GiftCard Partners Blog

Employee praise can actually raise your organization's revenue, so make sure your managers are like good coaches, cheering on players at all times. When managers support their teams and recognize a job well done with public praise, productivity increases and employees get more motivated to contribute to organizational success. There is nothing better for company morale, and peer education, than managers teaching teams and providing positive reinforcement. So start at the top and empower your managers, the effect will trickle down to the rest of your organization. Check out this infographic below to see how much potential there is for improvement with managing employees, and to see how to educate your managers to cheer on their team.

Sending employees out for business lunches or dinners is a great way to offer some flexibility and change of atmosphere to employees. Help them get out of the office, put them in a neutral and more personal setting, and new ideas will flow. However, the moment the check comes so does that awkward question of who picks up the tab?

Employee expectations around recognition are evolving fast, into 2026 and beyond. Generic gestures no longer cut it; modern employees want meaningful, timely, and personalized appreciation. 

Managers and employees often share the same office space (or Zoom screen) but experience the workplace through very different lenses. SurveyMonkey’s 2025 Workplace Culture and Trends report shows just how wide that gap can be, especially when it comes to transparency, promotions, productivity, and motivation.

Maintaining open communication with employees is crucial to a positive working environment and and engaging employees in the job roles. Creating open communication is a way to be open and honest with your employees, which provides them with meaning and a clear purpose for even seemingly mundane everyday tasks. Making employees feel a part of something greater than themselves is an easy and cost-free way to engage and retain employees. Providing a constant information flow both to and from employees regarding goals, company vision, desired company cultural aspects, and individual and team objectives are some of the ways to keep employees engaged. Also, communicating rewards and recognition for accomplishments of goals or exceptional contributions to the company are equally important. Rewards do not have to be big, small denomination gift cards and a team email is a great way to reward an employee's accomplishment, and recognize the accomplishment among the employee's peers. How do you communicate with your employees? How do you think your organization could improve their employee communication?