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Corporate Turkey or Ham Gifts from gThankYou let recipients decide which holiday centerpiece is best for their family.
A turkey or a half or whole ham?  It’s their choice!
gThankYou! Corporate Turkey or Ham Gifts are Manufacturer Coupons, good only for a whole turkey or half or whole ham – any brand, size and preparation, and are redeemable at virtually all major grocery stores nationwide. They have no cash value and can not be used to buy any other merchandise.
Concerned about the tax implication of your employee holiday gifts? Learn the difference between Turkey Gift Certificates, Gift Cards and Gift Checks and consult with your company tax expert.
All gThankYou! Gift Certificates have long expiration dates, so recipients can save their holiday vouchers for a New Year’s celebration or Easter ham if they like.
Best of all, thank you cards for your gifts are on us!
gThankYou offers Enclosure Cards in dozens of designs to fit your company culture and the season or holiday you’re celebrating. Our Cards can be personalized with your message and can even include a company logo. We send you a proof to approve and include them free with your purchase. Along with your certificate gift, it’s the perfect way to express your appreciation.
Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up fast! After Halloween, you have just a little over three weeks to put together your holiday corporate Turkey or Ham Gift program for your workplace.
But don’t worry: gThankYou has you covered with same day shipping and customized logistics for large companies and multi-location organizations. Give us a call and we will customize a plan that works for you – 888-484-1658.
Let gThankYou help you be an office hero this holiday season!
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Need Halloween contest ideas for the workplace? It’s not too late! You still have plenty of time to plan something fun and engaging for employees.
Your instincts to celebrate Halloween in the workplace are spot-on. Halloween is an active, hands-on holiday and popular with people of all ages. A record 179 million Americans are expected to celebrate Halloween this year.
Halloween “brings out the creative side in all of us, no matter what age, and allows everyone to show off and have a good time in any way they choose,” Rachel Farley writes in an Ogemaw County Herald editorial.
It may seem like fun and games, but done right, Halloween contests and other activities feed workplace creativity and team-building.
Creativity is crucial in the workplace, according to Forbes: “Creativity is rapidly shifting from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have’ quality for all types of successful organizations — from delicatessens to design firms.”
Any risks involved with celebrating Halloween in the workplace, like inappropriate costumes or practical jokes taken too far, are easy to avoid by planning ahead and putting guidelines in place.
Embrace Halloween! Your employees (and customers) will be glad you did.
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If you are looking to share a holiday turkey gift with employees or customers, skip the logistic hassles of distributing frozen turkeys and share gThankYou! Turkey Gift Certificates and Vouchers instead.
What’s the difference between turkey gift certificates and vouchers? Nothing! A “voucher” is just another term for gift certificate.
When it comes to workplace turkey gifts, more companies choose gThankYou! Certificates of Gratitude. We’re America’s favorite choice for Turkey Gift Certificates, Turkey Or Ham Gift Certificates and other popular food gifts – perfect for holiday-time or anytime employee and customer appreciation.
gThankYou! Turkey Gift Certificates allow recipients to choose any brand, size and preparation of whole turkey — Butterball®, Norbest®, Smithfield® or any other brand from major grocery stores in the U.S.
gThankYou Gift Certificates are Manufacturer Coupons which are only good for a specific item (such as a whole turkey), have an expiration date and provide no cash or residual value. They cannot be deposited in the bank or used to buy other merchandise.
Be careful not to confuse turkey gift certificates and vouchers with gift checks or gift cards.
Gift cards, allow recipients to buy any store merchandise. Butterball® Gift Checks, and other holiday gift checks, can be deposited into a bank account or used to buy any merchandise. And, both are taxable gifts to employees.

If you are looking to restrict your holiday gift to a Turkey, choose gThankYou! Turkey Gift Certificates.
(If you are concerned with the tax implications of employee gift-giving, please consult with your accounting or tax professional.)
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Learning how to engage transportation workers in your industry is key to increasing retention and reliability, keeping workers happy and improving overall customer service.
