With Diwali around the corner, corporate employees are looking forward to more than just celebrating the festival of lights – they are also anticipating generous gifts and bonuses that organisations usually hand out around this time. However, a survey by AmbitionBox has found that 43% of India Inc employees receive no festive benefits from their employers.

AmbitionBox, a platform for company reviews and salary insights, surveyed over 2100 employees and found that 66% expect festive benefits or bonuses from their companies around Diwali.

However, while corporate gift-giving is assumed to be standard practice during Diwali, 43% of the survey participants acknowledged that they haven’t received any festive perks.

There is also a wide disparity between the kind of perks that employees receive. Some companies hand out boxes of mithai or dry fruits, while others have been known to give gift cards to employees. Some MNCs go the extra mile by gifting employees with expensive gadgets during Diwali, and a select few make the news for extravagant gifts – like the tea estate owner from Tamil Nadu who gave bikes worth 2 lakh to some employees, and LCD TVs to others.

However, a majority of employees surveyed by AmbitionBox say they would rather receive cash bonuses than anything else – 66% of employees surveyed said they would like a cash bonus on Diwali above all else.

Other preferred benefits include gift cards (30%), electronics and gadgets (27%), customized gifts (24%), destination holidays (21%), and experiences like spas (12%).

For employees, Diwali gifting by companies is about more than materialistic benefits – 63% believe such perks enhance motivation and engagement, while 39% believe they foster a stronger sense of loyalty. For 75% of respondents, the presence or absence of festive benefits matters when it comes to employee satisfaction.

AmbitionBox surveyed around 2,100 employees across sectors like BPO, IT services, and financial services to come up with the results. 54% of the respondents are between the ages of 25-34 years, while 25% fall within the 35-44 years age range.