Courtney Shipshock, Author at PerkSpot

Learn to Boost Employee Engagement, Loyalty, and Retention

Courtney Shipshock August 11, 2021

Sometimes, the journey to improving your employee engagement, loyalty, and retention is simpler than you realize. Explore how to do just that with experts Justin Cardillo, PerkSpot’s Vice President of Sales, and Becky Byler, PerkSpot’s Director of Client Success, who put their heads together to come up with a simple and easy guide to boosting employee engagement, loyalty, and retention with a Rewards & Recognition Program.

Catch up on last month’s webinar to learn about the significant impact a rewards and recognition program can have. Plus, discover the benefits of incentivizing employees and why a program like this is essential to your workplace and business.

Interested? Check out the webinar here to learn more!

Happy 15th Anniversary, PerkSpot!

Courtney Shipshock June 30, 2021

PerkSpot was incredibly proud to celebrate its 15th anniversary this June.

In 2006, PerkSpot was founded by good people with a great mission—to inspire people to love where they work. Fifteen years later, we continue to do just that. In the time since we were founded, we’ve grown our team to over 100 incredible PerkSpotters. We’ve developed new products, established new partnerships, increased our userbase to more than 17M PerkSpot Members, and kept doing what we do best, which is helping employees make the most out of every dollar they spend.

To celebrate our 15th anniversary, we threw an amazing picnic in Chicago, where we were able to come together in person with our families and friends. We enjoyed some delicious food, participated in fun games, and basked in the beautiful weather. Together, we reminisced on 15 amazing years and looked forward to many more to come.

How Leaders Contribute to Building a Better Workplace

Courtney Shipshock June 8, 2021

In recent posts, we’ve explained how things like recruitment, training, and development contribute to building a better workplace. Now, let’s dive into how the leaders of your workplace play a part as well.

Leadership’s Role in Building a Better Workplace

Better leadership is a crucial factor in building a better workplace. Having leaders who know how to cast vision and address employee concerns can make or break the employee experience. Unfortunately, perception is not always reality. A recent study actually reveals some of the disparity between employee-manager relationships:

80% of managers say they’re transparent with direct reports; but, only 55% of employees agree.
75% of employees feel that approachability is an essential quality for a manager, but only 50% say this is a reality for them.
71% of managers say they know how to motivate their team, while only 44% of employees agree.
89% of bosses believe employees quit for more money. The truth? Only 12% of employees actually leave for this reason.

It’s no wonder 75% of employees leave their job because of reasons their managers can influence. Their realities do not align with what a better workplace should be. In today’s world, 45% of managers don’t receive formal management training and it shows. In order to build better workplaces, we need to train and develop our leadership to be effective and approachable.

To learn more about how you can build a better workplace for you and your employees, download our free e-book here!

Well-being Over Wellness

Courtney Shipshock May 10, 2021

Pushing for healthy snacks and fitness programs is no longer the only focus for wellness initiatives. Well-being is the new buzzword for the workplace. It encompasses more than just fad diets or workout regimes. Instead, it looks to serve the whole person. Mental health awareness has gained increasing popularity over the years. As a result, the onus it has placed on employers is becoming more and more evident. A better workplace in 2021 and beyond is one that fosters health not only for the body but the mind as well.

If you want to learn more about what it takes to build a better place to work, download our free e-book!

How Can You Build a Better Workplace?

Courtney Shipshock April 30, 2021

There are so many ways to build a better workplace. We’ll discuss a couple here, including ways to improve recruitment and training, but a deeper discussion could be held on each of these points. Building a better workplace doesn’t happen overnight and we’re constantly growing and moving forward as we learn what it takes to inspire employees to love where they work—first through the way that they are recruited, trained, and onboarded.

Recruitment

When discussing a better workplace, it makes sense to start with an employee’s experience on day one, or better yet, on their negative 10th day, before they’ve actually begun. The recruitment process can be the first taste an employee gets of a company’s culture. Plus, who we hire can make a major impact on our culture as well. It’s important to examine both of these factors when looking to build a better and stronger place to work.

