5 Employee Engagement Strategies to Use Right Now
Employee Appreciation Day 2021 is long gone, and it won’t come around again until March 4, 2022. In the meantime, you need to continue building employee engagement—so what’s a manager to do? Here are five “surprise and delight” ideas that leverage popular reward card incentives for employees.
Why reward cards, including merchant gift cards and Mastercard® or Visa® Prepaid Cards? Because t-shirts and trophies are nice, but people prefer receiving reward cards that they can spend.
1. Give Good News
You don’t have to wait for formal company-wide announcements to share good business news with your team. Opportunities are endless: a safety streak in the warehouse, successful completion of a big project, a week of five-star customer service ratings—whatever is meaningful for your people, even if it’s about a different department.
The key is to make a bit of a splash. Hold an impromptu team meeting if you can. If not, send out a celebratory email (pro tip: include a video of you making the announcement). And if you want to make it a truly memorable occasion, give your employees gift card incentives. You can order bulk plastic cards to hand out in person or, if your team is remote, send digital eGift cards along with your email.
2. It’s Always “National Something Day”
Looking for an unusual reason to celebrate? Find a date that “officially” honors something funny, serious or off-beat, and start a new workplace tradition. There are plenty of options, such as:
• August 13, “Blame Someone Else Day”
• September 21, “National IT Professionals Day”
• October 22, “INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY”
Put it on the calendar, and start planning a few specific ways to celebrate. This employee event is ideal for fully remote teams, who can participate in their own time zones.
If you choose to send rewards—and you should—the best options for employees in different regions are digital open-loop cards (i.e., Virtual Visa or Mastercard Prepaid Accounts), which can be used anywhere the network’s debit cards are accepted. Plus, they’re delivered via email, making them available for fast delivery.
3. Perk ’Em Up
Sometimes, you just need to give your people a boost of encouragement. Maybe they’re in the middle of a big project, or perhaps it’s your busy season—whatever the reason, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Give them $5 or $10 coffee gift cards, and tell them to have a treat on you. This type of spot reward won’t hurt your budget, but it will help build morale.
4. It’s Hump Day
Luckily, you don’t have to be a camel—or employ one—to celebrate Hump Day. Although this may be a funny occasion to “celebrate,” let your people know you’re serious about recognizing their hard work with giftcard incentives.
Since it’s midweek, choose restaurant gift cards that can cover the cost of lunch or dinner. Skipping the kitchen can be a welcome break for busy employees, and they’ll cheerfully remember that you treated them to a meal.
5. Because you can never say “thank you” often enough
Okay, this one doesn’t give you a convenient date or handy excuse to celebrate your employees. That’s because any day will do. The key is that you (yes, you) need to make the time, put dates on the calendar, and make a personal commitment to building employee engagement.
You know your business and your team—choose meaningful times to say “thank you.” And put your money where your mouth is: give merchant gift cards or Visa or Mastercard Prepaid Cards to make your recognition more memorable.
Ready to add reward cards to your employee engagement strategies? Chat with a Solutions B2B employee engagement expert today.