Retention and an aging workforce are challenges for the trucking industry in particular, according to FleetOwner.
“As the ‘traditional’ make-up of the U.S. truck-driver population is rapidly aging and heads for retirement, new efforts must be made to attract younger and ‘non-traditional’ candidates to the job of piloting commercial vehicles for a living,” Sean Kilcarr writes for FleetOwner.
The potential for automation in long-haul trucking is making current employees nervous about their long-term prospects and adding to an overall feeling of being undervalued and under-appreciated.
Meanwhile, drivers continue to be in demand.
“This work is undervalued even though it’s absolutely crucial to the economy,” writes truck driver Ryan Haney in a review of the new book, “The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream.”
“As a truck driver myself, I know that so much of what we do is far too complicated to be replaced by technology any time soon. We do a lot more than just hold a steering wheel,” Haney writes.
This feeling of under-appreciation isn’t limited to truckers. School bus drivers, among other school employees, are not getting enough acknowledgement or feedback, according to a survey of engagement in K-12 education.
Engaging workers who are constantly on the move takes commitment, creativity and planning. Read on for inspiration and 5 ways to reinvigorate your engagement efforts.
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gThankYou is proud to be celebrating 10 years of delighting employees, customers and workplace leaders with meaningful food gifts like a Thanksgiving turkey or a Christmas Ham.
To our fantastic customers: We couldn’t have done it without you!
Over the past decade, our Certificates of Gratitude have helped countless workplace leaders show their appreciation at the holidays and anytime.
We are grateful to our customers for choosing gThankYou to celebrate workers and customers. We couldn’t have reached this business milestone without your support and trust.
THANK YOU, seriously.
The gThankYou! Team believes happiness and engagement are key ingredients for a successful workplace. It isn’t easy to run a successful business where employees are loyal and the everyday culture is vibrant and engaging. But it’s possible — anyone can start today — and the benefits are worth it!
We appreciate that so many businesses choose gThankYou to help celebrate employees at the holidays and year-round.
In the spirit of celebrating gratitude, we’ve picked some of our favorite gratitude-related blog posts here on “Celebrating Work”— click through below to be inspired. We wish everyone success in building a successful workplace culture!
With sincere thanks to all for your business and support,
Rick Kiley, Liz King & The gThankYou Team

gThankYou: Our 10 Best Recent Blog Posts About Workplace Gratitude

Gratitude is about so much more than saying, “Thanks.” Check out these blog posts from the past few months for practical tips and the latest thinking.
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Treat your workplace this Halloween! gThankYou has affordable staff gifts to fit any occasion — even Halloween — and put a smile on everyone’s faces.
gThankYou! Certificates of Gratitude are good for specific grocery merchandise, like Candy or a Turkey, and can be redeemed at virtually any major grocery store chain nationwide. They’re perfect for celebrating employee successes, incentivizing safety or wellness, thanking customers or simply showing anytime appreciation.
Givers and recipients alike love gThankYou.
Givers appreciate how fast, flexible and affordable gThankYou! Gift Certificates are.
Recipients appreciate the opportunity shop when and where they want, for the brands they like.
It’s a win-win! And all Gift Certificates from gThankYou come with free, personalized Enclosure Cards with options for customization (also free!) — it’s a convenient way to express your appreciation right along with your gift.
Halloween is perfect for employee gift-giving. The fall season is in full swing by now. People are excited and starting to feel festive for the long holiday season.
“The fall and Halloween season permeates all parts of our lives and businesses,” according to Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation, in a Markets Insider post on spreading seasonal cheer in the workplace.
Americans today are working longer hours than ever, leading to disengagement and burnout, she says. Breaking up routine with seasonal festive activities (and gifts!) can “help lift spirits” around the workplace.
“It’s interesting to see how consumers and businesses alike are impacted by seasonality and seasonal excitement. It’s that visceral reaction … to seasons that can make all the difference,” Sweeney says.