Culture Add, Not Culture Fit

A lot of companies talk about “culture fit” when they are hiring new staff. While the intention is there, perhaps a better approach is to look for “culture add.” Culture fit can often create a homogenous culture that doesn’t foster diversity and growth. Looking for people who can actually add to your current culture, not just fit in, will enhance your diversity efforts and bring in new perspectives that help your business grow.

Training and Development

After you’ve established a solid team of talented people, it’s important that you implement the training and development they need to succeed. Building a better workplace isn’t a finite process. A better workplace continuously pushes its employees to do better and be better, giving them the tools they need to be successful.

Focus on Corporate Goals

When it comes to training our workforce, we should begin by aligning their work with our company mission. While we may put these words in fancy fonts on our webpage, only 40% of the workforce reported knowing their company’s goals, strategies, and tactics. When employees understand how their work is impacting the big picture, they’ll feel better coming into work every day. This is how we build a better workforce – we cast vision and help our employees understand their role in reaching these goals.

Interested in learning more about what it takes to build a better workplace? Check out our free e-book to continue exploring how you can implement these tips in your workplace!

Answering All Your Employee Recognition Questions

Courtney Shipshock April 1, 2021

Regular employee recognition can inspire increased employee productivity, satisfaction, and retention. But if you’re not an employee recognition pro, you may not realize some of the important details about why, when, and how you should be regularly, formally, and informally recognizing your employees!

Why Should You Recognize?

As we mentioned above, the impacts of employee recognition cannot be overstated. Furthermore, the impacts hit nearly every aspect of your organization. From improved employee satisfaction to increased retention and reduced turnover to boosting your culture, recognition positively affects an entire organization. Plus, this is the case for any type of recognition. Employee recognition in the form of positive feedback, public acknowledgment of great work on a project or task, or a monetary reward are all great ways to say “thank you” to your high-performing employees.

When Should You Recognize?

Remember, employees should be recognized at least once every two weeks for various things, such as great performance, a job well done on a certain project or initiative, collaborating with a teammate, or hopping in to lend an extra hand. However, it’s vital that the recognition takes place soon after the event for which they’re being recognized. Employee recognition that quickly follows a great performance can help draw a connection for employees between their job well done and the positive feedback, thus increasing the possibility that they continue to perform at the same high level.

How Should You Recognize?

For many HR professionals, the ‘how’ can often be the most difficult part of recognizing employees. Understandably, it’s tough to single-handedly develop, implement, and maintain an employee recognition program. That’s why PerkSpot is managing that process for you. With PerkSpot’s Rewards and Recognition Program, you get an easy system for regularly recognizing employees. Plus, you’ll have the option to include a monetary reward as well. We’ve even developed a calendar that provides tips, suggestions, and weekly reminders for recognizing your employees!

Recognize your employees in a uniform manner with our Q2 Recognition calendar. Want to learn more about partnering with PerkSpot to start offering your employees the recognition they deserve, in a way that matches your organization’s culture and budget? Request a demo here!

7 Affordable Ways to Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day

Courtney Shipshock February 25, 2021

Get ready, HR professionals, because Employee Appreciation Day is March 5! While you should be recognizing and appreciating your employees throughout the entire year, this day is the perfect time to go the extra mile and show your employees that you care. Check out some of our favorite ways to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day with options that won’t break your recognition budget.

1. Volunteer Day

Surveys show that a workplace that encourages and even organizes ways for employees to volunteer can help improve employee morale and the overall workplace atmosphere. Yet, many employees find it’s difficult to volunteer simply because they can’t find the time. This Employee Appreciation Day, organize a day dedicated to volunteering. You can find hundreds of volunteer opportunities, both remote and safely in person, via Volunteer Match. From there, choose to volunteer as one organization or give employees the day to volunteer in their own individual ways.

2. Remote Game Day

Inject some fun into your Employee Appreciation Day celebrations! Organize a remote game day that allows employees to stay safe, yet still socialize and compete against their coworkers. Trivia, bingo, or online games like JackBox are all great ways to kick off a virtual game day with employees. Don’t forget some fun prizes too!

3. Personalized Gift Bags

Show your appreciation with a fun and personalized gift bag that shows your employees you care. If your budget allows it, you can outsource this option, but filling and delivering gift bags yourself is also a fun option that allows you to interact with your employees and say hi in person. At PerkSpot, we went for this option ourselves! Gift bags filled with toys for children or pets, plus branded items and tasty snacks were delivered safely by hand to PerkSpotters and proved to be quite the hit!

