GiftCard Partners Blog

Our society, and our work standards, strive toward perfection. We sometimes feel we must be perfect, the perfect boss, the perfect employee, the perfect parent, etc. We may even think that making no mistakes is the best possible scenario and that a squeaky clean record at work, and in life, is what it's all about. Well let's think about challenging that notion. According to
Kate Hamill of the Freelancer's Union, weaknesses and mistakes can actually bring out some of our other strengths and can help harvest self-reflection that makes us, our staff, our managers and our organizations more successful. Your weaknesses are inextricably tied up in your strengths. Every cause has an effect and every action a reaction. If you invert your weaknesses, you will uncover your strengths. This is where employee imperfection is key. There is no way to invert perfection, nothing to learn from it. Employees can't grow from perfect, and frankly perfection is boring. There's no evolution or growth that comes from perfection and stagnation can be unfulfilling. When employee imperfection is embraced, it can lead to self-compassion. Employees who learn to give themselves a break, instead of getting frustrated, give themselves a chance to improve upon their discovered weaknesses and get a lot farther in their careers. Self-teaching and independent growth are valuable skills that breed great team members and hard workers. Weaknesses don't have to be negative, but rather should be looked at as the ultimate opportunity, not to achieve employee perfection, for employee growth potential.

Employee engagement can be complicated, or it can be simple. A lot of organizations get caught up in metrics and ROI figures when ensuring their employees are engaged at work. However, it can be as simple as staying human. Employees tend to disengage most when their companies get too corporate and lose their human side. Employees, above all else want to be treated like individuals, with respect and dignity, no matter what. Keeping companies human ensures that processes in place will deliver those basic principles to employees. Engagement and specifically employee engagement is about not only being human but bringing humans together. Recognizing groups that work well as a team and recognizing individual strengths and weaknesses grow teams and bring people together, causing higher engagement levels. Bringing people together is not only and engagement skill but a leadership skill. If you can bring your workforce together, you have the attention and respect of your staff and should reflect that back on them. Giving out
spot rewards for exhibiting desired behavior or even exemplifying the team dynamic can be a great way to reinforce employee engagement and bringing a workforce together.
For more information on bringing teams together and employee engagement check out this article from Forbes.

An employee wellness program is a great way to boost employee health and increase the organization's bottom line. Here are five key steps to make sure your employee wellness program is as successful as it can be through the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015.