You work hard to engage employees and show your gratitude all year-long. Sometimes, the best way to say “Thank You” is with a small gift. It’s a tangible, meaningful way to show you care.
When accompanied by heartfelt gratitude, even a small gift will be appreciated — and remembered.
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Your mission: buy employee turkey gifts for everyone.
Your goal: happy, satisfied employees who feel appreciated by their employer at the holidays.
Now, how will you do it?
First, be sure you’re making a smart business decision from the standpoint of your accounting department. When it comes to vouchers for employee turkey gifts, there are several options.
gThankYou! Turkey Gift Certificates allow recipients to choose any brand, size and preparation of whole turkey — Butterball®, Norbest®, Smithfield® or any other brand from major grocery stores in the U.S.
gThankYou Certificates are Manufacturer Coupons which are only good for a specific item (such as a whole turkey), have an expiration date and provide no cash or residual value. They cannot be deposited in the bank or used to buy other merchandise.
Gift cards, on the other hand, allow recipients to buy any store merchandise. Butterball® Gift Checks, and other holiday gift checks, can be deposited in a bank account or used to buy any merchandise.
If you are looking to restrict your holiday gift to a Turkey, choose gThankYou! Turkey Gift Certificates.
Companies choose gThankYou Gift Certificates because they are Manufacturer Coupons. If you are concerned with the tax implications of employee gift-giving, please consult with your accounting or tax professional.
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What is more essential to drive employee motivation — rewards and recognition, or engagement?
Both, according to employee motivation expert Paul Herr. You don’t have to choose!
Instead, “combine the best of both worlds by extrinsically rewarding managers who become skilled at pressing the motivational ‘buttons’ (of employees)” — in short, using extrinsic rewards to turn on intrinsic rewards.
Herr explores this innovative approach to employee motivation in his recent Incentive Research Foundation paper, “Using Behavioral Economics Insights in Incentives, Rewards and Recognition: The Neuroscience.” You can download the paper here.
If your employees landed a major financial windfall tonight, would they still show up at work tomorrow?
Unfortunately for most of us, money will always be a factor in where we choose to work. But when you take money out of the equation, there are other things that might make us keep coming in day after day. When we care about what we do — and the people with whom we do it — work has its own rewards.
For a huge percentage of Americans, however, this is far from the case. According to the most recent Gallup polling data, nearly 51 percent of American workers are “not engaged” at work, while over 17 percent are “actively disengaged.”
These “not engaged” workers, Gallup says, “…show up and kill time, doing the minimum required with little extra effort to go out of their way for customers. They are less vigilant, more likely to miss work and change jobs when new opportunities arise.”
The “actively disengaged” are even worse. As Herr puts it, they hate their jobs and see their employers as “the enemy.”
A “disengagement epidemic” is plaguing American employers, Herr says. His goal as a researcher is to help businesses find the cure and boost employee motivation — for good.
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Fall is here, and that means the holiday season is just around the corner. We’ve got employee appreciation ideas to help you sail through 4th Quarter — from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas and New Year’s!
Appreciation should be an everyday workplace communication goal.
Continuous conversations and feedback are the #1 megatrend in HR and business today, according to a Globoforce white paper.
“Annual performance reviews are an outdated model — a relic of old HR processes,” the white paper states.
In the place of these annual performance reviews, HR is moving toward a model of “continuous conversations” and ongoing check-ins that “align employees behind organization priorities.”
That’s where employee appreciation comes in. It’s essential to this new model of engagement.
“There will always be the need for constructive feedback to help guide employees. But the heavier concentration for feedback should veer toward the positive, celebratory side of the spectrum, which is the proven way to elevate performance and meet employees’ high-level needs,” according to Globoforce.
That’s right — the HR experts at Globoforce are giving us license to celebrate more, share more gratitude and have more fun at work!
But if you’re in charge of planning and organizing all those activities, it may seem daunting and like … more work.
The good news: building an everyday workplace culture of employee appreciation and gratitude doesn’t have to be a grind. We’ve got tips and employee appreciation ideas to inspire you through the end of 2017 and beyond.
