Gift Card Express

How to reward employees for their innovation during challenging times

 

Back in March, when public health orders were put into place instructing businesses to allow their employees to work from home, managers and staff had to move quickly to adapt to working remotely.

With next to no notice, employees had to learn to navigate technology, manage ergonomic home set-ups and start servicing clients on-screen from their loungerooms – often while home-schooling children!

IT departments were doing their best to provide remote workarounds, and employees had to make do with whatever communication platform was working for them. Often this involved a combination of email, phone, Zoom, Teams, Skype, and a great deal of adaptation.

Universities and other education providers had to move immediately from face-to-face to online learning; student and employee engagement were critical issues.

Performance management and employee performance evaluation ended up focusing on outputs and adaptability or flexibility rather than presenteeism, and these themes have continued for the past several months.

Many businesses ran employee surveys to gauge the effectiveness of their initial efforts and to see how staff were coping; these were repeated over subsequent months. HRDs and people managers have noted in many online forums and articles that they’ve been incredibly impressed with the problem-solving abilities of their employees and would like to reward and incentivise them for their efforts.

So, when thinking about who to reward and how to reward them towards the end of 2020, consider offering digital or physical cards to staff who have:

  • Kept their cool during technology glitches
  • Offered support to other staff in the form of workarounds
  • Come up with creative ways to service and maintain communication with clients or customers

We recommend the Switch it Black from Gift Card Express – it’s the perfect all in one card or the perfect visa card to show your appreciation for innovation.