GiftCard Partners Blog

Last year at this time employers were stressed out about employee engagement. Now the focus is on employee retention and turnover.

As HR departments struggle to figure out how to motivate employees, integrating gamification in the workplace remains a popular option. Fast Company article, What the Future of Gamification in the Workplace Looks Like, discusses the importance of realizing that simple, one-size-fits-all solutions will not work.

According to Incentive Magazine, the number one reason employers and managers give for not practicing employee recognition is time. They don't have time, they can't find the right time, it's not effective if you do it too much or too little. There are a million reasons. But the reality is, employee recognition shouldn't take a lot of time, and with some planning and scheduling employee recognition can extend the time employees remain loyal to their organization.
1). Timely Employee Recognition- If an employee does something worth recognizing, make sure you execute on employee recognition in a timely manner. If you wait too long the recognition becomes stale and ineffective. Ensure ROI and trophy value for rewards by recognizing employees as soon as possible.
2). Doesn't Need to Take A Lot of Time- There's a misconception in the market that employee recognition is time consuming. However, if you have a regular recognition program, and rewards on site, recognition only needs to take a few minutes. Whether it's public or private employee recognition, it doesn't need to be a time suck.
3). Deliberate Frequency- Make employee recognition programmatic. That way employee expectations around recognition and rewards are set and can be met and/or exceeded. From a time perspective, deliberate recognition builds recognition into your calendar, rather than being disruptive. Making time for employee recognition will ensure ROI into any program that is approved and endorsed by management.  

Employee productivity and employee happiness go hand in hand, so what makes employees happy? Recently “The Happiness Study” from Texas-based Blackhawk Engagement Solutions set out to find out just what those answers are. More than 1,800 American employees, both salary and hourly, were surveyed to find out what impacts employees’ happiness at work, what types of rewards and recognition are most motivating, and what additional strategies would employees participate in to increase engagement. Some of the key findings from the study included the following:

A recent survey by OfficeTeam revealed that 89% of employers think they are doing a good job with employee recognition for outstanding efforts at work. That would be great, except only 70% of employees tend to agree with that statement. The divide between employee and employer opinions is significant. If employees don't have confidence or agree that their employers are doing well recognizing their efforts, then employers get no return on what is often a significant investment. There are many reasons why employers can fail at delivering employee recognition. Sometimes it's a lack of effort, communication or application of a program. Here are three reasons we find most common- and how to overcome them.