OuterBox is a fast-growing digital marketing agency serving clients across the U.S. and internationally. With headquarters in Akron, Ohio, and major hubs in Minnesota and Texas, the company has a distributed workforce of over 250 employees — nearly double its headcount from just two years ago.
When SEO Strategist Savitree Gessner joined OuterBox, she didn’t have the traditional job title of someone responsible for rolling out a company-wide employee recognition program. Yet, as a remote employee, she knew she wanted to make a difference in OuterBox’s culture.
“I just like being able to connect with my co-workers. It’s a fun break from SEO and a way to contribute to our culture — and everyone’s always surprised when they find out I’m not in HR.”
The Challenge: High-Growth, Hybrid, and Time-Strapped
As OuterBox scaled rapidly, celebrating employee milestones like birthdays, work anniversaries, and life events became logistically challenging. With a dispersed team and limited centralized resources, the company struggled to:
- Ensure inclusivity for remote employees who couldn’t attend in-office celebrations.
- Manage logistics for sending gifts, especially with outdated address lists and limited storage space.
- Avoid generic, impersonal gifts that didn’t fit employees’ lifestyles or preferences.
- Streamline onboarding swag distribution without relying on specific office locations.
Before Goody, OuterBox’s recognition program was sporadic: local employees might get lunch, remote employees sometimes received gift cards (which didn’t work in all areas), and many milestones went unrecognized.
Gessner knew the amount of time she had available to spend tackling this problem would be limited. “It’s not necessarily my full-time job — I’m an SEO strategist — but I’ve become sort of a culture champion on the side.”
The Solution: Automated, Flexible Employee Gifts
After a research process led by Gessner, OuterBox adopted Goody as its company-wide gifting platform.
The decision was based on three main criteria: Wide variety of gifts to please virtually any recipient; an automated HR integration (via Paylocity) for birthdays, anniversaries, and onboarding gifts; and ease of use and centralized logistics that eliminated the need for manual shipping.
Here’s how OuterBox is using Goody’s gifting platform today:
Automated Employee Gifts & Swag
Using data from OuterBox’s HRIS, Goody automatically sends gifts for employee milestones, such as:
- Birthdays: Custom curated gift stores featuring fun, inclusive options like mini piñatas, cookies, and pretzels.
- Work Anniversaries: Tiered gifts increasing in value over time, with options employees can choose themselves.
- New hire swag kits (tumblers, logo T-shirts) sent to new hires through Goody’s warehousing and shipping capabilities, eliminating the need for in-office storage and fulfillment.
Flexible, Crowd-Pleasing Holiday Gifts
- A Gift of Choice sent to all employees at year-end, ensuring inclusivity and eliminating guesswork for diverse preferences. OuterBox simply sets an amount and lets employees choose their own gifts.
Custom Collections for Special Occasions
- Gessner curates special menus of gifts for employees’ life events, both the good (engagements, weddings, childbirth) and the bad (bereavement, loss of a beloved pet).
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The Results: 350+ Hours Saved, 250+ Employees Delighted
One of the most notable impacts of Goody is simply how much time it saves Gessner.
“Before Goody, it would take me about 30 minutes to manually send each gift,” she says. Automation now reduces that to a few clicks.
As a result, Gessner estimates that Goody has automated the equivalent of 350+ hours of work per year. “What I can do with Goody in my spare time, would have taken me weeks of working nonstop before Goody. In other words, it just wouldn’t have been possible.”
Yet even more palpable is the emotional impact it has had on her coworkers and company culture.
“Being able to send gifts through Goody makes employees feel valued. Especially our remote team members who don’t always get to join in-person events. It’s a way to say, ‘We see you and appreciate you,’ no matter where you are,” Gessner says.
Gessner’s coworkers write to her expressing delight with their gifts. “I love that people feel comfortable reaching out to me because they see my name attached to their gift. It’s opened up conversations and relationships across the company that might never have happened otherwise.”
An additional benefit is getting reporting and thank-you notes all in one place, which allows Gessner to share Goody’s impact with the HR team and company leadership.
“At OuterBox, we’ve grown so much in two years, and Goody has helped us keep the personal touch that could easily get lost at our size.”
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