Commit now to ringing in 2018 with a happier, more engaged culture at your company.
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gThankYou is pleased to unveil new Thanksgiving Card Designs for the 2017 holiday season!
Enclosure Cards are always free with any purchase of gThankYou! Certificates of Gratitude.
Choose from dozens of holiday-themed and everyday gratitude card designs and give us your personal message for recipients along with your company logo (if desired). We create a proof for you to approve and include the cards — 3″ x 4″ and printed on high-quality card stock — with your order. And it’s all FREE!
But more importantly, a “Thank You” card is essential to sharing your Thanksgiving gratitude with employees.
Your workplace gifts need a clear, thoughtful message of “Thank You” anytime of year, but especially at Thanksgiving. Let your staff know how much you appreciate them. Thanking employees costs nothing yet means so much.
gThankYou’s Thanksgiving Enclosure Cards make it easy and convenient to send that meaningful message.
Download the new Autumn and Thanksgiving Catalog to see our new designs along with dozens of popular favorites for communicating your appreciation this holiday season. It’s the perfect accompaniment to your Turkey Gift or Turkey Or Ham Gift.
To order gThankYou! Certificates of Gratitude call us at 877-620-9789 or order online.
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Gratitude activities for the workplace are employee rewards and recognition in action, helping build a kinder, more purposeful culture.
Culture is a main sticking point for companies struggling with disengagement, turnover and low morale.
“People want to work for a company that has a culture of recognizing great work effort, great workers and actions that help grow the company,” Brian Sommer, a technology services analyst, writes for Diginomica.
“This is the real recognition and reward challenge: getting a company to alter its culture and management practices to reward people who exhibit the behaviors that drive corporate success,” Sommer writes.
Fixing bad workplace culture takes a renewed focus on rewards and recognition — but not as “an afterthought or bolt-on capability.”
True cultural transformation happens when a) employee rewards and recognition is part of a greater shift toward a culture of gratitude, and b) company executives are 100 percent on-board.
“Why executives? Because cultural change is not the responsibility of HR alone and it can’t be fixed by a mandate, technology or HR. It needs the support of all executives and management,” Sommer writes.
One easy, practical way to help build a culture of gratitude is to involve employees and executives alike in a series of gratitude activities for the workplace.

Everyday Gratitude Activities for the Workplace to Try Today

Gratitude is not a one-and-done activity. It’s a practice.
Think of it in terms of physical fitness.
Recognition is like physical strength, and gratitude is the practice that makes it stronger.
Just like weightlifters build their strength over time with a daily regimen of lifting, your company leaders strengthen their ability to show effective employee reward and recognition through daily gratitude practice.
And it’s a practice that keeps going. Think about it — weightlifters don’t just stop lifting once they’ve reached their goal; they have to maintain their strength.
The workplace is the least likely place for Americans to express gratitude, according to a John Templeton Foundation study. Everywhere else — at school, in church, at the grocery store, in restaurants — we’re more willing to say “Thanks.”
But, interestingly, the study showed everyone loves receiving gratitude at work. So what gives? Leadership is responsible. To bridge this gap, leaders in your company need to “break the ice” and demonstrate the value of expressing gratitude to help employees feel more comfortable expressing gratitude, too. And remember, ways to show gratitude don’t have to be costly either!
Here are eight gratitude activities for the workplace. Gratitude grows through practice, and everyday activities and exercises like these help nudge the process!
1. Take a Gratitude Break
During meetings, save a few minutes for team members to share a quick appreciation. Don’t overthink it. It can be as simple as, “I’m grateful to Sarah for making the coffee extra strong this morning,” or “Thanks to Tom for helping me organize my presentation files so I could be more efficient in front of the client.”
Avoid gratitude for things — the freshly stocked supply closet is fantastic, but really our gratitude should go to our intern Rachel, who went out of her way to make sure we got everything we needed in time.