4. An Appreciation Video

At the core of it, Employee Appreciation Day is about saying thank you. Do so with a fun video compiled of your leadership team delivering some personalized thank yous to their team members and other employees. Us PerkSpotters tried this idea out to great success! We gathered via Zoom to watch the video together and employees chatted about the various fun, appreciative, and kind words for days to come.

5. Floating Day Off

Every employee appreciates a day to themselves. This year, surprise employees with the opportunity to take a day off at a time that works for them. This is both a way to show appreciation for employees. Plus, it gives helpful encouragement to practice self-care for employees struggling with their work/life balance.

6. Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Employee appreciation shouldn’t just come from leadership! Encourage employees of every level to provide recognition and appreciation for their fellow coworkers, managers, and team members. This kind of recognition is incredibly effective as well. Reports show peer-to-peer recognition is 36% more likely to have a positive impact on financial results than recognition that only comes from the top. Plus, studies show 44% of employees will offer peer recognition with an easy tool that allows them to do so. Psst—PerkSpot’s Reward & Recognition platform easily allows for peer recognition!

7. Personalized Recognition

Simply providing recognition via gift cards is a popular choice for employers who want to tie a monetary reward to their recognition. However, why not go the extra step to personalize your recognition? Make it feel customized for each employee by offering them monetary recognition that can be redeemed on a gift card of their choice! With PerkSpot’s Reward & Recognition program, employers can send a value of their choice that employees can redeem on more than 200 different gift cards, from travel to experiences and local favorites to nationwide brands. Plus, PerkSpot’s R&R Program includes options like sending non-monetary recognition and adding a personalized note to the employee’s reward, where the sender can explain what specific actions an employee is being rewarded for.

Employee Appreciation Day is a wonderful day to remind your employees that you recognize and value their hard work. This year, try one of these great and affordable options that will show your appreciation. Plus, if you’re interested in offering your employees even more this Employee Appreciation Day, fill out a form and learn how you can partner with PerkSpot to give your recognition efforts a boost!

Cost-Free Ways to Support Working Parents

Courtney Shipshock February 5, 2021

In 2019, it was reported that about 41 percent of workers between the ages of 20 and 54 have a child at home. Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, that number becomes even more important. It also reflects the number of workers who are juggling work, child care, remote learning, and more. Whether they’re remote, contracted, or essential employees, offering support to the working parents in your organization is incredibly important. The degrees of support you can offer working parents will vary from company to company. It depends on several different factors, including how many parents you employ, what your budget is, and more. However, there are still several options you can provide working parents that fit your budget—keep reading to learn more!

Assess Gaps in Support

To figure out where your organization can start offering better support to working parents, you need to first understand what kind of support you are—and aren’t—offering now. Look for gaps in your company culture, ongoing business processes, and benefits that make it more difficult for working parents to find success in their roles. Additionally, it’s important to understand what type of support your employees are actually looking for. From there, you can more accurately address the needs of your working parent employees.

Offer Flexibility

As a human resources professional, you know the difficulty of searching for, securing, and managing benefits that meet your diverse workforce’s needs. But that shouldn’t get in the way of offering support to the working parents at your organization. Start at the beginning by offering significant flexibility in the aspects of employees’ day-to-day routines.

Work closely with working parents to come up with a schedule that works for them. In addition, try to place less emphasis on the regular “9-5” working day. If your organization relies on strict hours or scheduled time tables, give employees the opportunity to edit their scheduling preferences based on their child-care needs. Above all, remember that an attitude of compassion and empathy is absolutely vital—working parents are juggling two full-time jobs as they care for their children and fulfill their professional obligations. They’ll appreciate your efforts to meet them where they are by providing flexible support.

Promote Vacation Usage

The pandemic seriously impacted the way employees took their vacation days in 2020. In fact, according to a recent survey, 92 percent of Americans said they canceled, postponed, or didn’t book a vacation due to the pandemic. As a result, many employees’ vacation days were left unused. We know that historically, taking breaks from work, whether it was for a mental health day, a vacation, or a stay-cation, was momentously helpful for an employees’ work-life balance and wellness.

