Although the certificate (suitable for framing) held no monetary value, it was treasured by the recipient and often displayed for years in cubes and offices. Accolades like this have been proven to be the greatest workplace gift of all. And I would argue that it’s not so much what or when (see Parts I and II of this series), but how the gift is presented that is really key to a successful workplace gift program that will return rewards to your company.

Saying Thank You to employees with meaningful rewards is good. Doing it in a way that recognizes specific achievements in a forum that creates awareness is great. Even if it’s a simple gift, putting thought behind the presentation has been proven to motivate.

It a recent Workplace Wrangler blog the Seattle Post Intelligencier drew attention to author Daniel Pink’s recent speech at the TED conference. The talk, detailing the science of motivation, notes that “when it comes to motivation, there is a huge gap between what science knows and what companies do.” Pink wrote the acclaimed Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. According to the PI:

Pink convincingly argues that once our basic need for financial stability is taken care of, the desire for intrinsic motivation kicks in. Intrinsic motivation is founded upon personal rewards (individual interest or love) rather than extrinsic motivation (money). In fact, many scientific studies have demonstrated that people actually become less motivated when money is tied to doing something we are already drawn to doing. It actually devalues it for us!

Pink advocates employers to adopt a “now-that” approach to rewards and gifts instead of the usual quid-pro-quo “if-then” rewards system to gain motivation.

A recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and OfficeTeam reported in the Toronto-based Globe & Mail recently  noted that 33 percent of workers in North America believe their manager fails to recognize them.

The certificate and hearty handshake method worked because it was a gift that carried a lot of meaning behind it. The recipient was most often a surprise, and always well deserved.

What’s the best workplace gift you have received? What’s the best reward program you’ve been involved with at a company? Chime in.

But, gift giving experience shows that there’s more to it than that. Following Part I of our guide to the Best Workplace Gifts,  exploring when to give, it’s important to now consider how you decide what to give, To wrap your head around that question, consider that the psychology of gift giving  suggests that “the nature of the gift, not its monetary value, determines the prevalence of reciprocal reactions,” according to researchers at the University of Zurich’s Institute for Empirical Research in Economics who in 2008 published a paper on “The Currency of Reciprocity – Gift-Exchange in the Workplace.”

In field studies, researchers found out that employees offered a gift performed better than if offered higher wages.

“…An increase in fixed wages only has a negligible impact on workers’ productivity. However, a gift in-kind of equivalent monetary value has an economically and statistically significant effect on productivity. Workers provide 30 percent more output on average. Moreover, this effect remains large and significant over the course of the entire working period…. Our main result remains largely unchanged if the price of the gift is communicated to the workers.”

Gifts are personal expressions and should be treated that way. But this suggests that small tokens can be more meaningful than big bonuses. Follow these simple guidelines to best determine what to give:

1. Consider any company policy or rewards program details first when looking at specific employee gifts. (If you don’t have a reward policy, it could be a good time to develop one.)
2. Your mission and culture can give strong clues to good gift fits. Family-friendly firms, for example, will reap great benefits form gifts that will be meaningful to entire families, rather than an individual tchotchke.
3. There’s nothing wrong with promoting your company with gifts, such as corporate logo goods, but stay away from anything that says “gag” gift. That sends the wrong message.
4. Fun is good. Enjoy the process and make the gift choosing and giving fun for managers and employees to create a positive, strengthening atmosphere.

There’s no need to wrack your brain about what to give. It is important to have a rewards program that emphasizes the mission and culture of your organization. Revisit it, evaluate it and tweak it when necessary.

He retired after 25+ years on the job. Along the way, he was given traditional service awards. Treasured were his gold pocket watch, and bronzed locomotive plaque.

Times, of course, have changed. Gone are the service awards of my Poppy’s day. Often by choice, employees don’t stay with one company long enough to earn a reward based on years and years of service. The next generation of workers in a recent survey from I Love Rewards says they really don’t plan on sticking with one job that long:

“The average job seeker according to the survey wants to stay with their first employer for 8.9 years, but the reality is that students only stay an average of 1.5 years according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers have a real opportunity to save money in the long term by investing in robust retention strategies in order to keep this group engaged,” says I Love Rewards CEO and founder Razor Suleman.

This survey indicates that employees today need rewards early and often:

“…they don’t care about years-of-service awards, which 91 per cent of companies offer.”

Companies have a real opportunity to create a new paradigm in their employee reward (and retention) programs. Here’s a blueprint to get you started:

• Implement and keep a program that reflects your company’s values. In her Work with Me column,  Detroit Free Press workplace reporter Patricia Montemurri recently wrote on the decline of company recognition programs. Victims of tough economic times, these programs hold real value. Don’t cut, experts say.

• Establish rewards that are given regular intervals. Earlier is better, according to Montemurri’s column:

“Instead of waiting decades to recognize employees,  it’s becoming more popular to acknowledge an employee’s one-year anniversary — perhaps with a token gift such as a titanium flashlight or a pen and pencil set. If you keep somebody and train them well, and recognize them during the first year, you’ve got a better chance of keeping them on the second year,” according to Anthony Luciano of TharpeRobbin

• In addition to these regularly scheduled rewards, it’s a real motivational boost to recognize special effort of teams of employees or individuals with tokens that are meaningful.

Employers may not get much chance to hand out gold pocket watches any more, but there is ample opportunity and reason to recognize achievement and service in the workplace. Your company’s success may depend on it.

To help you through the process of using your gThankYou certificate, I’ve created this handy primer designed to answer any questions. Since I, too, was the recent recipient of my first gThankYou Turkey Gift Certificate, I thought there no better way to help than to share my own experience

Told that my gThankYou Turkey Gift Certificate would cover $20 toward the purchase of any Turkey of my choice from any grocer, I went shopping. Here’s how it worked.