2. Give Gifts to Share
Receiving gifts is a treat, but sharing gifts feels good, too! The act of giving has intrinsic benefits for the giver. Share the joy of gift-giving (and receiving) by providing small gifts like gift certificates to employees to give to others — as customer Thank You’s or as peer-to-peer spot recognition for a coworker. Shift supervisors, regional managers and other team leaders will appreciate having quick and easy gifts to share on the spot with employees, too. Have a stash on hand!
3. Put Up a Thankful Tree
Here’s a gratitude activity for the workplace to try at Thanksgiving and over the holiday season, as suggested by Daring to Live Fully. Set up a holiday tree in a common area of your workplace and provide colorful paper cut-out tree ornaments in a bowl next to it, along with writing utensils. Encourage your team to write their gratitude on a paper cut-out and hang it on the tree. Together, the ornaments will be a daily visual reminder of gratitude for the whole season.
4. Play Appreciation “Hot Seat”
This is a good activity for annual retreats, employee orientation and other events that provide time for games. Have members of the team sit one at a time in a “hot seat.” Everyone else tells the person in the hot seat why they appreciate them and expresses gratitude for their work and any help or kindnesses recently given, etc.
5. Participate in a Gratitude Challenge
Organize your own program, or participate in a community-wide effort. For example, the open innovation platform OpenIDEO is hosting a challenge starting soon around the question, “How might we inspire experiences and expressions of gratitude in the workplace?” Visit the OpenIDEO website to find out how your workplace can participate in the challenge by conducting various “research missions.” Have fun with it!
6. Write Little Thank You Notes
Sometimes the best gratitude comes in small doses: a little Thank You note of two or three sentences. Writing Thank You notes is a great team activity any time of year and a thoughtful way for managers to show appreciation.
7. Volunteer in the Community
Giving back as a team is a positive, bonding experience that naturally boosts our gratitude. Choose volunteer activities that are best done together and take teamwork. A park cleanup is a great option — it gets people outdoors, and the results of everyone’s hard work are immediately evident.
8. Celebrate World Gratitude Day on Sept. 21
World Gratitude Day is Sept. 21. Celebrate it with your team with a low-key party and treats. Put the focus on appreciating employees. Have the CEO or other executive write a “World Gratitude Day” Thank You message that the whole staff will see.
This is just a short list of gratitude activities for the workplace. Don’t be afraid to modify as needed or spin off great ideas of your own with a goal in mind of creating employee rewards and recognition that cultivates a happier culture. Have fun!

What does workplace gratitude in action look like?
In the aftermath of the devastating hurricanes Harvey and Irma, it looks like employees uniting to help those in need in their community — or even thousands of miles away.
Workplace volunteerism is a powerful way to build teamwork skills, engage employees, increase generosity and make a difference. Increasingly, opportunities to engage with and give back to the community are what employees (and potential employees) expect.
People want to work for a company they can believe in, that aligns with their values.
A spirit of workplace volunteerism can only thrive in a culture of gratitude. The opposite kind of culture, where incivility and rudeness rule, takes a costly toll on employees, according to new research.
Leadership coach Tanveer Naseer believes in the benefits of expressing gratitude in the workplace, particularly as a model for more effective leadership.
Besides fueling internal motivation, gratitude is a “powerful reminder of how we need each other to succeed and thrive — that our accomplishments are not ours alone, but something to be shared and celebrated collectively,” he writes.
Best of all, it “allows us to see the best in those around us, and how they help us to do and be better.”
Next week is World Gratitude Day — Thursday, Sept. 21 — so what better time to celebrate workplace gratitude in action? We’re seeing a lot of it in the news these days as communities rally to help hurricane victims.
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What goes great with your workplace Thanksgiving celebration? Turkey vouchers for employees!
A gift certificate for a turkey is an affordable yet meaningful way to share a classic employee holiday gift. And by giving vouchers instead of actual turkeys, your team avoids the hassle of handling and storing a large number of frozen birds. It’s a win for everyone!
gThankYou! Turkey Vouchers (or Turkey Or Ham Vouchers) make it easy to reward and thank your staff with a gift they’ll remember all year. Recipients love the ability to choose the turkey that’s best for their family holiday celebration — gThankYou Turkey Vouchers are redeemable for any brand of whole turkey, at virtually all major grocery stores in the U.S.
