She Doesn’t Like Gift Card Awards

Following is a comment to another blog that I write on my employee award site http://www.awardemployees.com/. My reply follows it. I hope employers out there will take heed to what this person says.


“As a top performing employee, my managers have given me gift cards may times. I think that they are lazy and thoughtless. They give me the cards because they are convenient to them…easy to buy. They have no personal value to me. Heck, they even get me cards from merchants that I don’t shop at. If I clean out my purse, I am sure I will find some that are expired too. Don’t get me wrong, cards are good for some people, but to say they are the best is just wrong. I don’t care what the survey says. From this employee’s perspective, I don’t like them”

Reply:

Thanks for the comment; we appreciate you taking the time to do so. You bring out an excellent point; I agree with you and have counseled with many clients over the years about not using gift cards in this way.

One of the greatest benefits of using our systems is the true choice and value they provide as compared to traditional recognition awards. Our systems give the participant the ability to choose any gift card they want from a list of over 500 of the most popular retailers in the country. With that kind of choice, you are free to find one that suits you and your lifestyle.

Frankly I find it rather arrogant that a business simply assumes that any gift card will do and indiscriminately chooses and purchases ones that they want you to have, without any thought to whether you would like it or not. They do that to simplify their purchasing process and they think they cut costs. It may save them a small percentage fee, but what they save in that fee is more than lost in employee satisfaction when the employee that doesn’t receive proper recognition for the performance.

Obviously, the best of all worlds would be for a company to take the time to know their employees to the extent that they could pinpoint exactly the proper award that you want. Unfortunately that is just not realistic for most businesses.

Again thanks for the comment. Ask your management to start using our systems; you will never get a gift card that you didn’t choose for yourself.

Be Well, Be Happy, Hug Someone!