Whistle reported on May 27, 2022 that US people managers in its research spent an average of $774 a month on non-payroll disbursements. The category included gifts, small expenses and rewards, rather than gift cards alone. [S01]
A spending estimate with a defined scope
The supplier extrapolated that average across an assumed 16 million US managers to describe an annual market of roughly $150 billion. Multiplying the stated inputs produces $148.6 billion. This is an extrapolation from the supplier’s research, not an independently measured national expenditure total. [S01]
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| Manager-reported issue | Share reported by Whistle |
|---|---|
| Staying within budget | 56% |
| Delay in receiving funds | 47% |
| Employees preferring cash to cards or items | 47% |
| Tracking expenditure | 46% |
Problems managers reported with small disbursements
Shares reported in Whistle’s May 2022 research account.
%
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Source
Supplier-reported research. Sample size, fieldwork dates and weighting were not disclosed in the article. Categories are not parts of one total.
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| Category | Managers |
|---|---|
| Budget control | 56% |
| Funding delay | 47% |
| Preference for cash | 47% |
| Tracking expenditure | 46% |
What the evidence can establish
The published article does not disclose sample size, fieldwork dates or weighting. It also reflects managers’ accounts of employee preferences, rather than a separate poll of employees. The percentages are useful as a description of the supplier’s findings, with those limits kept visible. [S01]
The operational question is broader than which reward to buy. Small amounts can still create substantial administrative work when funding, approval and reporting happen in separate places. A programme can therefore be inexpensive per recipient while remaining awkward to run.
The same research account reports that difficulty tracking spending varied with team size: 22% among managers with fewer than five direct reports, 40% with five to nine and 52% with ten to nineteen. This is a descriptive association, with no published subgroup counts or adjustment for differences between managers. [S01]
Reported tracking difficulty by team size
Managers reporting frustration with tracking their spending.
% within team-size group
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Source
Subgroup sample sizes and fieldwork dates are undisclosed. Association does not establish that team size causes frustration or that a different payment platform improves outcomes.
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| Category | Published values |
|---|---|
| Fewer than 5 direct reports | 22 % within team-size group |
| 5-9 direct reports | 40 % within team-size group |
| 10-19 direct reports | 52 % within team-size group |
For a gift-card buyer, that suggests evaluating the surrounding process as well as the catalog. Budget ownership, a record of each disbursement and a clear handover to the recipient are measurable operating requirements. The survey does not show that changing the reward alone will improve retention or performance.
In this article
Suzie Elis
Suzie Elis covers gift card products, digital gifting and distribution for Gift Card News.