Because a turkey is the Thanksgiving meal centerpiece, it carries the symbolism of holiday gratitude and family togetherness. As a gift, it lets your employees know you care.
Plus, it’s a practical gift your employees will be able to share with family and friends.
gThankYou! Turkey Vouchers are easy to order: online or call us at 888-484-1658. They come with free personalization and free customizable ‘Thank You’ Enclosure Cards. Even better, we ship same day so you can have your order as fast as tomorrow.
Order America’s Favorite Turkey Vouchers™ today and let us take care of the logistics of your holiday appreciation so you can focus on what’s really important: thanking employees and celebrating the joy of the season together!

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Engaging blue-collar workers may be one of the biggest engagement challenges facing HR today.
Hourly workers are unhappier than salaried workers in many job aspects, according to recently released Gallup poll data.
A Harvard Business Review analysis concluded, “People working blue-collar jobs report lower levels of overall happiness in every region around the world. This is the case across a variety of labor-intensive industries like construction, mining, manufacturing, transport, farming, fishing and forestry.”
Retention is a big problem, too. The “new blue-collar” industries, such as foodservice and hospitality, grapple with it on even bigger scales.
And there’s the skills gap.
The historical loss of manufacturing jobs has hurt communities across the U.S., yet currently “a significant number of manufacturing jobs remain open with not enough people to fill them,” according to HR Dive. “The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) predicts that U.S. companies will be facing two million job vacancies by 2025. And the American Welding Society contends that manufacturing industries will need 300,000 welders and welding instructors by 2020.”
One expert, Jobcase CEO Fred Goff, tells HR Dive he blames the skills gap on an “image problem.” Young people for decades have understood that the best way to a rewarding career is through a college degree and a job in finance, marketing, law, engineering or teaching.
“The ‘image problem’ that these blue-collar fields face has finally come home to roost — and employers are struggling to make up the difference,” according to HR Dive.
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A workplace Thanksgiving celebration lets employees know how grateful you are for their hard work, at a time of year when gratitude is on everyone’s minds already.
Now’s the time to start planning.
Early planning for a workplace Thanksgiving celebration means that, come holiday-time, you and your management team will be able to focus on celebrating with employees.
And that’s key for any employee appreciation effort. Leadership needs to be present and engaged for a celebration to really work. Leaders set the tone.
If employees sense that company leaders don’t care, even the most dazzling party and generous gifts won’t matter.
“For supervisors, managers, business owners and other organization leaders, the Thanksgiving holiday is an excellent reminder to both remember and communicate the most valuable asset in your workplace — the people who work there,” according to Paul White, psychologist and workplace communication expert.

How a Workplace Thanksgiving Celebration Engages Employees

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The Labor Day holiday celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers. Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate your workplace and have fun  — especially if you have team members working on Labor Day itself or over Labor Day weekend.
Officially recognized as a federal holiday in 1894, Labor Day was born out of the rise of workers’ rights during the peak of the Industrial Revolution. To this day, we enjoy the benefits of this movement: minimum wage, overtime law, the weekend and more.
“We commemorate Labor Day because it forever changed the relationship between employer and employee,” according to a Gusto blog post.
Labor Day is traditionally celebrated with parades and picnics. But if your company has employees working on Labor Day, there are still ways to celebrate your workplace and thank employees during the workday. Read on for easy ways to share your thanks with staff helping out during the holiday.
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It’s back-to-school time! Are you engaging employees with flexible workplace benefits — benefits that ease the transition from summer vacation to the demands and routines of the start of school?
Flexible workplace benefits consider employee experience in practical ways that help employees manage work-life balance.
“Employee experience” is a relatively new concept in HR. As author and futurist Jacob Morgan writes for Inc., it works best in tandem with employee engagement.
