Holiday Program Burden Scorecard

What does your holiday program really cost you? Count the hours, not just the budget.

The gift budget is the number leadership sees. The hours your team spends sourcing, shipping, chasing addresses, coordinating managers and planning events usually go uncounted. Answer five quick questions to estimate the real time and cost of your season, see where the burden concentrates, and get ranked ways to cut both.

Start the scorecard Recognition doesn't take a holiday

Five quick questions

Tell us how your season runs

Defaults are fine. Adjust what you know.

1

How many employees does your holiday program cover?

employees

2

How do you run holiday gifts today?

All manualBuying, tracking and shipping by hand or spreadsheet Partly tooledSome gift cards or vendors, still coordinated by your team Fully platform-runEmployees choose, delivery is automated We don't give giftsCards, messages or an event only

3

Where do your people work?

Select all that apply.

Mostly in one place Multiple sites Remote or hybrid Frontline or deskless

4

What does your holiday program involve?

Select all that apply.

Gifts Cards or written messages A party or eventIn person or virtual Getting leadership and managers to participate Budget approvals and finance coordination

5

How many people help run it?

people

+

Gift budget per employee for the season

What you plan to spend per person on gifts this holiday season.

$

Your holiday burden scorecard

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Time first

00 hrs

this season

In dollars

$0,000

in time and overrun

Your results are ready

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Time first

0 hrs

About this many hours of your team's time this season.

In dollars

$0

Roughly this much in time and overrun.

Estimated from typical programs your size. Your real numbers may differ.

Where the time concentrates

HR teams spend up to 40% of their time on manual, repeatable tasks. The holiday season concentrates a year's worth of that into a few weeks. (McKinsey)

Show me how to cut this

How to cut this

Ranked by hours saved

Some of these are process changes you can make on your own. Some need a platform. We say which is which.

Together, these could reclaim about 0 hours and $0 this season.

Explore the holiday program Open a sample holiday experience →

See how Inspirus handles the logistics so your team runs the season instead of the spreadsheet. Estimated from typical programs your size.

Plan the rest of your season

More holiday help from Inspirus

Holiday program

Let employees choose from 2,500+ brands

Branded eCards and automated delivery, with no shopping, shipping or tracking for your team.

Explore the program → See it first

Open a sample holiday experience

See exactly what your employees would open: a branded holiday moment and a gift they choose themselves.

Open the sample → Free toolkit

Employee Holiday Gifting Toolkit

11 free resources, from gift guides and party planning to manager enablement.

Get the toolkit → Talk to us

Want help interpreting your scorecard?

An Inspirus specialist will walk through your results and where a managed program cuts the most hours.

Schedule time with us →

Recognition doesn't take a holiday.

Sources and assumptions

A fully manual holiday program for about 500 employees takes 40 to 80 hours per season (BirdieBox Corporate Gifting Guide, 2026).
Smaller or partially tooled logistics take 8 to 15 hours (RewardBuilder, 2026).
Fees, shipping and spoilage add 10% to 35% to program budgets (RewardBuilder, 2026).
Address collection takes about three weeks of coordination, and 10% to 15% of remote address lists go out of date each year (Givenly, 2026).
Automation cuts recognition admin workload by roughly a third (SHRM).
HR teams spend up to 40% of their time on manual, repeatable tasks (McKinsey).
Estimates use a loaded HR hourly rate of $45 and scale with headcount, locations and program scope.