Can You Give Visa Gift Cards for Employee Rewards and Recognition Programs?

From managing one person to a whole company, employee rewards programs are an amazing way to show your appreciation to employees. As your employee incentive program grows it becomes essential to create a consistent program with understood incentives and rewards. Visa gift cards for employee performance is a great way to distribute rewards that everyone will enjoy. These incentives are akin to mini bonuses, and adding cash to your employee’s pockets is often more appreciated than doing something special for them at work. This article will cover the basics of preparing an employee rewards and recognition program as well as how to give Visa gift cards for employee performance.

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Visa gift cards for employee bonuses are amazing ways to show your appreciation around the office. On top of that, a little presentation goes a long way!

What are Employee Rewards?

Employee rewards are the bonuses and gifts given to employees who perform above their expectations or hit specific work-related goals. Employee rewards are anything they receive that is outside of their standard compensation package. These gifts come in many shapes and sizes, including parties, extra time off, and extra compensation, sometimes in the form of Visa gift cards. Using Visa gift cards for team recognition is a great way to deliver bonuses that are appreciated by every member of your team.

Difference Between Employee Rewards and Recognition

There is an important difference between the rewards and recognition given to employees. Rewards programs are based around employees receiving a bonus for their performance, be it monetary or otherwise. An employee recognition does not give them anything physical, rather it is usually a public or private congratulations of their performance. These are both excellent ways to keep up company morale, but it is important to be transparent with your employees about the rewards and recognition of the program.

It is possible that employees will react negatively if they were expecting a monetary bonus and only received a thank you from their boss, or even if the magnitude of the reward is vastly different from what they were led to expect. There are no downsides to small employee rewards and recognition programs, and even using $10 Visa gift cards for workplace incentives is exciting for employees.

Benefits of Employee Rewards Programs

A little bit goes a long way with employee rewards programs. The best part about employee rewards programs is that they are not required of any business, so starting one should be an exciting moment for workers. It is important, however, to understand the benefits of an employee rewards program so you can best cater to what your employees will appreciate.

Employee rewards programs are great for:

Showing appreciation to hard workers
Boosting motivation and productivity
Encouraging friendly competition
Creating a positive work environment
Decreasing employee turnover

A good rewards program is amazing for a company, big or small. It is important to create a program that rewards employees consistently without creating too much of an expense for the company. Programs can quickly grow more and more expensive.

Tips to Design a Successful Employee Rewards program

It is difficult to construct a program that hits all those benefits. You want to think about budget, the company’s vision, and potential rewards before you get too far into the process, as they are all limiting factors in their own way. This section will give our best tips to design a successful employee rewards program.

Figure out why you need an employee rewards program

The worst thing you can do in this situation is promise something you cannot deliver. Knowing, foundationally, why you want to start this program will guide you in every step in your process. So, before you get too far, ask yourself why you need one and how it will help your company.

Set a budget

Another important step. You should know how much you can spend on your rewards program before setting your sights too high. There is always room to change the budget in the future, and that’s why we think Visa gift cards for corporate gifts are one of the best types of gifts for employees. Since they come in at any dollar amount, you can shift the denomination of the gifts depending on the size of your budget. An increase in profits can easily translate to higher gift card denominations when working with Visa gift cards, which shows your employees that their extra effort is paying off.

Set rewards and goals for employees

Before you start the program it is important to have every tier of the reward program planned out, as well as clear rules and regulations regarding how employees will reach those rewards. This keeps the program fair, which is very important. There are lots of good ways to set rewards and goals for employees, and as you continue in this process you should ask your employees what interests them. You may discover that many of them are most interested in Visa gift cards for employee recognition, or perhaps that they really enjoy the cheesy corporate parties that celebrate their progress (and let them head home early that day).

Stay transparent

Always let your employees know what the rewards are and how to achieve them. Don’t hint at big prizes in the future or keep certain criteria to yourself, as it will always result in negative feedback from your employees. Just as employees are often very excited by rewards programs, they will quickly turn to anger if the rewards they deserve are whisked away, which can then become reflected in their performances at work.

Start the program

Once you have everything set up and ready to go it is time to start the program! We recommend releasing a handbook or guide on how the program works and all of the reward tiers that clearly outlines your program both to your employees and to yourself. Good luck!

Finding the right gifts for employees is a tall order, but it should be a fun brainstorm. You can always order a few Visa gift cards for employee performance in order to get the program up and running.

Different Kinds of Employee Rewards

If you aren’t sure what rewards and recognition you plan on taking into the program this section is for you! We will cover monetary, non-monetary, structured, and spontaneous rewards in this section.

Monetary Versus Non-Monetary Rewards

This is a simple set of rewards that revolve around cold, hard cash. These include raises, bonuses, and gift cards. Visa gift cards for employee incentives fit into this list as a great way to set reward tiers for employees. Different tiers can have different gift card amounts. These are especially good for smaller rewards programs when your budget is not quite there to cover, say, a raise or bonus for multiple employees. Monetary rewards also cover indirect compensation, like paying for an employee’s parking pass or lunches for a period of time.

Monetary rewards can come in at any price point depending on the frequency with which you plan to deliver them and the budget you have on hand.

A common non-monetary reward is a commemoration of some kind of an employee’s good work. Plaques and certificates are nice ways to show your appreciation for good work that goes on in the office. Another non-monetary reward is tickets or gift cards to a certain activity, like a nice dinner or night out on the town. Employees usually love rewards that provide them value, and a meal voucher at a nice restaurant or tickets to a local concert are excellent motivators for employee rewards and recognition programs.

We recommend talking to your employees to discover what their favorite ideas are. Once you have your budget set and know the general timeline of giving rewards you can talk with your employees about what they want and how you can achieve it. Rewards programs often benefit from tiers of rewards ascending in price and time required to achieve it. If you plan on setting up a point-based program, you can keep a few amazing rewards tucked behind high point amounts and have small Visa gift cards for employee motivation that are easily reachable to cater to different kinds of employees.

Structured Versus Spontaneous Rewards

Structured rewards are those that are given out at set times and are well defined. They are good for employee programs because it lets employees know what they are going to get and when it will arrive, but you may run into trouble if employees do not reach their goals but wish for rewards nonetheless.

Spontaneous rewards come out of the blue and surprise employees. These are exciting and keep your employees on their toes, but they are dangerous if you do not distribute rewards fairly or rely too much on what you see in the office. Visa gift cards for employee appreciation are amazing spontaneous rewards, as they are ways to keep your employees working hard even when they aren’t expecting anything. These are also common to commemorate big achievements for employees, like closing a deal or finishing a project.

Small gifts go a long way. Using Visa gift cards for staff rewards helps your employees feel appreciated around the office and to stay productive during the day.

Visa Gift Cards for Employee Rewards

There are a lot of amazing rewards programs out there and Visa gift cards for team recognition is our favorite of the bunch. Remember: you can customize Visa gift cards for workplace incentives right here at Gift Card Granny to ensure you have a steady supply of gifts that your employees appreciate.

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