While travel isn’t as much of an option these days, it’s still important to encourage and promote the usage of vacation time in your organization. Why? We know it provides a much-needed break. But in addition, it can give working parents the opportunity to spend time with their families and mentally recharge with some of their favorite self-care activities. How can you do this? Send out regular reminders for employees about how many vacation days they have remaining. Teach managers how to notice the signs of an employee, especially a working parent, who looks and feels stressed or burnt out. Take the lead yourself by using your own vacation time. Then, share with coworkers how you were able to relax and recharge during your break!

Encourage Family-Friendly Culture Events and Support Systems

For many working parents, it can feel uncomfortable to bring up their children during working hours. Combat this discomfort by creating an environment that allows working parents to feel comfortable and even encouraged to share about their life outside of work. Is your organization one that often holds company events (including remote ones, given the pandemic)? Brainstorm options that are family-friendly and fun for all ages to participate in. Take PerkSpot, for example. Our holiday celebrations included a magician who performed over Zoom, and parents were encouraged to invite their children to join. If your company relies on virtual communication tools, consider creating a channel or forum where working parents can discuss ideas for remote learning, funny stories, and ways to keep children engaged during working hours.

Offer Financial Aid on Child Care and Children’s Products

Even before the pandemic, a significant portion of working parents’ income went to child-care costs. In fact, the average American couple spends 25.6 percent of their net income on child care alone. These days, financial stress is at an all-time high. It’s important to consider what your organization can do via additional benefits that would provide support for working parents. Discover the cost-free PerkSpot solution—offer your employees exclusive discounts on more than 30,000 products and services. This includes child care from the nation’s top providers, children’s toys, food, clothes, and other important baby gear.

Both working parents and your organization as a whole will benefit from providing the type of aid we’ve listed above. Offering child-care support alone can decrease job turnover by more than 60 percent! Plus, it can inspire improved job satisfaction and loyalty, not to mention a more productive workforce. Give the working parents at your organization the help they need, both during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. If you’re interested in offering exclusive discounts to working parents and your entire workforce, get in touch!

HR Trends We’re Seeing in 2021

Courtney Shipshock January 15, 2021

As expected, HR trends began popping up in late 2019 and early 2020. Yet, none of them could’ve accurately predicted the shift that would occur in our nation and around the world as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Changes to company processes, culture, and HR were almost immediate, forcing employees and leadership to adapt right along with them. This year, we’re using lessons learned in the last year to predict what HR trends will look like in 2021.

Home as the New Office

Among other things, 2020 was the year of proving a remote workforce, or other adapted versions of it, was possible. In 2021, expect this HR trend to not only continue, but flourish. Despite its challenges, remote working has provided more flexibility and ways to save time and money for employees. Plus, it makes the employer more attractive to potential job candidates. Though we can’t predict when things will return to “normal,” whatever that new normal may be, surveys from Gartner and PwC show that remote working and collaboration is here to stay, with over 80% of leaders reporting they’ll permit remote work to continue past the pandemic and 78% of CEOs surveyed saying the same for remote collaboration among employees.

Stronger Emphasis on the Value of HR

The coronavirus changed virtually everything about how employees worked—and lived. As a result, eyes turned to Human Resources departments for guidance on new benefits, work procedures, and more. Now that we have a handle on the situation, we expect HR leaders to step up more this year. Permanent changes to benefits, communication methods, and recruitment will all likely take place in the new year. We will look to HR to lead the charge on those changes.

Personalized Benefits

As many companies implemented new ways of working, employees were all experiencing severely different situations. Some dealt with lay offs or furloughs; others juggled working and providing childcare or remote learning support for children; others still experienced difficulties in managing their physical and mental wellness. As a result, we expect the trend of personalization to be applied to benefits that meet employees wherever they are. This concept of personalized benefits provides individual aid that helps each employee, no matter their situation. As an employee discount provider, we found the benefit that we provide uniquely offers this aid. With PerkSpot, employees save on remote work tools, childcare, mental and physical wellness products, plus discounts on everyday items that were crucial for those dealing with difficult financial situations.

