Xiaomi also gave each employee a Xiaomi 4 as a Spring Festival gift during the Spring Festival.

It is understood that Xiaomi had 7,000 employees in December 2014. At that time, each Xiaomi tablet was priced at 1,299 yuan. Based on market prices, Xiaomi gave a total of 9 million yuan to its employees last Christmas.

Although Xiaomi was rich and willful last year, this year I learned from a classmate inside Xiaomi that Xiaomi did not prepare Christmas gifts for employees this year. Although this classmate expressed some regret, according to this classmate, Xiaomi seems to be making a big move for Spring Festival benefits.

5. Tencent: Christmas parties have become a corporate cultural tradition

Tencent's Christmas party has long been famous in the Internet circle. Pranks, relaxation, family affection, and touching moments have always been the main themes of Tencent's Christmas party. And the lucky draw session of the party, the Christmas gifts are even more valuable.

In the eyes of Tencent employees, the annual Christmas party is a tradition, a custom, and the most important ceremony in corporate culture. It also carries the employees' love and honor for the company.

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The theme of Tencent Christmas Party in 2013 was "Be The Best". The gifts in the lucky draw of Tencent Christmas Party in 2014 were also amazing: there was a special prize of 38,888 yuan in cash, a special prize of a 10-day trip to the United States for two people worth 25,000 yuan, and a super surprise prize of a trip to Antarctica for two people worth 250,000 yuan. The 2015 Tencent Christmas Party was held at Shenzhen Bay Stadium again, and it was still wonderful. Xiao Ma Ge's song "The Story of Time" stunned Tencent employees. The Christmas benefit was a trip to Iceland and the Arctic for two people worth 38,888 yuan.

The author's circle of friends was flooded with posts from Tencent employees a few days ago. Tencent employees said that the show was so exciting and they would be more excited for the coming year. In addition to the Christmas party, Tencent employees also posted pictures of peace apples on Christmas Day to show their welfare. Compared with Tencent, NetEase employees received an apple this Christmas.

6. Coolpad: Chairman turns into Santa Claus to give surprises

Coolpad's welfare has long been known to everyone in the industry. It is understood that Coolpad provides rich gifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Women's Day and employees' birthdays, organizes employees to undergo health examinations every year, and organizes overseas travel for award-winning employees every year.

Unlike other companies' Christmas gifts which are more like simple company products and material rewards, Coolpad's Christmas gifts this year are very fun and creative.

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Coolpad Chairman Guo Deying and a group of executives dressed up as Santa Claus to deliver Christmas gifts to employees on Christmas Day. On the afternoon of December 24, at the Coolpad headquarters, Coolpad Chairman Guo Deying and Vice President Cao Jingsheng and others all put on fake beards and Christmas clothes, and surrounded by a group of beautiful Santa babies, they threw Christmas gifts to everyone on the spot.

It is said that Coolpad's human resources department has put a lot of thought into preparing a bunch of weird but loving Christmas gifts to help employees better solve personal problems. Some employees won a one-year membership fee for a famous dating website, some employees won a breakup subsidy, and some employees even won a vegetable plot.

Coolpad employees also said, "Old Guo's height and figure are quite similar to those of Santa Claus. Old Guo is getting more and more adorable." As a former university professor, Guo Deying's image has always been relatively calm and low-key, even vague. With Coolpad's transformation, Guo Deying has become more and more outspoken.

Of course, if you ask me what my company published, I will answer: I published a manuscript!

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After all, Christmas is a holiday introduced from abroad, and it cannot fully reflect the strength of all companies' welfare. Many technology companies actually have different focuses on different festivals throughout the year. For example, during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, Huawei gave each employee a bonus of $1,000; during the Spring Festival in 2015, Jack Ma cancelled the red envelope benefits for all employees because they "did not achieve any special results."

The so-called Christmas welfare inventory is not just an inventory of the welfare provided to employees at Christmas, but also a look at the financial situation of a company and the degree of care it gives to its employees. To a certain extent, the amount of welfare is not important. What is most important is to make employees happy and keep the corporate culture active.

Google's geek style, Tencent's family portrait, Microsoft's Surface, Xiaomi's tablets, Coolpad's cross-dressing performances, and Alibaba's hard work can actually reflect the company's focus or strategic direction for the year to some extent.

From this perspective, Tencent and Coolpad have done a good job. On the one hand, the company leaders personally came to cheer up the employees, and on the other hand, the Christmas benefits have also broken away from the simple material rewards and can bring more novelty and fun to the employees. If Tencent's standard Christmas party shows its confident attitude in the current Internet boom, then Coolpad's Christmas "cross-dressing performance" reflects Guo Deying's change of mentality, and the significance of the boss's change to the company's transformation is self-evident.

Not only this Christmas, New Year's Day and Spring Festival are approaching, and various technology companies will have more benefits. In fact, we can see more behind these benefits, so let us wait and see.