After settling on the exact Turkey I wanted – Kosher this year – I planned where to shop for the perfect size Turkey at a good price. I found the perfect bird at Trader Joe’s, a national specialty food retail chain that caters to the foodie crowd. The bird fit my criteria, and those spelled out on the certificate (it needed to cost at least $20).

Certificate in hand, I advanced toward the check-out. After I presented the certificate, my checker examined it and began reading the instructions. He was a first-timer too, having never seen a Certificate from gThankYou. A manager responded, and after he read the certificate instructions, completed my transaction.

After hardly the bat of an eye, I was done. It worked just like a coupon presented during the check out process. But this was better, because I was fulfilling a reward.

A few tips:

1. Pay attention to the specifics. Details on your certificate will tell you what the gift covers: Turkey, Ham or Groceries and for how much.
2. Certificates will have a good-through date. Use the certificate by this day to ensure you receive the full benefit of your gift.
3. Expect to wait a minute or two for verification from a store manager. Shopping during a slower time of day on a slower store traffic day will minimize your wait.
4. If you run into stores with questions, there’s a toll-free number on the certificate that managers or clerks can call on the spot.
5. Rest assured that the certificates are usable for any specified item at any store, even if they’ve never (as was my experience) processed a gThankYou certificate. It’s the real deal.

It was truly an unexpected thrill to receive a gThankYou Gift Certificate. I felt proud using it, and enjoyed serving the Turkey I purchased with it, which this year had more of a story. Share your experience getting and using gThankYou certificates, and serving the resulting meals.

Grocery Gift Cards.  Grocery Gift Cards from gThankYou.com were launched today as the company’s newest Employee Gift.  gThankYou® Grocery Gift Cards are available immediately at www.gThankYou.com or by telephone (888-484-1658).  Detailed information about gThankYou Grocery Gift Cards is available on the company website for Gift Givers, Consumers who have a gThankYou Gift and Grocery Stores redeeming gThankYou Gift Cards and Gift Certificates.

gThankYou Grocery Gift Card

About gThankYou Gifts.  gThankYou Gift Cards and Gift Certificates are ideal employee gifts.  Turkey, ham and groceries are favorite traditional holiday gifts because they are meaningful, affordable, practical and appreciated by the entire family.

Companies say “convenience” is the #1 reason they choose gThankYou. gThankYou Gift Certificates and Gift Cards can be ordered quickly online, are easy to distribution to employees, often with payroll, and can be redeemed at virtually all grocery stores for turkeys, hams or the groceries the employee chooses.

Employees value gThankYou Certificates because are able to choose the groceries, turkey or ham that best meets their needs, at the store of their choosing.

About gThankYou, LLC.  gThankYou is dedicated to helping companies celebrate with employees. The Company offers Gift Certificates and Gift Cards that are simple to purchase, easy to distribute and convenient to redeem for employees, customers and friends.   More about gThankYou is on the company’s website.

Most importantly, gThankYou Gift Gifts create an ideal opportunity for workplace leaders to recognize successes.  Most gThankYou customers give the Company’s Gift Certificates and Gift Cards to all employees in the company, division or workgroup at holiday times or the conclusion of a successful project, month or quarter.  

gThankYou, LLC is based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Contact: Rick Kiley, President, gThankYou, LLC, info@gthankyou.com,
888-484-1658.

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This is the first in a series describing some of the great ways our customers distribute gThankYou® Gift Certificates to employees. They’re touching, inspiring, thankful, often funny and just plain effective.

When gThankYou does our year-end wrap-up calls with customers we always ask:

1.  “How did you distribute gThankYou® Gift Certificates to employees?”

And

2.  ”How did it go?”

The responses are always revealing. Often they illustrate great creativity, sense of purpose and, of course, gratitude.

One thing customers often ask us: “How do other companies distribute your Gift Certificates?”

We chose to make this our first blog on this topic because it’s simple, easy and effective.

The Background. The Company was closing out a difficult year. Sale were down slightly, but less than the rest of the industry. An exciting new product was about to be introduced; it had huge potential. The Company had also overhauled its website. The new website required the help of all departments and touched everyone in the Company. It may be a big sales booster for the Company.

The President doesn’t like to give awards or gifts to individual employees, relying instead on a team-oriented approach. Still, she wanted to recognize the individuals and departments that had led the new product and website efforts.

How did she do it? Simply and elegantly.

The Payoff. She began by explaining it was a difficult year; that things were worse for competitors; that the sales force had shown its ability to out-hustle national competitors in a down market. And more:

• The whole Company had contributed to out-performing the market and laying the groundwork, in tough times, for a better future;
• That the new product and website were major accomplishments and the leaders of these initiatives had shown what a great, resourceful company can do.
• That the company is fortunate to have a great workforce and that the successful new initiatives wouldn’t be possible without major personal commitments from all departments and everyone’s families.

“That’s why”, she said “we want each of our families to celebrate our success knowing better times that will surely come.” She went on to explain how gThankYou Turkey Gift Certificates work.

Next, she personally handed the Gift Certificates to the two Department Heads who led the new product and website development projects, giving them indirect, but prominent recognition.

After that, the two Department Heads presented the Gift Certificates to their teams.

Finally, the new product and website teams handed the Gift Certificates to remaining employees.

There were lots of hugs, plenty of laughs, a few tears.

All-in-all it was a very successful “gThankYou!”

The Bottom Line. Simple, powerful, emotional, effective, memorable.

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