Best gift ideas for night shift workers
19 Gifts for Night Shift Workers
The great resignation is here, and it’s harder than ever to keep skilled workers and find new talent.
Let’s focus on gifts for your 3rd-shift employees and improve employee retention!
Our team put together a list of the best budget and mid-range presents.
Here’s a list of 19 gifts for night shift workers:
1. Weighted blanket
Shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) is, apart from being impossible to pronounce, also a handful to live with.
Weighted blankets have become increasingly popular in the last couple of years.
Wired made a list of weighted blankets, naming Yasaa’s good-looking Serenity Kit the winner.
These blankets aren’t cheap though.
If you shop around you can find budget alternatives.
But if you’ve got a SMALL budget for your night shift workers’ gifts, our next suggestion is a…
2. Do-It-Yourself Weighted blanket
Come on people, let’s get creative!
Your employees need different types of blankets depending on their size, etc.
There are plenty of solutions and videos to make your own solution.
You could order company-branded blankets and then turn them into weighted ones. Or a burrito blanket!
Find some local charity or company that can help with sewing services.
3. Blue-blocking glasses
Lower the risk for your night shift workers with blue-light blocking glasses.
These glasses improve sleep quality, and help your workers fall asleep - faster!
Read more about the benefits of the glasses.
There are plenty of options, some cheap, some stylish.
You can also customize the glasses.
4. Air Purifier
Research indicates that air purifiers can remove harmful particles from your home.
They filter the air from smoke, molds, and allergens.
It won’t solve your indoor air quality problems. But this gift can help your 3rd shift workers to improve their sleep.
NY Times listed their 8 favorite air purifiers. Take your pick!
Did the price scare you off?
Let’s look at options:
5. Air purifying plants
Potted household plants make at best, contributions in the range of 0.9–9% to indoor ozone removal effectiveness.
Research suggests that in high enough quantities, indoor plants can improve air quality.
Plants are great to reduce stress though!
Here are 7 benefits of indoor plants. It’s a low-budget present that your employees will surely appreciate.
6. Book: Making Night Shift Work
How about a book as a gift?
Check out “Making Night Shift Work: A practical guide for the night worker”.
Or get an audio version that people can listen to while heading home after the night shift.
Dr. Steve Frei has been a night-shift-working emergency physician for over 30 years.
This is his practical guide to help your workers adapt to night shifts in a scientifically based way.
7. Reusable earplugs
Happy Ears’ reusable earplugs are “Best for sleeping” according to Forbes.
They come with a handy storage case and offer a Discovery pack so your employees can figure out which size is the best fit for them.
A great gift to help you fall asleep after a long shift, or to block out noise on the metro coming home.
8. Digital sleeping pill
More gadgets gifts for night shift workers, yay!
OK, so this is a sleep headband.
Here’s how the manufacturer describes it:
Using advanced EEG technology to respond to your mind, heart, and breath, Muse S is a comfy brain sensing headband. It helps you understand & track how well you focus, sleep and recharge so you can refocus during the day and recover each night.
Learn how to use your breath to find calm and fight stress.
Is it a good gift for your shift workers?
Well, it’s a pretty pricey one.
9.Wristband
Let’s do another quick gadget gift suggestion!
Perhaps your graveyard shift workers would prefer a bracelet?
This bracelet can help your workers fall asleep faster and improve their sleep quality.
10. Light therapy device
Our next gadget is the Luminette light therapy. This device came out after 4 years of research at the University of Liege (Belgium).
Their own research shows that 68% of users reported an improvement in the quality of their sleep.
The Drive is a handy light therapy device that you can use while driving your car.
11. White noise generator
Research shows that silence is the best way to get proper sleep.
But if that doesn’t work, white noise might help your shift workers as it drowns out distracting noise.
The Sleep Foundation made a list of affordable machines.
The model below is 29 USD.
Here’s another, cheaper, approach with a fun white noise generator to play around with.
Or make a company-branded white noise Spotify list as a giveaway!
12. Sleeping mask
Sleeping masks get dirty and nasty over time.
One day you look at your mask and realize that you seeeriously need a new one.
The price for this gift ranges from virtually nothing to pretty pricey. It all depends on if you want to add tech or style.
HealthLine has a list of their 10 favorite masks.
13. Tempurpedic pillow
Do you night shift workers wake up with neck pain?
This gift might help with that.
These pillows also degrade over time so it might be a good idea to renew.
The SleepJudge has a list of pros and cons of different Tempur® pillows.
13. Night shift drink gift ideas
The fantastic site TheOtherShift has a list of what they consider to be the best drinks for night shift workers.
Perhaps give a night shift care package?
Include green tea, kombucha, and coconut water to inspire new, healthy, habits?
14. Shoe voucher
Vouchers are great gifts for night shift workers as you can adapt depending on how much money you can spend.
A shoe voucher means your people are more likely to afford and spend money on good shoes.
I.e. shoes designed for those on their feet during most of the work shift.
Comforting footwear has a list of the 50 most comfortable shoes.
If you’ve got a good shop nearby, make a deal with them, or directly with a shoe brand.
Perhaps they’ll give you a volume discount?
15. T-shirts!
Add some fun and give your team some good-looking t-shirts!
Find something that will resonate with your night shift workers, ask two or three people if you’re unsure.
There are plenty of gift ideas out there, here’s one we like:
16. Mental wellbeing app
Promote a mental wellbeing app to your night shift workers. This can help them better handle everyday stress, using evidence-based exercises.
Perhaps they can use it going to work, to arrive in a good mental state?
Or to unwind driving home in the morning.
Your people can keep track of what’s stressing them and get rid of negative thoughts.
17. Blackout blinds
Blackout blinds are a must-have and one of the best gifts for night shift workers.
They cost a bit more than traditional curtains but it could totally be worth it for your third shift workers.
Particularly during Summer!
IKEA has some budget block-out blinds that won’t break the bank.
18. Health check-up
Depending on where you’re based and what health benefits you offer, this is a great handout.
You could contact your nearest medical center for convenience.
Then give workers 1-hour off so they can check their blood pressure and do a blood test.
Knowing you’re healthy makes it easier to relax after a long night shift!
To motivate people, you could offer a Fitbit or a cheaper similar model to all employees who’ve completed the health check-up.
Remember, healthy and motivated employees are more productive.
19. Night shift socks
Our last gift idea for night shift workers is… some fun socks!
You could also get compression socks. They do wonder for feet and legs and many nurses swear by them.
And no, they don’t have to be boring 
Hope this made you decide on gifts for night shift workers!
Do let us know which present you decide on!
And lastly, for those who track employee morale, let us know which impact you see in the daily data
The team here at Celpax is thinking of getting custom tattoos with green smiley faces to boost morale…
The Celpax device:
A simple way to measure staff morale and take action.
