Employee Welcome Kits That Aren’t Generic
A memorable employee welcome kit gives a new hire something to keep on their desk, not something they forget in a drawer. A small terrarium or a plant-based piece does that and it costs less than most branded merch anyway.
We’ve packed a fair number of onboarding kits over the past couple of years, and the pattern is always the same. The mug gets used for a week and then joins the office kitchen’s mismatched collection. The notebook sits half-filled. But a little glass terrarium or a wooden desk planter tends to stay put people water it, glance at it during calls, sometimes even name it. That’s the whole point of an employee welcome kit: something the person actually keeps around long enough to associate with day one.
What makes an employee welcome kit memorable (and what makes it forgettable)
Forgettable kits are generic because they could belong to any company like a pen, a notepad, a t-shirt in a size that never fits right. Nobody remembers who gave them that. Memorable employee welcome kits have three things going for them: they’re usable without being disposable, they say something about the company’s personality, and they don’t feel mass-produced even when they technically are.
Plants or anything plant-adjacent, like a terrarium, hit all three. A terrarium isn’t just sitting there; it’s alive, so there’s a small ongoing relationship with it. It signals that the company thought about aesthetics and sustainability rather than just ordering the cheapest branded item in bulk. And because each terrarium is handmade, no two look identical even from the same batch, which quietly avoids that stamped-out feeling.
There’s also a practical angle HR teams don’t always think about upfront: greenery in a workspace is genuinely well-liked by employees, and it photographs well for those “welcome to the team” LinkedIn posts new hires like to put up. We’re not going to overstate the office-wellness research here, a single desk plant isn’t going to transform anyone’s productivity but the first-week experience matters more than most companies give it credit for. Research on onboarding outcomes has repeatedly found that new hires who feel a genuine, structured welcome are markedly more likely to stay satisfied and stick around long-term, a small desk gift is a minor piece of that puzzle, not the whole thing, but it’s a piece worth getting right.
Why plant-based gifting fits the onboarding moment specifically
Onboarding is a beginning, and plants are one of the few gift categories that are literally about growth you don’t need to force the metaphor, it’s just sitting there. A new hire is figuring out the ropes, the plant is figuring out its spot near a window, and both settle in over the following weeks. HR teams we’ve worked with have used this line almost verbatim in their welcome emails, and it lands better than most onboarding copy because it’s true rather than aspirational.
There’s a size advantage too. Most office desks in Indian workplaces are compact, and a large planter or an elaborate arrangement just becomes clutter. A terrarium is deliberately small-format most of ours sit comfortably within a laptop’s footprint so it fits the actual physical constraints of a cubicle or hot-desk setup without anyone needing to find extra shelf space.
Wild Roots employee welcome kit options, by budget tier
We get asked for a range fairly often, since HR and admin teams are usually working within a fixed per-head budget across a whole joining batch. Here’s roughly how it breaks down using what’s currently in our catalogue.
Entry tier (under ₹1,000 per kit). The Test Tube Planter (Set of 3) works well here — three small hydroponic cuttings on a wooden stand, compact enough to sit beside a keyboard. The Cylindrical 4×4 Inch Desktop Glass Terrarium is another option in this range if you’d rather give one self-contained piece instead of a set. Both hold up fine at scale for large joining batches where the per-unit cost has to stay tight.
Standard tier (₹1,000–₹1,600 per kit). This is where the Handcrafted Wooden Tabletop Planter sits, and it’s one of our more popular corporate picks because the wood base reads as more “office decor” than “gift shop item” — it doesn’t look out of place on a manager’s desk either. The Rope Jar Terrarium (6 Inches) is a good alternative in this bracket if you want the hanging-jar look rather than a flat base.
Premium tier (₹2,000–₹2,500 per kit). For senior new hires or smaller, higher-touch batches, the Hanging Globe Terrarium (8″) is one we’d recommend without hesitation, it has genuine presence on a desk and doesn’t need a second gift alongside it to feel complete. The Medium Cuboidal Terrarium, gives a bit more visual scale if the kit is meant to double as a small congratulatory gesture too.
Signature tier (₹3,500+ per kit). A handful of clients doing leadership onboarding or a very small batch of senior hires go for something like the Bell Jar Lamp Terrarium or the Round Bowl Lamp Terrarium (Large, 10 Inches) both function as a small desk lamp as well as a terrarium, which makes them feel less like a gift and more like a fixture the person will actually use daily.
The branding and packaging note
None of this works if it arrives looking like a random item that got bulk-ordered off a marketplace. Through our Corporate Gifting programme we handle logo branding on the packaging, a personalised welcome card or message insert, and consistent packaging across the whole batch so fifty new hires joining on the same date all get an identical unboxing experience. For larger joining cohorts, we’d recommend locking the tier and packaging early in the process rather than close to the joining date, since handmade pieces take a bit of lead time to prepare consistently at volume. We have a special pricing for the bulk orders on employee welcome kit. Reach out to us on 8744000985 for pricing and discounts.
FAQ
Are terrariums a good fit for corporate welcome kits, or do they feel too casual? They tend to work well for exactly the reason people worry about, they don’t look like typical branded merchandise, which is usually what makes them stand out in a positive way rather than seeming unprofessional.
Can these be branded with our company logo? Yes. Branding is usually done on the packaging or an accompanying card rather than on the terrarium itself, since printing directly on glass or live plants isn’t practical or long-lasting.
Do the plants need special care from new employees? No. The varieties we use in terrariums and desk planters are low-maintenance, occasional watering and indirect light is generally enough, and we include basic care instructions with every kit.
What’s the typical lead time for a bulk order across a joining batch? This depends on quantity and customisation, so it’s best to reach out through our Corporate Giffting programme with your expected batch size and joining date, and we’ll confirm a timeline.
Do you deliver welcome kits outside Delhi NCR? Yes, we ship pan-India, see our delivery and store details for specifics on your location.
Worth trying for your next joining batch
If you’re planning onboarding for an upcoming batch, it’s worth picking one tier and trying it with a small group first before locking it in for the whole cohort you’ll get a read on how the plants are received before committing budget across the board. Happy to help you figure out quantities and tiers if you reach out through Corporate Connect.