GiftCard Partners Blog

Rewarding employees within a tight budget is a common challenge in today’s HR climate. Employees want perks and employers want to maintain employee satisfaction and loyalty without going over budget on those employee perks. Here are three ways to reward employees without breaking the bank.

The incentives industry is thriving with 84% of U.S. businesses now using non-cash rewards to recognize and motivate their key audiences. Non-cash rewards come in many forms: from award points, gift cards, incentive travel, to merchandise, and more. In 2015, businesses spent $90 billion for these rewards and sales and employees are the largest audiences targeted when it comes to these non-cash rewards.

We recently discussed how 63 percent of companies were spending more than $100,000 annually on employee travel expenses. With more and more employers using telecommuting and teleconferencing, the need for business travel has slowed down, but not by much. Employee travel has grown by about 3 percent in recent years, while the average travel budget has stayed the same.

Today’s workplace is more age-diverse than ever. For the first time in history, five generations are working side by side — from seasoned Traditionalists to Gen Z digital natives. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 165 million people make up the civilian labor force, and participation among those over 75 has more than doubled since 2000. Meanwhile, Gen Z and Millennials now represent nearly half of the U.S. workforce and are reshaping what engagement, flexibility, and purpose look like at work.

According to the new #HRWins study done by George LaRocque, employee engagement is a top priority for HR departments. But when it comes to Finance dedicating dollars, core HR initiatives like professional development and learning and training initiatives still garner more budget than engagement initiatives.