Did you know that just 50% of employees say they feel valued by their employer? With national employee appreciation day on its way on the 7th March, it’s a great opportunity to demonstrate to your team that they are valued and appreciated. We take a look at some creative ways to show your team you care with your employee rewards.
Gift Cards
When it comes to employee appreciation day ideas that your team members will love, company swag and water bottles are great but it doesn’t get better than gift cards. In our 2024 research, a massive 97% of employees said they’d like to receive a Gift Card from work that can be spent with local independent and national businesses, such as a Town & City Gift Card. Unlike cash rewards through payroll which are taxed, you can use the Small Benefit Exemption scheme to reward individual employees for their hard work with a Gift Card up to €1,500 per employee tax free, across 5 benefits through the year. And with physical Town & City Gift Cards you can hand over in person, perhaps with a handwritten note to add the personal touch, or digital Town & City Gift Cards that can be pinged straight to their email – it’s an employee appreciation reward that works for in office employees, remote employees and hybrid staff too.
Rewards that celebrate company culture
The culture in your company is directly linked to employee morale, employee satisfaction and job engagement. Employee appreciation day could be a chance for HR leaders to boost employee engagement by celebrating your company values through rewards, particularly around CSR and support for local. In our 2024 research, 97% of employees said they would feel more engaged if their organisation showed they care about local. Town & City Gift Cards are a thoughtful gift which enable you to show appreciation to your team for their good work and going the extra mile, while also having a positive impact on the local community as cards have to be spent in the local community.
In person events
Want to make employee appreciation day into a special day for the entire team? How about a team event as a reward and recognition idea? Escape rooms to Hawaiian themed happy hour in the office, a meal out to ice cream at lunchtime, there are innovative ideas aplenty when it comes to in-person events as rewards. Empower managers to deliver an in-person event as a way of showing employee recognition with Town & City Gift Cards – cards can be used on anything from buying supplies at local stores, to small teams enjoying lunch on the company.
Recognition programs
Sure, it’s great to show your team you care on employee appreciation day but how about a more formal employee recognition program, demonstrating recognition for your team members all through the year? An employee recognition program tends to include social, monetary and peer-to-peer recognition too, perhaps administered through an employee recognition platform or using employee recognition software. Peer recognition could include opportunities for employees to give positive feedback to their colleagues, perhaps around successes within the company. Social recognition could involve your people acknowledging great work, such as accolades on social media by your leadership team, developing a positive workplace culture. Monetary recognition would involve tangible rewards as part of your employee appreciation program, such as gift cards to celebrate work anniversaries, extra pto or bonuses. Handy to know though is that 83% of employees would prefer to receive a Gift Card (tax free) than cash through payroll (taxed), making Town & City Gift Cards a great option for your people.
Boosting work-life balance
As employee appreciation ideas go, ones that boost wellbeing and work-life balance will always go down well with employees. In our 2024 research, 53% of employees said their biggest priority as an employee right now was wellbeing/work-life balance. And whether you are able to offer employees time to boost their wellbeing on a regular basis during work hours, the chance to learn new skills or access professional development, or the means to take time out to relax and unwind courtesy of a Town & City Gift Card, it’s a recognition idea that gets the best results.