Corporate Gift Certificates = Easy Employee Thank You’s!

Research continues to remind us that expressing on-going gratitude for employees is critical to workplace well-being! Occasional gift-giving is one way to make your workplace Thank You more meaningful. Corporate gift certificates are an easy to execute and widely appreciated reward for employees’ efforts—and they don’t need to break your budget!

In Harvard Business Review’s  “Foster a Culture of Gratitude,” provost and professor of management Christine M. Riordan discusses relevant research. Studies prove that showing gratitude makes employees feel valued, which inspires:

• Higher satisfaction with their jobs
• Willingness to work longer hours
• Engagement in productive relationships with coworkers and supervisors
• Motivation to do their best
• A desire to work toward achieving the company’s goals!

How can you express gratitude in a meaningful, affordable way? Read on to learn more about how to use corporate gift certificates as a tool for employee appreciation!

Corporate Gift Certificates: everyone’s Favorite Reward

You don’t have to break the bank to make employees feel valued. As Globoforce’s VP of client strategy and consulting Derek Irvine writes in “Catalog Providers Hate Gift Cards Because Your Employees Love Them,” gift certificates or cards are favorites of both HR professionals and employees.

Gift certificates are low-cost and pose no hassles for HR, he notes. Year after year, HR managers express a strong affinity for gift certificates and cards. He cites an Incentive magazine survey in which 64% of respondents chose gift cards over merchandise rewards. This figure has increased annually for the past several years.

According to Irvine, employees also prefer the simplicity and east gift certificates and cards rather than endless merchandise catalogs.

“The figures are staggering actually—introduce even just 10 gift cards into a catalog filled with thousands of merchandise items and within weeks, 90% to 99% of employees will select the [gift certificates and cards!]”

Irvine references a Stanford University MBA case study on the history of Intuit‘s various employee recognition programs. Globoforce’s own research reveals that, in a live case study of 12,000 employees, 99% chose a gift certificate or card over pre-selected merchandise catalog items.

the advantages of both cash and merchandise

Gift certificates and cards offer the advantages of both cash and merchandise, notes Incentive Gift Card Council white paper, “The Role of Gift Cards in Corporate Recognition and Incentive Programs.”

Businesses use corporate gift certificates cards to:

• Recruit, recognize, and motivate employees
• Reward workplace safety
• Forge relationships with dealers and distributors
• Encourage consumers to buy their products

And studies show that corporate gift certificates and cards achieve significant business results, including:

• Increased sales
• Improved employee performance
• Increased loyalty
• Better teamwork

Corporate gift certificates are more memorable than cash — and employees don’t confuse them with compensation. You can brand, personalize, and customize them, and they have “both trophy and halo value,” the white paper says. You can give them to mark accomplishments publicly—trophy value—or send them with a personal note. The halo effect comes when employees use the corporate gift certificates and enjoy the rewards—whether it’s a gift certificate for a ham or turkey, pie, ice cream, or fruits and vegetables—with their families and friends and think of your company’s appreciation and generosity.

And, “unlike cash, employees are unlikely to consider gift cards as compensation and thus do not learn to expect them.”

acknowledge employees’ good work

When you give corporate gift certificates, keep in mind these tips from former Mattel CEO and chairman Robert A. Eckert, in “The Two Most Important Words.” (The two words are thank you, by the way):

• Set aside time every week to acknowledge people’s good work.
• Hand write thank-you notes whenever you can. The personal touch matters in the digital age.
• Punish in private; praise in public. Make the public praise timely and specific.
• Remember to cc people’s supervisors. “Don’t tell me. Tell my boss.”

Foster a culture of gratitude with corporate gift certificates. You and your employees will reap the benefits!

For an in-depth guide to Transforming Your Workplace with Gratitude, download our FREE eBook below and start today!




About gThankYou, LLC

Turkey Gift Certificates and Turkey Or Ham Gift Certificates by gThankYou! are two of America’s favorite employee gifts and can be redeemed for any Brand (Turkey or Turkey Or Ham), at virtually any Grocery Store in the U.S.
gThankYou, LLC provides company leaders with a variety of easy, meaningful and affordable ways to recognize and reward employees, holiday time or anytime. gThankYou! Certificates of Gratitude and our free Enclosure Cards are personalizable including incorporating your company logo. And, nearly all orders ship same day.
gThankYou, LLC (www.gthankyou.com) is based in Madison, Wisconsin. Contact: Rick Kiley, Chief ThankYou! Officer, gThankYou, LLC at info@gthankyou.com or 888-484-1658.
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