“By combining employee engagement and experience to work together, organizations can build an environment where employees feel valued,” Morgan writes.
Employee experience is about “designing an organization where people want to show up by focusing on the cultural, technological and physical environments,” according to Morgan. It goes deeper than engagement and considers “experience” as defined by employees.
Taking that experience into account leads to better, more effective engagement strategies.
As we move into the school year, consider your employees’ experience of balancing work and school to design truly effective, engaging workplace benefits.
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Give employees a Thanksgiving turkey this November! There’s no better symbol of gratitude: it’s the centerpiece to a meal that celebrates giving thanks.
Need more reasons?
Check out our new page “10 Reasons to Give Employees a Thanksgiving Turkey.” Share it with coworkers and your leadership team!
Now’s the time to start planning workplace gifts for the holiday season. Be ready with all the information you need.
Our “10 Reasons” page answers all your questions about workplace turkey gifts, an American tradition going back generations.
And what’s the best way to carry on that tradition and give employees a Thanksgiving turkey?
With gThankYou! Turkey Gift Certificates, of course. A turkey voucher gift is convenient for giver and recipient alike. It retains the meaning and symbolism of a traditional turkey gift, with none of the hassle or pesky demands on freezer space.
Recipients of gThankYou! Turkey Gift Certificates get to redeem their turkey gift at the time that’s right for them, for a size and preparation of turkey that fits their family, at virtually any grocery store nationwide.
Ultimately, this is about your business and company culture. Employees who feel valued lift up your business. They’re more engaged in their work, more likely to provide outstanding customer service and more likely to stay with your company.
There’s no better time to communicate this value to employees than at Thanksgiving. It’s the holiday when we join together as a country and community to reflect on our gratitude. Don’t leave out your employees! Let them know how grateful you are for their contributions — with a meaningful, appreciated Thanksgiving turkey.
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It’s time to rethink workplace exercise incentives involving cash.
New research shows money does little to motivate gym visits, even among people who have the intention of exercising more.
The experiment, conducted by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and published in the National Bureau of Economic Research, randomized about 800 new gym members into four groups.
The control group received $30 after six weeks, unconditionally. The other groups were rewarded for going to the gym at least nine times in the first six weeks of membership — with a $30 Amazon gift card, a $60 Amazon gift card or an item of their choosing from Amazon worth about $30, respectively.
Participants who were promised rewards made just 0.14 more visits to the gym in the first six weeks, on average.
Beyond that, the financial incentives had “no effect on their subsequent visit trajectories.”
It’s actually not that surprising that money isn’t a significant motivator. HR experts have known for a long time that “cash isn’t necessarily king,” as SHRM put it in 2003.
A big problem with cash rewards is that they don’t reinforce brand loyalty, according to SHRM. And because a gift of money has no value or meaning beyond its cash value, financial rewards can quickly lose motivational effect and become an entitlement.
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely argued in his 2016 book “Payoff” that financial incentives “aren’t the be-all-end-all when it comes to motivation,” Business Insider reports.
In fact, Ariely and his colleagues conducted a study that found workers who received financial bonuses for their performance ultimately performed worse than workers who received compliments or pizza from their boss.
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Targeted techniques for engaging Millennial or Gen Z employees are helpful but don’t fully reflect the reality — the need for employee appreciation for a multigenerational workforce.
“If you walk into any office or firm, on any given day, you’ll find Baby Boomers on the cusp of retirement working side by side with Generation Xers staking out new leadership roles and Millennials eager to make their mark,” writes columnist Deanna Arteaga.
Ensuring that your employee appreciation accounts for all ages and generations helps foster a workplace-wide culture of gratitude.
It can also help avoid serious issues like agism in the workplace, an issue for older workers especially, according to Financial Times.
As one 52-year-old recalls of working in a tech start-up where the average age was 26, “I had this really big blog, I was internet famous, I had developed a TV show and worked in Hollywood, and they were like, ‘Wow, you can use Twitter?‘”
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