From a crumpled bag of M&M’s from two Halloween’s ago that the boss found in his back closet, to a bottom barrel coffee mug that will give you cancer if you drink out of it: every step of the corporate ladder KNOWS that it is utter BS.
The true reason ( I think ) is to justify idle billable hours. Mabey the heads/bosses booked a dinner, and are using this discussion as an excuse of a “ meeting” on company dollar. Mabey they dileberately spent hours passively talking about which “thank you gift” saves them .001 if a penny per gift. These gifts are simply a vector to pad how many hours the heads “worked”. Either to justify why they are such “hard workers” or to justify another “ well earned bonus for company commitment”