Integrating Purpose Into Business

As many companies shifted to remote working, leaders grew concerned about productivity and engagement levels dipping. This concern grew from the lack of presence of coworkers and a strict work environment. In 2021, one way to combat these concerns is to emphasize and integrate purpose back into your business. A PwC survey found that 79% of leaders believe purpose is central to business success. As HR leaders, it’s up to you to emphasize the importance of purpose to managers and employees alike, reminding them that their work is crucial and matters to those it impacts, whomever they may be. Speak with leaders to ensure closer ties between company strategy and company values. Regularly communicate these ties to managers and employees.

Upskilling for Employees

Upskilling is a new concept that has the potential to take center stage in 2021. Plus, it can cover a number of different areas. In fact, a recent survey from TalentLMS found that 42% of companies increased their efforts to upskill employees after the coronavirus outbreak, and 42% of employees pursued training opportunities on their own. As companies expand to incorporate new technologies, rely on employees to roll with the non-stop punches, and ask the workforce to more independently focus on individual projects and responsibilities, upskilling can significantly help with these changes. We predict that 2021 will be a year that emphasizes the importance of upskilling employees within the workforce to expand skillsets, provide new opportunities, and fill higher roles within the organization.

2020 was full of changes to the way we work, communicate, interact, and engage, and many of those changes came swiftly and without any warning. As we enter the new year, we hope we’ll have a much better idea of the changes coming and can more accurately begin shifting our HR strategies and plans to account for them.

What is the Value of Employee Recognition?

Courtney Shipshock November 12, 2020

As an HR professional, you’ve probably heard time and time again about the importance of employee recognition in your workplace. But recognition—and its impacts—can be difficult to measure. In turn, it makes it difficult for you to prove value and positive effect to important stakeholders in your organization. Check out 4 ways employee recognition can positively impact your company and your employees below!

Recognition Impacts Productivity

At its most basic level, the purpose of recognition is to acknowledge a job well done by an employee. And without it, productivity is likely to fall. In fact, a recent survey found that engagement, productivity, and performance are 14% higher than in those companies without recognition. A company that implements employee recognition of any form is more likely to see not only a more productive workforce but a workforce that can quickly and intelligibly recognize good work that aligns with a company’s mission and values. Furthermore, public employee recognition can take this one step further by showcasing what kind of work receives recognition. This helps spread higher output and productivity throughout teams and the organization as a whole.

Recognition Impacts Retention and Turnover

How often do you recognize your employees right now? If it’s not on a regular basis, there’s a chance you could be negatively impacting both retention and turnover in the process. In fact, employees said in a Gallup survey that they didn’t feel adequately recognized at their jobs, making them twice as likely as their regularly recognized counterparts to consider quitting their current jobs. Implement a regular system of employee recognition. In turn, you can retain your hard-working, well-trained employees, and avoid the task of replacing them.

Recognition Impacts Culture

Have you ever heard the phrase “culture of recognition”? While many companies may claim to have this type of culture, their methods and cadences of employee recognition may beg to differ. To truly achieve a culture of recognition, a more formalized and regulated method of employee recognition must be implemented within your organization. Something as simple as a regular “Thank you for your hard work on this task” can do wonders for employees and the way they feel about their jobs, but recognition must come in other forms as well to help employees feel that their company is truly invested in themselves and develop a true culture of recognition. Of course, programs like these can seem overwhelming or too difficult to manage alongside other important tasks. That’s why PerkSpot offers an employee recognition program and platform that effectively manages itself, filling your organization’s gap in recognition and providing a fast, easy, and effective solution for employee recognition.

Recognition During COVID-19 and the Holiday Season

Now more than ever, your company must consider how it’s recognizing employees. Between a global pandemic and the stress of the holiday season, employees likely feel more burned out, unproductive, and frazzled by things like finances and work/life balance than ever before. Remember, employee recognition doesn’t always have to be given to the highest earners or performers. Recognition can also exist to simply acknowledge employees who are working hard. This provides them with a boost in confidence and a way to feel more engaged in their roles and responsibilities. This holiday season, recognize your employees when they need it most.

You cannot overstate the importance of employee recognition. Regularly recognizing employees for their hard work and dedication to their organization is absolutely essential. Plus, it has far-sweeping benefits throughout your entire organization and bottom line. If you’re interested in partnering with PerkSpot to implement an effective and easily managed recognition system, reach out today!