GiftCard Partners Blog

Our society, and our work standards, strive toward perfection. We sometimes feel we must be perfect, the perfect boss, the perfect employee, the perfect parent, etc. We may even think that making no mistakes is the best possible scenario and that a squeaky clean record at work, and in life, is what it's all about. Well let's think about challenging that notion. According to
Kate Hamill of the Freelancer's Union, weaknesses and mistakes can actually bring out some of our other strengths and can help harvest self-reflection that makes us, our staff, our managers and our organizations more successful. Your weaknesses are inextricably tied up in your strengths. Every cause has an effect and every action a reaction. If you invert your weaknesses, you will uncover your strengths. This is where employee imperfection is key. There is no way to invert perfection, nothing to learn from it. Employees can't grow from perfect, and frankly perfection is boring. There's no evolution or growth that comes from perfection and stagnation can be unfulfilling. When employee imperfection is embraced, it can lead to self-compassion. Employees who learn to give themselves a break, instead of getting frustrated, give themselves a chance to improve upon their discovered weaknesses and get a lot farther in their careers. Self-teaching and independent growth are valuable skills that breed great team members and hard workers. Weaknesses don't have to be negative, but rather should be looked at as the ultimate opportunity, not to achieve employee perfection, for employee growth potential.

In today’s hybrid / remote work environment, many employees often feel isolated and lonely. On days with less meetings, employees can go whole days without talking to a coworker live and that can take a toll. Lonely employees are more than twice as likely to look for a new job than employees who are not feeling lonely. 

As we use asynchronous communication more and more, like Slack and Microsoft Teams, sending memes and other lighthearted communications has become more normalized. But what if you’re looking to bring a remote team together?

Do you need employee engagement ideas to start the New Year off right? 
Is your current employee engagement strategy working, or could it use a little tweaking? Low employee engagement is not just a U.S. problem. According to
Gallup's 2014 study, only 13 % of employees worldwide are engaged at work. While the U.S. does have the highest employee engagement rating, the numbers are still troubling when looking at those who are disengaged. At the regional level, Northern America (the U.S. and Canada), has an employee engagement level of 29% but 54% of employees are considered
Not Engaged, and 18% considered
Actively Disengaged. Higher employee engagement increases productivity, reduces absenteeism and can decrease health care costs.  According to a 2013
report released by Gallup on the state of the American workplace, businesses are losing
$450-$550 billion annually due to active disengagement.  Implementing some or all of the employee engagement ideas can help increase profits for your organization, all while having a happy, engaged workforce. Here are a few employee engagement ideas:

"Finding a company that allows me to work from home has allowed me to organize my life with my family my way. But it takes vision and commitment from the top down." by Stacey Sicurella.

My recent company-wide meeting brought it all together for my co-workers and I – how we have found a way to have our version

We are entering an age of great workplaces. A job is no longer just a job, but a good fit in environment and skills between employer and employee. Due to more transparency given by employers and more trust in the employee/employer relationships employees are happier in their workplace. What does this mean? Generally, it means better business results. Awesome, right?